47 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.
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
The story opens with the narrator, an adolescent boy named Gan, describing an evening at home with his mother, brother and sisters on what he calls his last night of childhood. A strange visitor, T’Gatoi, has come over to give his family several eggs. The eggs prolong life and promote health, but Gan notices his mother won’t have any. The eggs lull the family into a peaceful, drug-like state, and the narrator states that he gets one egg all to himself to eat. He is close to T’Gatoi, apparently laying flush against her as he sips the liquid from his egg. He feels closely-bonded to her, and enjoys being her favorite, though he doesn’t know why. T’Gatoi is a government official: “It was an honor, my mother said, that such a person had chosen to come into the family. My mother was at her most formal and severe when she was lying” (2).
Humans, called Terrans, live on a preserve on the alien planet with the Tlic, the planet’s natives. Humans are farmed out to the needy or given to the wealthy for breeding by T’Gatoi’s political party: “Thus, we were necessities, status symbols, and an independent people” (3).
By Octavia E. Butler
Adulthood Rites
Adulthood Rites
Octavia E. Butler
Dawn
Dawn
Octavia E. Butler
Fledgling
Fledgling
Octavia E. Butler
Kindred
Kindred
Octavia E. Butler
Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Sower
Octavia E. Butler
Parable of the Talents
Parable of the Talents
Octavia E. Butler
Speech Sounds
Speech Sounds
Octavia E. Butler
The Evening and the Morning and the Night
The Evening and the Morning and the Night
Octavia E. Butler
Wild Seed
Wild Seed
Octavia E. Butler