Language has been a part of society for as long as history can remember. What about language makes it so vitally important? How does language shape our society? In Speech Sounds by Octavia E. Butler, she explores the meaning of language and how it affects the world we live in. Butler uses a post apocalyptic setting to show the ways that communication are part of and define society. She shows that without language society begins to fall apart. Butler uses Rye’s world to show how vital words are in our own. The lack of verbal language shows the disconnect of Rye’s society. However, the people of this world still struggle to solve their communication problems. Without words they find other ways to pass meaning. Butler shows how important language
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Today’s society is build on words, without them it crumbles. The inability to communicate by word creates divisions between people. As these divisions grow their world transforms from a structured society to a ramshackle aberration of its previous self. While she travels with obsidian, she reflects on her own language impairment, “She had lost reading and writing. That was her most serious impairment and her most painful. She had taught history at UCLA. She had done freelance writing. Now she couldn’t even read her own manuscripts” (Butler 250). Without the skill to read and write she lost the ability to perform her job. Most if not all jobs today require linguistic skills. Without language people no longer have the ability to perform and society falls. There can be no more corporations, no more schools, no more newspapers. Early in the chapter, while disembarking the bus, Rye thinks, “‘Buses are so rare and irregular now, people rode when they could, no matter what” (Butler 246). This shows the disintegration of their world. To day some buses come every fifteen minutes but in Rye’s world the may not come for days. No one in this time has the ability to regulate bus schedules without communication. This evidence shows how vital language is for a stable …show more content…
Hand motions and pictures only do so much to convey meaning. Without the use of words people have a hard time showing their true feelings or nature. Communications are often misunderstood or unclear. There is only so much gestures can say. At the beginning of the story Rye sees two men fight on the bus, “She watched the two carefully, knowing the fight would begin when someone’s nerve broke or someone’s hand slipped or someone came to the end of his limited ability to communicate” (Butler 246). In this case hand gestures lack the ability to fully communicate what each man wants to say. No reason is given for their fight. There is a wall between all parties involved because without proper communication it 's impossible to understand why the fight is even happening. After Obsidian gasses the bus the bus driver angrily shouts, “ He shook his fist at the bearded man and shouted. There seemed to be words in his shout , but Rye could not understand them. She did not know whether this was his fault or hers” (Butler 248). This shows the lack of connection between characters in the story. Without the ability to easily communicate people slip into sounds that mean nothing. While the man’s actions are understood the lack of spoken language creates a barrier in completely understanding and connecting. People can no longer communicate the way they
Today’s society is build on words, without them it crumbles. The inability to communicate by word creates divisions between people. As these divisions grow their world transforms from a structured society to a ramshackle aberration of its previous self. While she travels with obsidian, she reflects on her own language impairment, “She had lost reading and writing. That was her most serious impairment and her most painful. She had taught history at UCLA. She had done freelance writing. Now she couldn’t even read her own manuscripts” (Butler 250). Without the skill to read and write she lost the ability to perform her job. Most if not all jobs today require linguistic skills. Without language people no longer have the ability to perform and society falls. There can be no more corporations, no more schools, no more newspapers. Early in the chapter, while disembarking the bus, Rye thinks, “‘Buses are so rare and irregular now, people rode when they could, no matter what” (Butler 246). This shows the disintegration of their world. To day some buses come every fifteen minutes but in Rye’s world the may not come for days. No one in this time has the ability to regulate bus schedules without communication. This evidence shows how vital language is for a stable …show more content…
Hand motions and pictures only do so much to convey meaning. Without the use of words people have a hard time showing their true feelings or nature. Communications are often misunderstood or unclear. There is only so much gestures can say. At the beginning of the story Rye sees two men fight on the bus, “She watched the two carefully, knowing the fight would begin when someone’s nerve broke or someone’s hand slipped or someone came to the end of his limited ability to communicate” (Butler 246). In this case hand gestures lack the ability to fully communicate what each man wants to say. No reason is given for their fight. There is a wall between all parties involved because without proper communication it 's impossible to understand why the fight is even happening. After Obsidian gasses the bus the bus driver angrily shouts, “ He shook his fist at the bearded man and shouted. There seemed to be words in his shout , but Rye could not understand them. She did not know whether this was his fault or hers” (Butler 248). This shows the lack of connection between characters in the story. Without the ability to easily communicate people slip into sounds that mean nothing. While the man’s actions are understood the lack of spoken language creates a barrier in completely understanding and connecting. People can no longer communicate the way they