Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [507]

Curtis Talcott says the new Iturbe family will get half-a-garage to live in after they marry. Jorge’s sister Celia Iturbe Cruz and her husband and baby have the other half. Two couples, and not one paying job among them. The best they could hope for would be to move into some rich people’s compound as domestic servants and work for room and board. There’s no way to save any money or ever do any better. — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 507

Note

The economics are made concrete through arithmetic of space: a garage split in half, two families occupying it. ‘Two couples, and not one paying job among them’ is a fragment doing the work of a verdict, and ‘the best they could hope for’ reframes servitude as aspiration — the ceiling of their future is room and board.