Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [334]

“You answer too fast. Go home and look again. And like I said, use your imagination. Any kind of survival information from encyclopedias, biographies, anything that helps you learn to live off the land and defend ourselves. Even some fiction might be useful.” — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 334

Note

A nice instance of Lauren’s method as a list that keeps widening its own categories — encyclopedias, biographies, ‘anything… even some fiction’ — ransacking the ordinary household shelf for emergency use. The verbs are physical and unromantic: ‘live off the land,’ ‘defend ourselves.’ It also quietly foreshadows that fiction (this book included) is survival equipment.