Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [788]

Marcus threw up when he saw it. I made myself examine it, search it for something familiar, for certainty. Jay Garfield tried to stop me, and I shoved him away and told him to go to hell. I’m sorry for that, and I told him so later. But I had to know. — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 788

Note

Craft: the retrospective narration (‘I’m sorry for that, and I told him so later’) sits inside present-tense horror and produces a double exposure — the woman who apologized superimposed on the woman who shoved. ‘I made myself’ does the work of characterizing her whole method: will against revulsion.