In the short story "Speech Sounds" by Octavia Butler the main characters along with the rest of the population have lost either their ability to speak or read and write or quite possibly both. Rye has lost only her ability to read and write, but still as the ability to speak, while Obsidian as retained the ability to read and write, but not speak. Although either way you look at it your communication skills have been lost to a degree and it will affect how you interact with others.
If I had to choose I would have to pick the ability to speak, over reading and writing. A persons voice is unique, distinct and helps define personality. Also, the ability to speak would be much easier to communicate with others because you can keep expanding on what your trying to describe, while if you only knew how to read and write you run out of ways to try to explain things with body language. For example, people may know how to read and write; understand another language, but when they are trying to describe what they need to the person they can't understand because that person does not have the ability to speak it. My voice defines me and I use it everyday, I do not need to read and write to get a point across. (Shawn Parkhurst, 15)
You suggest that the ability to speak is like a thumbprint--it is unique to the individual and something that defines them. Does the ability to speak (in the case of Rye) versus the ability to read and write (in the case of Obsidian) make one character better off than the other? Does it explain the reason why Rye survives and Obsidian does not?
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