Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [2211]

Harry’s expression had dissolved from hopeful to horrified to outraged. “Jesus God, do you think I’d do that! How could you think I’d do anything like that?” … “Em,” Harry said. He pitched his voice low and waited until she looked at him. “Are you telling me you believe I’d like a job pushing slaves around and taking away their children?” — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 2211

Note

The first line gives the emotional trajectory as three verbs in sequence (‘dissolved from hopeful to horrified to outraged’), and the second shows Harry re-enacting it deliberately: lowering his voice, waiting for eye contact, then restating the job in its true ugliness — ‘pushing slaves around and taking away their children’ — pinned onto the word ‘like.’ The scene’s indictment of Harry is that the accusation was plausible enough to need refuting at all.