Pandemics- from literature to reality

During our global pandemic, the story Speech Sounds seems much more urgent and real. Just a few months ago, I read this story thinking about how such a far-fetched scenario could be used to develop characters. Today, I can’t help but draw comparisons between the fictional pandemic and our own. Though Speech Sounds takes place after a worst-case scenario of total societal collapse, the panic and confusion in its characters is very relevant today. Last year, something this bad was nearly unthinkable and confined to the realm of short stories. Fiction like this was merely a way to explore hypothetical settings or use metaphors, not a real warning of disaster. The coronavirus doesn’t make its survivors unable to talk or read, unlike the fictional disease, but some of its effects are the same, especially the climate it creates. 

The line, “The illness, if it was an illness, had cut even the living off from one another” applies perfectly to our current situation, with everyone isolated in their own homes and unable to reach out to one another in person. The coronavirus strips people of their loved ones and forces them apart. However, in some ways both viruses have opposite effects. The survivors in Speech Sounds have to communicate with body language and touch by necessity, while in the time of coronavirus we avoid these at all costs. Rye’s fear and sense of loss due to her pandemic translate well to our current pandemic, since many people have lost family members or their way of life.

I think the coronavirus makes the events of Speech Sounds more personal and less theoretical, but the story also offers some hope. Even though Rye loses her new partner and many things she cares about, she gets a new beginning with the children she’s adopted. Even in the wake of a disaster much bigger than coronavirus, there are opportunities to try again. Rye can begin rebuilding her life, and after our pandemic is over, so will we.