Summary Of Speech Sounds By Octavia Butler

Speech Sounds and Octavia Butler

The science fiction short story “Speech Sounds” is written by American writer Octavia Butler, it was first published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in December 1983. This story presents Rye, a survivor of a dystopian world ravaged by nuclear war, where the effects after the blast caused people to lose the ability of basic communication. Here we see Rye fight against external and internal conflicts such as fighting against the world she lives in and fighting against her own wavering state of mind or identity. Her solution to finding peace with both situations was to find if she had any living relatives left, being that the ones living with her have perished, and in that moment she recalls her Brother and

We know Rye is a very well educated working woman who does not rely on anyone to survive. She’s willing to fight and shoot down opponents if absolutely necessary, she’s honest with her desires and shameless with whom she decides to be with, doesn’t immediately resort to motherly instincts around the children who’ve just lost it all, and puts her own survival above all else. An objective and well controlled woman who thinks rationally and quickly enough to preform accordingly in tough scenarios. During the time Speech Sounds was published, this character would be considered a revolutionary feminist character for going against several stigmas of the time and even be a unique icon to the sci-fi

Butler may be the only African American woman currently writing science fiction for a living.” (Joan Fry "An Interview with Octavia E. Butler." Interview by Joan Fry. Web.) Evidently Octavia stood out in the sci-fi scene as a black woman writing about her concerns with concepts of humanity and she portrays intelligent and strong willed protagonists. “Some critics call Butler a “futurist”; others claim she writes “speculative” fiction. Butler, who is adamant in her dislike of labels, does not consider some of the stories in Bloodchild science fiction at all: “I’m a story-teller,” she insists.” (Joan Fry "An Interview with Octavia E. Butler." Interview by Joan Fry. Web.) Regardless to however way one would want to categorize Octavia’s writing, she only wants to portray a story that discusses her views of humanity and links personal events to her stories. These bleak out looks she has in humanity would be the center to all her writing as she explores and lays the situations out in her stories “In Butler’s view, humans are incapable of living in peace with one another—or even with the creatures in their environment.” (Joan Fry "An Interview with Octavia E. Butler." Interview by Joan Fry.