“I’m pulling off, from our bones,
Till you say here, Here I am”
– Banners, “Ghosts”
The apocalyptic genre is one that has become prevalent over the past few centuries. Ideas of how the world could change has been thought of by many, allowing them to create such a world through stories, films, paintings and more. These visuals are released through – but not limited to – the idea of destruction by space, climate change, technology and even diseases.
Writing Professor Jon Suffrin articulates that the post-apocalyptic genre is simply any work derived from the aftermath of an upheaval or cataclysmic event. Often times, these works are narrated through a survivor perspective, allowing the audience to engage with the reality portrayed. Olivia Butler’s “Speech Sounds” and Keffy R. M. Kehrli’s “Advertising At The End Of The World” are two short stories that impersonate the approximation of the dystopian world. Both stories focus on the possibilities of the world we know now as something frightful.
Butler’s “Speech Sounds” follows the protagonist Valerie Rye – a woman who has lost meaning in her life after a lethal virus kills off her loved ones. The disease was unforgiving, taking away people’s literacy, leaving survivors to communicate through gestures. Language was known to be highly affected, as “it was never regained”. Close to suicide and driven out by “loneliness and hopelessness,” Rye decides to venture out of her hermit and travel to Pasadena in hopes of finding a relative of hers alive. Along her journey, she meets Obsidian – a man younger than her, though he behaved that of the least impaired. With the help of Rye through gestures, Obsidian is able to stop a fight between passengers occurring in the bus Rye was in.
Together, we see an abandoned Rye fend for her own protection, while trying to protect her illicit secret – she is able to “speak and comprehend spoken language”. But Obsidian has a secret of his own: he is capable of reading and writing. The two journey through the city, finding comfort in each others company while connecting through their forbidden secret. The creative story leaves readers wondering, are humans capable of doing what is not to be admitted once again?Or will humanity continue to communicate through just that – “Speech Sounds”?
In another universe, we see Keffy R. M. Kehrli create an utterly isolated scenery for protagonist, Marie, in the short story, “Advertising At The End Of The World”. A few years prior to her husbands death, Marie’s life is turned upside down with the technological innovation of robots modelled as humans. The robots were produced to announce advertisements at people’s front door, much to their vexation. Marie’s husband had always been fascinated and engaged in conversation with the ads, believing they would only last a couple years before companies “moved onto something that costs less”. After his death, she decided to move to the mountain-side, “wanting a place that wouldn’t remind her of” him, as the ads would frequently shape themselves to look similar to him. A disease shortly breaks out – first taking form as a virus then as “a bacterial infection that antibiotics couldn’t touch”. Marie was quickly left alone in a world full of technology.
But Marie doesn’t give up. Instead, she perceivers, producing a small garden for vegetables to flourish and watering it using captured rainfall. While tying her best to get rid of the overcrowding advertisements at her doorway, we explore the life Marie has grown accustomed to. We see her struggle with the loss of her husband, accept the reality of the continuous advertising at the end of the world, and learn to embrace the world around her. An astoundingly, phenomenal read, Kehrli captivates the idea of artificial intelligence and the fact that any connection is ample to survival.
It is without doubt both stories were written with a clear concept of the post-apocalyptic genre. While “Speech Sounds” focuses on the apocalypse of a pandemic, “Advertising At The End Of The World” anchors its story on both diseases and technology. The two express their individual views on post-apocalypse all while conveying the importance of connection. Butler reveals that connections, whether it be mental or physical, makes life worth living. Obsidians presence in Rye’s life made her feel as though “she was not alone” once again. But one can ask: is Obsidian truly her reason for living on, or is there something greater she must accomplish?
Incidentally, Kehrli displays Marie’s crave for connection when she invites “an advertisement in the guise of her dead husband inside for lunch”. Marie’s lack of company causes her to consider connecting with something she compared to “mosquitoes”. In a sense, it seems like her interaction with the advertisements became the very thing that kept her sane. As life moved forward, Marie’s perspective seemed to change – as though she began to understand she is not alone.
While Rye and Marie compliment each other by their pulsing urge for connection, it is not difficult to detect their differentiation. Rye was torn knowing she had no family to support or be supported with, evidently allowing her mind to become restless. However, one can view her circumstance as a delay; she was fortunate enough to be surrounded by a society – a corrupt one, but a society nonetheless. Obtaining another mindset would allow her to explore whatever options she has to remain sane. At the end of the day, Rye is in charge of her actions. Marie on the other hand, did not necessarily need the company of others to survive, but to live. Throughout the story, “Advertising The End Of The World”, Marie has shown resilience – doing what she could to survive until the day comes where humanity is found again.
Essentially, both characters, Rye and Marie, thrive with their surroundings although they may not have started there. They both express great character development throughout each of their stories, allowing readers to feel a sense of expectation from them. Though they both crave a connection, it is difficult not to argue Kehrli’s text as the more enthralling narrative. Marie’s story contains mystery and wonder, while provoking readers to question Marie’s strong adaptability. Kehrli’ perspective about the post-apocalyptic world proposed dystopia in a way Butler could not. As the two stories come to an end, it is clear the protagonists have ambition to move forward and try to rebuild a society that was once torn down. It is visible both “Speech Sounds” and “Advertising At The End Of The World” occupy the idea of connection, and the value it holds in a disturbed world.
Sandhya Maharaj 