Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [325]

I frowned. How could I reach her. “This isn’t a joke, Jo.” … “What is it then?” She ate the last section of her orange. “What do you want me to say?” … “I want you to be serious. I realize I don’t know very much. None of us knows very much. But we can all learn more. Then we can teach one another. We can stop denying reality or hoping it will go away by magic.” — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 325

Note

Butler renders Lauren’s persuasion as an ascending anaphoric ladder — ‘we can all learn more… we can teach one another… we can stop denying’ — so the argument’s shape performs the mutual teaching it describes. The pivot is the small pivot of self-diminishment (‘I realize I don’t know very much’) placed before the claim, which disarms Jo and makes the escalation feel like an invitation rather than a lecture. The orange-eating gesture in between is pure deflection, giving Jo something to do with her hands while she resists.