Liberation Day: Stories

Content Warning: The source text and this study guide discuss oppression, mental and physical control, wartime violence, addiction, suicide, and sexual abuse.

Jeremy is the speaker of the collection’s first and longest short story, “Liberation Day.” Through Jeremy, the grotesque and morally bankrupt system of “Speakers” and “Singers” who are owned and controlled by powerful families is slowly revealed. However, due to the process by which Jeremy—and his colleagues—became Speakers to begin with, his narrative is myopic; he exists in a near-brainwashed state in which he feels allegiance to his “family” of Mr. and Mrs. U, despite the fact that he is, essentially, enslaved in their home.

A key moment in Jeremy’s character arc occurs during the story’s climax, when the other Speakers and Singers begin to join forces with the rebellious group which hopes to eradicate the atrocities of the Speaker/Singer system. Because Jeremy has been brainwashed, he cannot fully understand why the intruders to the performance want to help him; however, he has a brief moment of epiphany when he says aloud: “Why am I even here? I Speak. On this murderous march? Upon this Speaking Wall? Have my thoughts and deeds ever truly been my own?” (54).