There’s also an exploration of cultural evolution, and we see this most in the conditioning of the main character’s children as they navigate the new rules, as they either embrace them or passively accept them.
I’d love readers to come away from Vox with two thoughts: (1) How easily can our world change while we’re not paying attention? And (2) How crucial to our being is the gift of language, that amazingly complex capacity we so often take for granted?
Which character in the book was most difficult to write?
I write quite a bit of flash fiction—in other words, extremely short stories, sometimes as little as a few hundred words. Flash lets me experiment with different voices and characters, so I’m comfortable moving from Lorenzo the Italian lover to Jackie the activist to Sharon, the down-to-earth, ever-so-smart farmer. Jean’s husband, Patrick, was tricky, though. I wanted him to be a fundamentally good guy, but also a passive man. Still, he’s smart. He’s the president’s science adviser. So his passivity had to be believable.
What compelled you to write Vox?
Vox began as a piece of flash fiction of about seven hundred words, for a contest with a doomsday theme. In it, I imagined a world in which a biological warfare agent spread rapidly, inducing a certain type of language impairment. The story, titled “Wernicke 27X,” illustrates what might happen if humans were suddenly incapable of speech and, consequently, of rational thought. It was terrifying.
When I found an anthology looking for fiction written by women and featuring female protagonists whose skills were central to the plots, I returned to “Wernicke 27X.” I asked myself how I could ramp up the terror, how I could expand on the idea of language loss—but only in half of the population. I took a long look at the current political climate, and found part of the answer there. So, Vox was born.
Is Wernicke’s aphasia a real communication disorder?
Yes, aphasia is very real. When the human brain suffers trauma, and language faculty is impaired, it is called aphasia, from the Greek “a-,” meaning “not,” and “phanai,” meaning “speak.” There are many different manifestations of aphasia. The one I use in Vox is Wernicke’s aphasia, also called “fluent aphasia.” Instead of struggling to speak, an individual with this type of linguistic impairment will actually speak quite fluidly, although that speech can often sound like a pretty interesting sort of linguistic soup. For more information on aphasia, I’ll refer you to the excellent people at the National Aphasia Association at www.aphasia.org.
Questions for Discussion
We speak more than sixteen thousand words a day—and the women in this book speak only one hundred words. What would it be like for your right to speak to be taken away? How would you voice your thoughts? How would you use your daily quota of words?
Humans differ from other members of the animal kingdom since we have language. If we take away language, what separates us from other animals? Would we be capable of rational thought? Would we survive?
Our learned behavior is patterned after what we witness. This is exemplified by the drawing that Sonia makes—her father and her brothers are depicted as much larger than she or her mother is. What other things do we learn to do unconsciously?
Do you blame Steven for his actions? Tell us how you felt about him. Did you feel remorse for him after he realized what he had done and went in search of his girlfriend, Julia?
Were you surprised by Patrick? Is it true that sometimes we don’t know the person we think we should know best?
How did the restructuring of the children’s education make you feel? Do you think home economics is beneficial to both boys and girls?
Sharon comments that because of her skin color, she will be “next.” How do you think society would have progressed if the ending of Vox were different? Do you think people of color would have been treated like the LGBTQ community?
Did reading this book inspire you as a parent? As a citizen of your country? As your (preferred) gender? How?
Were there any ideas of the Pure Movement you agreed with? Why?
Up until about six years old, children learn language with few problems. Later, language learning becomes increasingly difficult—think about how hard it is for most adults to learn a foreign language. What would be the risks to Sonia and other young girls if the situation in Vox persisted?
Jean gives up her voice long before the Pure Movement comes to power by declining to use it. Are there ways in which we voluntarily silence ourselves?
Photo © B Dalcher
Christina Dalcher earned her doctorate in theoretical linguistics from Georgetown University. She specializes in the phonetics of sound change in Italian and British dialects and has taught at several universities.
Her short stories and flash fiction appear in more than one hundred journals worldwide. Recognition includes the Bath Flash Award short list, nominations for the Pushcart Prize, and multiple other awards. She lives in Norfolk, Virginia, with her husband.
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