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Animals
Butler uses symbolism to suggest that, without language and the capacity to reason clearly, humans risk regression to a less evolved state. They become, in essence, like other animals. This frightens and discourages Rye, who expresses her opinion of humanity in how she thinks of people around her and their behaviors. Two behaviors in particular stand out: vocalizations and actions.
The verbs used to describe characters’ vocalizations, or the sounds they make as they try to communicate, are verbs used to describe the sounds of birds and mammals. People whimper, grunt, squawk, whistle, and hoot. When they do try to utter something like words, their voices are “hoarse from disuse,” and they repeat the sound they can make “over and over,” having only that “word.”
Impaired people also behave, as far as Rye is concerned, like animals. The man across the street who wants Rye in what is essentially his harem has stopped bathing and urinates anywhere he pleases. He is an “animal,” unlike Obsidian, who trims his beard and smells clean and good. The man who kills the fleeing woman stabs her not with just any knife but with a boning knife, used to gut fish. Rye describes children in the “canyons” that were once streets “hooting like chimpanzees” as they chase each other and forage in the ruins. When first confronted with the children who stand by the dead woman, she refuses to take responsibility for them because they will only mature into “hairless chimps.” Small details like these gradually create a post-pandemic setting that is more wild savannah than civilized city, but the children’s ability to speak gives Rye hope that civilization is not entirely devolved and can be rebuilt.
