Speech Sounds

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay. 

Scaffolded/Short-Answer Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the story over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Although Rye cannot communicate with others using speech or even written words, she has learned to  “read” people and situations in other ways.

• What does “Speech Sounds” reveal about the importance of noticing and accurately decoding nonverbal cues? (topic sentence)
• What are three examples from the story in which Rye uses nonverbal cues to understand the intentions of others and protect herself from harm? Cite details from the story to support your ideas.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, describe how Rye’s ability to interpret the meaning of peoples’ actions contributes to the story’s themes of communication and survival.

2. The social contract theorist Thomas Hobbes maintained that people are naturally selfish, so without the law and order human society imposes, peoples’ lives would be “nasty, poor, brutish and short.”

• While the near-future world of “Speech Sounds” depicts the brutish nature of life after social collapse, how does it also challenge Hobbes’s bleak vision? (topic sentence)
• What are two or three ways the characters in the story defy Hobbes’s notion that people are basically selfish and, given the choice, will act only in their own self-interest?
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, describe how “Speech Sounds” offers a glimmer of hope for humanity, even as it acknowledges the brutish, selfish side of human nature.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. In “Speech Sounds,” a virus has impaired everyone in the world (with the possible exception of small children), but not to equal degrees. For example, women and those who are left-handed tend to be less impaired. How does this fictional situation of inequality mirror (perhaps inversely) the real-world inequalities between those who have power and a voice, and those who do not? What feelings does this inequality create? What does the story suggest about how we can achieve a more just society despite the fact that people have unequal abilities? Refer to details throughout your points and use page numbers to cite any quotations you use.

2. The post-pandemic world in which Rye lives is violent and brutal, but the rampant lawlessness is, in some ways, more terrifying for a woman than a man. How has Rye’s gender affected her struggle to survive? In what ways has it made her more suspicious of others and more inclined to isolate herself? How does Obsidian’s character model a different way of living that goes beyond mere survival? Due to her encounter with Obsidian, how does Rye revise her understanding of herself as a human being and her responsibility to other human beings? Use text details to validate your ideas and cite any quotations with page numbers.