Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay. 

Scaffolded/Short-Answer Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the story over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Although Rye cannot communicate with others using speech or even written words, she has learned to  “read” people and situations in other ways.

• What does “Speech Sounds” reveal about the importance of noticing and accurately decoding nonverbal cues? (topic sentence)
• What are three examples from the story in which Rye uses nonverbal cues to understand the intentions of others and protect herself from harm? Cite details from the story to support your ideas.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, describe how Rye’s ability to interpret the meaning of peoples’ actions contributes to the story’s themes of communication and survival.

2. The social contract theorist Thomas Hobbes maintained that people are naturally selfish, so without the law and order human society imposes, peoples’ lives would be “nasty, poor, brutish and short.”

• While the near-future world of “Speech Sounds” depicts the brutish nature of life after social collapse, how does it also challenge Hobbes’s bleak vision? (topic sentence)
• What are two or three ways the characters in the story defy Hobbes’s notion that people are basically selfish and, given the choice, will act only in their own self-interest?
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, describe how “Speech Sounds” offers a glimmer of hope for humanity, even as it acknowledges the brutish, selfish side of human nature.