Reflections on Butler

While thinking about reflections about English 458 I pondered about Butler’s identity a lot. Octavia Butler is a black, female, Sci-Fi writer, which all together creates a unique prose within her writing. Nonetheless, I found myself multiple times in a position where one could misinterpret her analogies, which is seen in Bloodchild. Butler is able to draw you into her worlds that parallel issues in ours, but to do this she needs to create a good story as she asserts herself. Furthermore, I often thought her writings placed the reader in a bias opinions of her characters.

To further elaborate, Doro in Wildseed is portrayed as a colonizer that wants nothing more than to use Anyanwu. However, one must feel some sympathy for Doro because he has lived for one thousands years, which is long enough for him to see the people he loved die. It is this dual perception that frustrated me, but captured my mind as well. Nonetheless, I started to read one of her interviews in which shes states, “I have a kind of slogan to remind myself what I’m to be doing: The chase, the game, the quest, the test” (Francis, 45). She then goes on to define her works and overall writing style, which furthered my wonders about her writing. I view her writing as deceptive too because in one instance you find yourself analyzing one way, but Butler makes you question your notion by placing an underpinning that conflicts with your interpretation.

However, pushing back on my discomfort with Butler’s writing, which is a lot of the time she creates an outside world that forces you to contemplate real struggles. Butler’s way of writing really gets people into conversations they do not want to speak about. I feel this is where we find the beauty in Butler’s writing.

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