Blog Set 4

The appeal of stories about things like asteroids or other planets hitting the Earth is that the possibility is very real and if it were to happen there would probably be no way to really stop it. The universe is a vast unknown territory for humans. We are to the universe what a grain of salt is to our solar system. There is so much left to explore in space and we honestly will probably never be able to even explore half of it. The thought of the unknown, of not having control over something, is a thought that terrifies humans. Humans constantly want to be in control of everything, especially their own lives, and stories like "The Star" by H.G Wells  make us realize we don't always have control. That aspect of stories similar to "The Star" is what make them so appealing to us.


Wrath, greed, sloth, lust, pride, gluttony, and envy. These things are known as the seven deadly sins and a lot of them showed up in "Speech Sounds" by Octavia Butler. Right in the beginning of the story we are introduced to wrath. The men on the bus getting into a violent altercation simply because one of them accidentally touched the other. Just a few moments later and the whole bus is plagued by wrath and rage. Much like the world now. We constantly hear about horrendous acts of violence on the news everyday. Just like in the story, even those who are meant to protect us. like the police, seem to be doing the opposite and are just mindlessly killing people.
Another deadly sin is greed, which in a dystopian society would most likely be necessary. Basic things like fuel, food, or transportation became sparse and because of that people became greedy. These items became as desired as money or precious jewels. They needed to take all they could get and horde it like gold. Just like the story, greed is very prevalent in the world we live in now. Everything is based on getting as much of something as you can, especially money. The desire to obtain enormous amounts money and luxurious items is part of what runs our society.
The fun time Obsidian and Rye had in the back seat was filled with plenty of lust. The immense desire those two had for sex despite the fact that they were absolute strangers was a perfect example of lust. But this act of spontaneous intercourse was acceptable because of the situation they were in. Because of the way the world had changed. In recent years, casual sex has become a lot more acceptable in society. Once upon a time having any kind of sexual relation with someone you were not in a committed relationship with was extremely frowned upon but now we have dating websites and apps like Tinder that allow people to hook up with anyone and lust as much as they want.
Sloth was when the old man that lived by Rye had the women do all the work for him. Even with those women there he still wanted to get Rye to do his work too because he was too lazy. Our world, thanks to a lot of new technology, allows us to be absolute couch potatoes. Why go outside and make friends when you can create an everlasting relationship with Netflix. Online jobs, online school, online payments, you can do almost anything online from the comfort of your home. Not that it's a bad thing to be able to stay home but it can end up promoting laziness. There are also jobs like pimping and drug dealing that allow the person to have workers do the job for them but they are the ones that get paid the most amount of money.
When Obsidian an Rye realize that the other person has what the other one is lacking they are both so envious of each other they could kill. Rye said she had never felt like killing someone so badly until she felt that insane amount jealousy. Envy in our present time is the same as in the story. When people are envious enough of something someone has they can go to extreme lengths to get it or destroy it so the other person can't have it either. ( If you have not seen the film Seven I suggest you skip this next section because it contains spoilers to the ending. The movie is about a serial killer who's murders are all based on the seven deadly sins)
***SPOILERS*** For example, in the movie Seven the serial killer is so envious of the detectives happy traditional life that he beheads the detectives wife and sends her head in a box to the detective. That way neither of them get a happy life.***END***
As humans we always want what we don't have.
I couldn't find anything relating to pride or gluttony so if any of you find anything please comment below! It'd be really cool if the story could have a connection to all seven.