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Octavia .E. Butler Biography

Raised by a strict Baptist family Octavia Estelle Butler was born on June 22, 1947 and died on February 24, 2006, at the age of 58. Butler was raised by her mother and her grandmother with no father figure in her life in a highly segregated time in history. Octavia's mother was working as a cleaning lady at the time and would bring her old books that were thrown in the garbage by her mothers superiors. Octavia was shy and feared to go to school , sadly she was always a bright girl who suffered from Dyslexia who formed a passion for reading and writing.

Life accomplishments:

• Graduated from John Muir High School (1965)
• Enrolled into the university of California in Los Angeles
• Enrolled into writing courses through UCLA extension programs
• Caught the eye a science fiction writer Harlan Ellison , at an open door workshop of the screen writers guide of america west program design to mentor minority writers
• Later attended a 6 week clarion science fiction writers workshop in clarion, PA where she sold her to first stories ("Child Finder") ("The last dangerous visions") and ("crossover") and met Samuel.R.Delany
• worked on a series of novels that are known as the Paternalist series
• stopped working her temporary jobs and now worked as a stable writer living off her work
• 1984 -" speech sounds " introducing "Blood child" the following year
• received an award for the best novelette
• Later traveled into the Amazon Rain forest and the Andes to do research and wrote ( 1987- " Dawn ") (1988- "Adulthood Rites ")(1989- "Imago ")
• 1995- became the first science fiction writer to be awarded John D. and Catherine Y. MacArthur foundation fellowship , a prize of (295,000$)
• 2005 - her last book being a vampire science fiction novel titled " Fledgling "

This wiki contributor provided me with every important detail of the Famous Science Fiction Writer Octavia Estelle Butler.

"Speech Sounds" 

"Speech Sounds" is a short story that portrays the life of a society that is withering away of its basic needs. An epidemic. The ability to communicate , to read , to write , and to even speak. The main character Rye is a woman who looses her basic abilities of reading and of being able to communicate efficiently. Rye and the other members of this society function by showing each other items or symbols to introduce themselves . In a " normal " society people function through language , through speech , through signs , but how does it feel for that to happen randomly? Imagine a world where we wake up one day and we aren't able to read , speak or even drive anymore?

The story starts with the introduction of the main character (RYE) and presents us with a situation to help us envision the importance of communication. Rye is a passenger on a public bus , where a fight breaks out between other passengers presenting a dangerous situation . Buses and cars were hardly seen because of the terrors of the mental illness. Rye is forced to Give off a gesture to protect herself .That is where Character Obsidian is introduced , a police officer who stops to try and restore order and then offers her a ride in the safety of his car. She takes the ride with him and they form a bond. That is where she asks the officer to please drive her home. On the road headed back home they see a woman and a man running after her , the angry man is trying to brutally assault this woman on the road. The officer gets out and tries to make sense of the situation only causing a confrontation. After all this violent scene , the Introduction of the female victims children sets a different theme to the story.

Rye: "I’m Valerie Rye,” “It‘s all right for you to talk to me.”

Quotes:

Rye: " Still, their gestures stopped just short of contact - mock punches, hand games of intimidation to replace lost curses.

Girl: “No. Go Away,”

Rye: "she gestures once-a clear indication to the man to stop."

"The Evening and the Morning and the Night" 

"The Evening and the Morning and the Night." is a nonfiction story in which you in-visualize what it is is like for a genetic disease to impact individuals. ("Duryea Gode disease") also known as DGD. DGD is a genetically passed on disease that causes deterioration of the mind and forms you into self destructive human being , who rips and bites off their own flesh (cannibalism). Reading this story you feel as if you are in the shoes of the main character Lynn Mortimer who lived with both parents who were DGD positive. The disease has no cure but only worsens , the life span is up to 40 years old .Having stayed late for graduation practice at school she came home to her parents mutilated and murdered , not by someone but by their very hands. After Lynn came to realize what her father had done to not only himself but to her mother she had to get away and used school as an escape where she met a boy who ALSO happens to be DGD positive Alan Chi and forms a friendship with him.

Afterword: " Genetics as a board game"... carrying about 50,000 thousand different genes , it takes only one mutation to morph us into self destructive cannibals with no self control.

