Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [299]

“And that’s what will happen for a while. I wish I could guess how long. We’ll be hit and hit and hit, then the big hit will come. And if we’re not ready for it, it will be like Jericho.” — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 299

Note

The triple repetition “hit and hit and hit” is the whole escalation in miniature: attrition, attrition, then one event that is categorically different. Ending on “Jericho” converts a collapse of walls into a scriptural shorthand the community would recognize without explanation, which is exactly Lauren’s problem — she needs a shared vocabulary for a catastrophe her neighbors have decided not to name.