Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [550]

This morning’s sermon was on the ten commandments with extra emphasis on “Honor thy father and thy mother,” and “Thou shalt not steal.” I think Dad got rid of a lot of anger and frustration, preaching that sermon. Keith, tall, stone-faced, looking older than his thirteen years, kept his anger. I could see him keeping it inside, holding it down, choking on it. — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 550

Note

The sermon as proxy: Dad’s anger leaves the pulpit while Keith’s stays put, so the same emotion is divided between two bodies. The three-part verb chain ‘keeping it inside, holding it down, choking on it’ moves from concealment to self-destruction in a way that makes the boy’s silence physical. ‘Stone-faced’ placed before the reveal of his age tells us he looks old because he is already hardening.