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I wasn't trying to work out my own ancestry. I was trying to get people to feel slavery. I was trying to get across the kind of emotional and psychological stones that slavery threw at people.
Octavia Butler
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Octavia Butler emphasizes the importance of understanding the emotional impact of slavery rather than merely focusing on genealogical facts.

In this quote, Octavia Butler articulates her intention to evoke a deep emotional and psychological understanding of the horrors of slavery. She suggests that the legacy of slavery is not just a matter of historical facts or ancestry but is instead tied to the profound emotional scars it has left on individuals and communities. By urging people to feel the weight of these experiences, she highlights the need for empathy and awareness regarding the continuing effects of slavery today.

Themes

SlaveryEmotional ImpactAncestryPsychological ScarsEmpathy

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a discussion about the historical implications of slavery in a classroom setting.

More from Octavia Butler

What I'm working on now - I'm back to fantasy, although considering that it's me, I'm turning it into a kind of science fantasy. It's a vampire story - but my vampires are biological vampires. They didn't become vampires because someone bit them; they were born that way.
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Slavery was a long slow process of dulling.
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Here I was into astronomy, and here into anthropology, and there I go into geology. It was much more fun to be able to research and write about whatever I wanted to.
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There is no end To what a living world Will demand of you.
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You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.
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Better to stay alive," I said. "At least while there's a chance to get free." I thought of the sleeping pills in my bag and wondered just how great a hypocrite I was. It was so easy to advise other people to live with their pain.
Octavia ButlerRead

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