59 pages • 1 hour read
Octavia E. ButlerA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.
Short Answer
1. Time travel is a popular science fiction idea, and it is usually presented as a fun adventure of curiosity and discovery. How does that change when the protagonist of the story has an identity that was historically oppressed and dehumanized, like Black people were under slavery?
Teaching Suggestion: The vast majority of time-travel stories are either a romp or headed toward an ironic twist, but Butler writes a grounded, realistic tale of survival around her sci-fi conceit. Getting students to think about the kinds of stories they see within a genre, particularly a genre that has a dearth of Black voices, will help them see that differences between the Black and white experience extend to the kinds of stories that are told and emphasize The Postmodern Blending of History and Science Fiction.
By Octavia E. Butler
Adulthood Rites
Octavia E. Butler
Bloodchild and Other Stories
Octavia E. Butler
Dawn
Octavia E. Butler
Fledgling
Octavia E. Butler
Parable of the Sower
Octavia E. Butler
Parable of the Talents
Octavia E. Butler
Speech Sounds
Octavia E. Butler
The Evening and the Morning and the Night
Octavia E. Butler
Wild Seed
Octavia E. Butler