Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [2186]

“Not soon.” Bankole shrugged. “Not until we have enough for ourselves. But if we can get dogs, they’ll help us keep the rest of our goods.”

“I wouldn’t give a dog nothing but a bullet or a rock,” Mora said. “I saw dogs eat a woman once.”

— , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 2186

Note

Two lines, and the group’s whole history is implied between them: Bankole’s hedged practicalities (‘Not soon,’ the shrug, ‘the rest of our goods’) versus Mora’s single witnessed image, which answers an argument about resource allocation with a corpse. The dogs are simultaneously an asset, a luxury they can’t afford, and a memory of atrocity — the same object, three incompatible valences.