Quotes:

• " I wont describe the ward. Its enough to say that when they brought me home, i cut my wrists.I did a thorough job of it, old Roman style in a bath tub of warm water." -Page 35
• " People normally injure only themselves when their time comes - unless someone is stupid enough to try to handle them without the necessary drugs or restraints."- Page 36
• " She bit her own arm ... and swallowed the flesh shed bitten away." -Page 53

"Blood Child"

^Summary

"Blood Child" is a Science Fiction short story in which the human species also known as Terran's live on the same planet as the Tlics. Tlics are an alien superior race whom look like species that resemble insects or bugs and babies as grubs and worms. On this alien planet child bearing and carriers of eggs are reversed in gender roles. (Tlic) alien species of Women carry eggs and choose to impregnate human men , but similar to sea horses they are the ones who birth the children. Once the eggs hatch they feed on their host in a gruesome description by Butler. The alien species need men to incubate their embryos in order to reproduce and save their species. They are preserved and taken care of , even given a powerful drug that impairs you , that works like a sedative that seduces you.Makes you feel comfortable and in almost a false reality. The stories plot focuses on an agreement between two childhood friends a Tlic alien female (T'gatoi) and human mother(Lien) is made , she will allow the alien woman to impregnate her human son(Gans) and use him as her host. Gan is hesitant because of the horror that occurs in the role of being a host, but because of his worries for his families safety he agrees. When Gans is of age he will be impregnated signifying his adulthood by becoming a host.

_Quotes

• " I saw them eat a man" - Page 20
• " He was in so much pain, he told her to kill him " - Page 20
• " Look it probably wont be that bad with you. T'Gatoi likes you. She'll be careful" -Page 22

Citation Practice

Octavia Butler was shy as a child. 

"The Book of Martha"

The book of Martha written by butler is a utopia story it talks about religion and gods willingness to allow a human to have some of his power. The start of the short story describes a woman named Martha working on her writing , writing through the night and finishing at about five AM. It proceeds but with a twist, the writer appears to be in a gray place with fog too thick to see her own feet. When she looks up she sees a young white man who looks like god to her. That is where she starts to question herself and ask herself what she was doing before she appeared in heaven ? God looks at her and they start to converse , where he asks her to help him . Martha has to come up with an utopia that would work. What would she do if she can only make one change in the world ? She thought long and hard and kept second guessing her propositions , wanting to just leave at one point without any confidence in her ideas being able to make a change for all humanity. She was afraid that her utopia might be someones hell. In this short story god changes his appearance in different forms he is at a first a white , tall man who transforms into a stocky black man and then into a black woman who resembles the main character. That is where the main character felt comfort in making her decision to allow humans to dream. Dream in such a realistic feeling that they will explore , find beauty , be able to succeed in their goals. Her idea was to help people become less destructive , less mean , less cruel , be able to dream and try and make dreams an escape route before the horror. Dreams that would inspire and encourage people to be humble , loving and help save the earth. End all war and cruelty.

Quotes:

• "Do you want to remember being here?" - Black Female God -Page 212
• "Well,the evolving environmental problems will be less likely to cause wars, so there will probably be less starvation, less disease. Real power will be less satisfying than the vast, absolute power they can possess in their dreams, so fewer people will be driven to try to conquer their neighbors or exterminate their minorities." - Martha -Page 210
• "Make the dreams happen" - Martha- Page 211

"Amnesty"

Noah was introduced to a new species  , after being held captive for 12 years. “each Community was actually an individual being shaped like a big bush or tree or, more likely, that the being was wearing shrubbery as clothing or as a disguise.” Noah was kidnapped and experimented on as a child. The aliens experimenting on her , through “dietary deficiency diseases and they poisoned others.” Deprived of food and clothes or any rights of her own. The alien's fear the humans because they were trying to find ways to destroy “us” (aliens).They experimented to try and see what the human species was like to learn about them. She is now helping the alien species where If she did not listen or obey commands she would be squeezed or electrocuted. She is working as a human recruiter. She wanted to help both communities even if that meant her health.She thought that by being a captive of both cultures that gives her power by having learned their ways. She is the only one who can connect the two. Both species have advantages over a human and so she must be careful. Aware that either may hurt or kill her for her idea it's the only way to save humanity.The short story is a long dialogue between herself and 6 characters who are also human recruits they shared to each other their stories and introduced themselves to one another. She is the only one who is a abductee.Working on contracts the recruiters are to help calm the humans and convince them that there is not anything to fear , to earn their trust. The recruiters take the job because during the time of this depression food is scarce and so are jobs. Noah thinks that with unification human survival is capable. Life is different now its either you learn how to survive or be eliminated.

