These prompts can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before or after reading the story.

Pre-Reading “Icebreaker”

In Christina Dalcher’s 2018 novel, Vox (see Paired Texts below), the US government decrees that females can only speak 100 words per day; shortly thereafter, girls are no longer taught reading and writing.

Imagine that for whatever reason (gender, skin color, class), your government allows you to use only 100 words each day to express yourself and your needs. What do you think you would expend that small language allowance on? When you had no more words left for the day (spoken or written), how would you express yourself? After enduring weeks, months, even years of this oppression, what would your prevailing feelings be towards those who had no limit on their speech?

Teaching Suggestion: After students write their responses or discuss this icebreaker question in pairs, prompt them to think about speech and power, including political power. How can a democracy function when one group refuses to let another be heard? Although the US government was originally founded upon the ideal of giving power to the people, the political voices of women and Black people were effectively silenced for over a century.