Vox to me is, in summary, a startling and excellent hyperbole of sexism and oppression in society.
It highlights and exaggerates societal expectations for women in America through the use of a dystopian society that is reliant on technology to systemically silence half its population.
Women in the novel are forced to wear ‘word counters’ that limit their speech to only 100 words a day in an attempt to remove their freedom and expression and therefore recreate them as passive subjects of men.
To aid this portrayal, the imagined society within the novel has reverted firmly to traditional gender stereotypes and thus strikingly brings to light sexism that still exists in life today by showing us what it’s effects could become.
Dalcher also explores the effect of language restriction on children and therefore the importance of communication and self expression from an early age.
In her words, she asks readers to consider ‘What would our world look like if we (or some of us) lost the ability to communicate, to think, to express ourselves?’ and therefore impresses the importance of language as a key to existence and society.
The author also says in the afterword of her book:
‘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?’
And so, I highly recommend this book for those interested in dystopian literature, but also anyone wishing to explore effects of political and societal control.
It’s amazingly compelling and a gripping read. Go check it out!