Quotes:

"Thera Collier, her name was, a big, angry, red-haired young woman. "The weeds came here uninvited, stole our land, and kidnapped our people," Page-158

"I was 11 when i was taken" -Naoh-Page-159

"So they kidnapped you, and now you work for them?"This was James Hunter Adio, a tall, lean, angry-looking young black man. Page-159

Great sources for use in essays on " Blood child and other short stories "

1)"Blood child." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Tim Akers. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale, 1999. 23-37.

I am using this source because of all the aspects it covers , containing much of the Background analysis of Blood Child and breaks down the literature by covering the symbolism in dept that lys within the short story. The source contains an author biography and springs up ideas of parenthood , feminism , multicultural topics. The source has a biography of Butler , it has a complete story break down , with a Plot summary -Historical context -Critical overview -Character description -point of view -Criticism -Topics for further study -Environmental awareness-Further sources / future readings -Feminism-The science Fiction Genre -multiculturalism -Setting -compares and contrasts.

2) Helford, E. R... (1994). "Would You Really Rather Die than Bear My Young?": The Construction of Gender, Race, and Species in Octavia E. Butler's "Bloodchild". African American Review, 28(2), 259–271. http://doi.org/10.2307/3041998

-"Would You Really Rather Die than Bear My Young?" was the painful question T'gaoi asked Gans when he was very against having her young. He feared becoming a host because of what he witnessed when he was in the house with the man who was also an incubator for the alien eggs. The host would die if the female alien didn't make sure to have food to feed the newly hatched alien babies. They'd feed on the host as their source of food. The Construction of Gender, Race, and Species in Octavia E. Butler's "Bloodchild"

Elyce Rae Helford- African American Review Vol. 28, No. 2, Black Women's Culture Issue (summer, 1994), pp. 259-271 Published by: Indiana State University DOI: 10.2307/3041998 Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3041998 Page Count: 13 , This book from the looks of just page 13 alone given as a sample , looks like an amazing and smart buy

for anyone writing or learning of Butlers work. ( page 13 specifically starts to cover the short story Blood Child ).

3) Waltonen, Karma. “Loving the Other in Science Fiction by Women.” MOSF Journal of Science Fiction 1.1 (2016): 33-44.

-ESSAY: Journal, with entries analyzing Butlers collection of short stories

The use of this source will provide detailed Explanations of key vocabulary themes: inter-species sex, relationships, gender, interracial encounters, power, taboo . It covers why the themes are thought to arise in the short story. -QUOTE from text : “ This essay interprets fantasy and mythology as the precursor/twin to science fiction, thus arguing societies have long told stories of gender bending, extraterrestrial impregnation, and the problematic eroticization of the “other”. “ This quote alone gives a great insight on what to expect in the source and how useful it may be for an essay , it is an informational source.

ENTRY 1: ( Wake-Up Call, by Paula McLean © 2015 )

Octavia Estelle Butler's short story Blood child can be read from two points of view from a woman's point of view and a mans point of view. Octavia Butler was a feminist who incorporated the importance of freewill and gender swapping in the short story.Butlers feminist views in her work "question and challenge our familiar take on what is natural and what is to be expected." The entries presented on this website are written by different minds with different ways of thinking. It is good to see the different views on the themes that can help you explore further for the essay you might be writing. For example : Gender swapping or should i say impregnation of men rather then woman. Butlers view on men becoming pregnant is "Butler is cleverly defamiliarizing what is seen as normal or accepted, she is also tackling the great debate of fate and freewill, particularly in relation to Gan and his mother’s relationship with T’Gatoi". Gan was forcibly impregnated by T'Gaoi to save his sister from being her host. ( RAPE )