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Essay topics, essay writing: Research Paper On Octavia Butler - 1669 words

.. ng more widely read today. Butler could have illustrated the beatings and physical abuse in more graphic detail to give a greater impact on the reader. Slavery even has its effects in 1976. The scars Dana brings back to 1976 are symbolic of the scars slavery has left on contemporary society. Some will heal with time and some would never heal.

Others will scab over and be just below the surface, but they are all there. But in another sense healing has taken place. Dana is married to a white man, Kevin, who is transported to 1815 with her once. While there they both fall easily into the pattern or act of slaveowner and slave mistress, roles they must assume to survive. 8The ease with which they fall into these roles brings about a greaterconsciousness of their ethnicity. But through this relationship Butler leaves the reader with hope.

Dana's love for Kevin is what really pulls her through the most agonizing terrors she faces and in the end gives her the strength to survive this horrible test.Analysis of CriticismCarl Burris from Kings Mountain, NC 28086Although I have several novels by Miss Butler in my library, this is the first one I have read. The ambivalence of the male protagonist, Rufus, was bewildering. If we are products of our environment, he surely was. He learned lessons well from his Daddy. The more Dana helped him, the crueler he became.

The scenes where punishment was dealt out to the slaves were very realistic. The beatings especially could feel the sting of the whip as it was being welded. The characters were well defined and the plot moved smoothly and the dialogue was crisp and to the point. The ending was inevitable, but he journey was worth the trip. (1)9Orrin Judd Hanover from NH, USA To me, one of the most instructive and disappointing aspects of the Modern Library's Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century was the relative absence of what we'll call genre fiction.

There were only two mysteries--The Postman Always Rings Twice and The Maltese Falcon. There were no Westerns. And, except for the dystopic classics A Clockwork Orange, Brave New World, 1984 and Animal Farm, there were no Science Fiction or Fantasy novels. Now among others, this means that Raymond Chandler's Lew Archer series, J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Frank Herbert's Dune were all left off of the list.

Never mind how far superior these books are to most of the dreck that did make the cut, what really stands out is the fact that high brow critics still fail to take authors seriously if they work in these mediums. This is truly inexplicable. It seems that these genres still bear an indelible stigma from the days of the pulp magazines. The intelligent appear to be incapable of separating these often vital and fascinating stories from their humble beginnings. In a more just world, Toni Morrison's Beloved would be 10ignored because it simply isn't very good and Octavia Butler's Kindred would be celebrated, regardless of its time travel elements, because it is truly excellent. The premise of this fine novel is that a modern black woman is thrown backwards in time whenever her white, slave-owning ancestor's life is threatened. Beginning in his childhood she is repeatedly called upon to preserve him, that she might one day be born.

To a certain and disconcerting degree, she eventually becomes complicitous in the system of slavery and in this master's action of getting a slave with child. Butler does not bother trying to explain the mechanics of time travel, nor does she seek some elaborate justification for why these events occur. Instead, she simply utilizes this plot device to raise really troubling ethical questions and to give the reader an immediate experience of the horrifying legacy of slavery, which so often seems quite remote. This is, by any measure, a great and haunting book. He gives it a GRADE: A. (2)Brandi a freshman Honors English student.

April 4, 2001. "On going challenge"11While being assigned to read one of many novels for my Honors English, freshman high school class, my friends and I chose 'Kindred.' As I began reading the book, I felt as though I had truly made the wrong decision, and the book was extremely not at all my type. As the second chapter arose, I was so into the book I couldn't for a second put it down. The intense struggles of a African American woman; Dana, being sent back in time to save her ancestor truly fascinated me. This is a wonderful book, and remember: Not only not to judge a book by it's cover, but also.. don't take the first bite and consider it done. (3)Tamara from Toronto, Ontario"Compulsively readable, yet unsatisfying" October 31, 2000 Despite the fact that the ideas and events in Kindred make it 'unputdownable,' the writing was a disappointment. I couldn't quite shake the feeling that I was reading a book targeted at a 'young adult' readership -- one that needs to be educated about American racial history.

