Grace Kellar-Long
Professor Arielle Saiber
World Science Fiction
April 3, 2020
Multiplexing:
Subtle Rebellions and Hopeful Futures in “That Only a Mother” and “Speech Sounds”
In both Judith Merril’s “That Only a Mother” and Octavia Butler’s “Speech Sounds,” women protagonists face the consequences of societies that devalue their opinions and fail to provide the safety and resources they need to survive. Both women use coping mechanisms and strategies to ensure their survival, but their skills are tested when the men around them perceive physical and intellectual difference as a threat. While both stories give women power and agency, the 35-year difference in their publication years demonstrates a changing American understanding of what kinds of revolutionary actions we can imagine and permit for women in science fiction.
Both of the women protagonists in these stories live in a world that doesn’t accommodate them, and they develop strategic behavioral adjustments that set them apart from the expectations for women’s behavior in that society. In “That Only a Mother,” Maggie actively tries to suppress her own subversive behaviors and thoughts. When reading the newspaper, she has to coach herself to not think too critically or second guess the news that is presented, saying to herself, “stop it Maggie, stop it! The radiologist said that Hank’s job wouldn’t have exposed him. And the bombed area we drove past…No, no. Stop it now! Read the social notes or the recipes, Maggie girl” (Merril p. 213). She tamps down her impulse to question the information she is given and forces herself into a more acceptable, feminine behavior, reading the section of the newspaper that is designated for her. Maggie’s instincts are further at odds with societal expectations when she gives birth to her baby. Trusting her own intuition, she insists that the baby be taken out of the incubator and doesn’t feel that the hospital adequately served her needs, writing in a letter to Hank “They got everything mixed up at the hospital, and I had to teach myself how to bathe her and do just about everything else” (Merril p. 216). While Maggie tries to mask her thoughts and reactions to a point but eventually takes matters into her own hands, Rye constantly advocates for herself and prioritizes her own safety and dignity. She chooses to take a dangerous bus ride to avoid a degrading situation that would take away her autonomy, the neighbor across the street who had “made it clear that he wanted Rye to become his third woman” (Butler p. 572). Rye also tries to actively fight against the impulses towards jealousy and violence left behind by the virus that plague the rest of society. When she learns that Obsidian can read, she is filled with jealousy and thinks of reaching for her gun, but then lets the feeling pass: “She held herself still, staring at him, almost seeing his blood. But her rage crested and ebbed and she did nothing” (Butler p. 573). After seeing how violence on the bus breaks out at the slightest misunderstanding, this is a remarkable display of self-control, and demonstrates the extent to which that Rye fights against her impulse to become like the rest of the world. Both Maggie and Rye are at odds with their surroundings and have developed strategies and coping mechanisms in order to preserve their own safety and advocate for their needs.
Although both characters are able to develop their own way of carving out space for themselves in a world that does not accommodate them, their different reactions to the threat of violence demonstrate an evolution in the limitations of women’s subversive actions in science fiction. Maggie is certainly aware that her child is abnormal, and after reading about the infanticides in the paper, she is conscious that her husband Hank poses a threat. However, she isn’t able to articulate this danger to herself, much less to her husband. Her sense of rising concern comes across in subtle ways while Hank examines the baby. The scene is filled with her denial and attempts to mitigate the danger without direct confrontation. During this scene, Merril writes that “Margaret would not notice the tension,” and when Hank reaches to untie the nightie, “Margaret tried to get there first” (Merril p. 219). She tries to protect her child indirectly, but ultimately fails. Rye has greater agency in a threatening situation. Although her initial instinct is to leave the orphaned children behind, she stops herself: “She had almost done it, almost left two toddlers to die. Surely there had been enough dying” (Butler p. 577). She resolves to take care of the children, and her determination becomes stronger when she discovers that they can speak. She decides that what the society needs are “teachers and protectors” (Butler p. 578), who can care for young children who may be unaffected by the virus. When faced with a hopeless situation, Rye has an instinctive reaction that she is able to reason through and reject, and then creates a plan for a more hopeful outcome. While both characters attempt to enact change, only Rye has the ability and trust in herself to make her decisions impactful and lasting.
Both of these women take steps to ensure their own survival. For Maggie, this means policing her thoughts and actions to act like the perfect American wife but still trying to to advocate for and protect her child. However, Rye’s initial reactions are just as violent and instinctive as the rest of society. When looking at the murderer, she even “thought she could understand some of the passions that had led him that must have driven him, whoever he was. Anger, hopelessness, insane jealousy” (Butler p. 578). However, Rye’s great triumph is her ability to see past her instincts and act as a force for good. In Merril’s story, rebellion is limited to subversive thoughts while reading the newspaper and Maggie’s love for an imperfect baby, but 35 years later, Octavia Butler creates a female character who recognizes the fundamental flaws in both society and herself, and then figures out a way to fix them.
Works Cited
Butler, Octavia E. “Speech Sounds” [1983]. The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction. Arthur B. Evans, et al. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 2010. 566-579.
Merril, Judith. “That Only a Mother” [1948]. The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction. Arthur B. Evans, et al. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 2010. 211-220.