Jill Dohrn AFAS 160

Born June 22, 1947 in Pasadena, CA, raised by her mother and grandmother Diagnosed with dyslexia as a child Was introverted and quiet, and she began writing at age 10 Always enjoyed science fiction, but began writing it herself after seeing Devil Girl from Mars EARLY LIFE OF OCTAVIA BUTLER

Her first story was published in 1971, called Crossover Patternist series ( ): 5 novels, about how two male and female immortals use their power to build families of people like themselves, themes in the novel include power and enslavement Kindred (1979): African american woman, Dana, finds herself in the early nineteeth century on a plantation, where she meets her ancestors Lilith’s Brood ( ): trilogy about a woman and he children who are saved by extraterrestrials, who want to share genes with other species Parable ( ): two novels, described a fictional religion that opposed complete control by one person HER WORKS

She uses science fiction to point out and criticize modern social issues All of her stories relate to race, sexuality, gender, religion, social class, and how the classes interact with one another Her genre of literature is often grouped with Afrofuturism, which references experiences as an African American in a futuristic setting, such as isolation and struggles with power COMMON THEMES

Has won the Hugo and Nebula awards, for “Parable of Talents”, “Bloodchild”, “Speech Sounds”, “Parable of the Sower”, and “The Evening and the Morning and the Night” Also was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2010, four years after her passing AWARDS

Defintion of the word fledgling: “a person or organization that is immature, inexperienced, or underdeveloped” Main character Shori, a 53 year old Ina who appears to be a young black woman Ina is a species of human that can only survive with the help of humans, they need human blood and the human receive great pleasure Novel begins with Shori in cave next to her recently burnt down village, she is found by Wright, a construction worker She lives with Wright and forms a relationship with him and an older woman in his town named Theodora FLEDGLING

Shori and Wright return to where he found her to uncover what happened to her before the novel began They meet Shori’s father, Iosif, learn she is genetically modified to be darker than most Ina’s, and learns that Wright her is symbiont Shortly after, Iosif’s village is burnt down and only two human survived, Ceclia and Brook The four of them travel together and are attacked on various occassions We learn that the attacks are targeting Shori because of her dark skin, and are being done by another Ina family named the Silks Shori’s symbiont Theodora is then killed Both Theodora’s killer and the Silks are punished by the Council of Judgement FLEDGLING

The definition of fledgling can be interpreted within this novel many ways Personally, I think Butler is referencing Shori and her discovery to essentially discover herself once again after not remembering anything about herself FLEDGLING

Driscimination is one of the main themes in this novel, and is made apparent though the Ina and human race Instead of both being just human and different races, they are two completely species, which segregates them even more But one thing that is important to remember is that both the humans need the Ina’s, just as much as the Ina’s need the humans Though there are conflicts between the Ina’s and humans at times during the novel, ultimately they would die without one another This parallels any kind of race separation in modern day times DISCRIMINATION

Furthermore, race is explored even further with Shori and her being darker than the rest of her race She is targeted by other Ina families to be killed because she doesn’t fit what the typical Ina should look like, due to her genetic differences Other Ina’s want to take her life in order to keep their race “pure” Mirrors white and black relationships, and how white Americans were against interracial marriage DISCRIMINATION

Overall, I enjoyed this novel, even with it being science fiction It’s easy to see that Butler wrote both this novel and Kindred because they both provide a unique perspective about the African American experience It’s hard to understand the themes until taking a step back and really thinking about the parallels OVERALL OPINION