Octavia Butler

Butler is a writer that likes to use speculative fiction in her stories. She normally jumps right into the story without giving the reader any background information. This can be seen in The Evening and the Morning and the Night. The protagonists in this story (Lynn and Alan) are affected by Duryea-Gode Disease (DGD) and their parents were also. Lynn's father killed her mother and then himself and Alan's mother is in a type of home called Dilg. Up until recently, Alan did not even know if his mother was alive.

When Lynn and Alan go to visit his mother, they learn that this is not a hospital. It is more of a place where they focus all of the patient's energy on creating and inventing new things. The walls are covered in art and many of the doors are locked with p.v. locks that one of the patients invented. People diagnosed with DGD mutilate themselves to some degree and they all at some point drift into a world of their own. Thus, the question comes up if people who are diagnosed should have children, for it is genetic. If someone who has this disease were to have children they would run a great risk of passing it on to their children. Alan completely disregarded the possibility of having children. Lynn never agreed nor disagreed with Alan. She knew her consequences if she were to have a child but she does not want anyone tell her she can't. She wants to keep her rights and choices and make her own decision.

The statement that Butler was trying to make in this story was that we have to be more understanding of those with disabilities/diseases. We should not have to judge them just because they may look or act differently. In a way, they are the exact same as us and they are capable of things we can only imagine.

-Bethany Davis (Post #8)