When Dana makes a comment about slave life then follows it up with 'or so I read in my book,' it comes across as contrived. 12Time travel wasn't used as anything except a plot device. It would have been nice to see some exploration of the reasons Dana gets called back to Rufus, other than the fact that he's always in trouble. I realize that this is secondary to the plot, but if Dana exists in the future, Rufus must have been alive long enough to father her ancestor -- without her help. I had a little trouble getting past that.

I found the changes in Rufus interesting and believable -- he grows from a likeable little boy, into the ruthless, self-involved man he has to be in order to continue living as a slave owner. It would have been great if there had been more detail about Kevin's experiences in the five years he was stuck in the past. It would be interesting to compare how the two white men dealt with their race and their relationship with black people. (4)As you can see most of the critics of Octavia Butlers Books like her writing but some are always wanting more for example Tamara fromToronto, Ontario. Tamara says that the book was readable but yet unsatisfying and one of the reasons why was that the book itself was simple and it was more for a young adult audience. As I looked through amazon.com and bn.com I saw that most of the reviews for Miss Butlers books were very 13good. Octavia Butler has brings up a great dispute about what her shortstory, 'Bloodchild,' is really about.

Some critics say that the short story is about slavery but others say that the story is about love. (5)Influences on Society Miss Octavia Butler has a big influence on society. She brings all of these fiction stories and makes the critics wonder. Her books cause disputes between whether they are love or slavery related. I think slavery is a big topic in today's society, not slavery but what had happened in the past with discrimination and slavery.

Most of Miss Butler's books are targeted towards the young adult audiences and this should be a reason for us to go and grab one her books and give our own opinion whether she is talking about slavery or love in her book "BLOODCHILD". One of the biggest effect Octavia has on society I think is the way she thinks and writes fictions for example the book blood child is about a family of humans and the dominator of this supposed family, a female alien Tlic. Supposedly in the story human race comes to an end due to a nuclear war and the remaining humans on earth are 14captured by aliens and taken to another planet. The funny thing is that inorder for those aliens to reproduce they need humans to plant their eggs and feed off of them.I think this is a very creative and controversial story and how this has an effect on society in a way that it might influence someone to be creative as her and come up with stories, themes, art and creative ideas to help human civilization. Today in human civilization there is a lot of hate and discrimination and I think she might help influence society by bringing us human beings to collaborate with each other and share ideas or just thoughts as she does in her books. 15Footnotes1.http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/ stores/detail/-/books/0807083054/customer-reviews/ 2/104-8249468-8516748?show=-submittime2.http://www .amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/- /books/0807083054/customer-reviews/1/104-8249468-8 516748?show=-submittime3.http://shop.barnesandnobl e.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?userid=1E7ST5K6K5 &mscssid=EGWXS1GJHM369NB13VC9XK8X9C7H43GD&isbn=080 7083054&displayOnly=creviews4.http://www.amazon.co m/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0807083054/ customer-reviews/1/104-8249468-8516748?show=-submi ttime16BibliographyBeal, Frances M. 'Black Women and the Science Fiction Genre: Interview with Octavia Butler.' Black Scholar.

1986 Mar.-Apr., 17:2. 14-18.Butler, Octavia E. 'Bloodchild.' Bloodchild and Other Stories. New York: Seven Stories Press, 1996. 1-32.

Kenan, Randall. 'An Interview with Octavia Butler.' Callaloo: A Journal of African-American Arts and Letters. Baltimore, MD (Callaloo). 1991 Spring, 14:2. 495-504. A BRIEF CONVERSATION WITH OCTAVIA E. BUTLERhttp://www.plcmc.lib.nc.us/novello/1999/list en/obutler.htmESSAY ON OCTAVIA BUTLERhttp://www.towanda.com/sela/essay.htmOctavia Butler's Xenogenesis Trilogy: A Biologist's Response by Joan Slonczewski, presented at SFRA, Cleveland, June 30, 2000 http://www2.kenyon.edu/depts/biology/slonc/books/b utler1.htmlXenogeneis Patterns of Octavia Butler http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/butler/butler octavia0.htmlVoices from the Gaps Woman Writers of Colorhttp://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/OctaviaButl er.htmlOctavia E Butler works and more.http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Oct avia E Butler.htmOnline Literary Criticism Collection Octavia E. Butler http://ipl.sils.umich.edu/cgi-bin/ref/litcrit/litc rit.out.pl?au=but-61617.

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