Talk:Survivor (Octavia Butler novel)

"Native" nations vs. "human" nations
Nareek, thanks for the edits. I don't feel too strongly about using "native" versus "non-human" to describe the Kohn, but lean slightly towards "native." Although the Kohn have fur, camoflage abilities, and claws, it's kind of a close case whether they're human. The Kohn might be just an extraordinarily divergent expression of an otherwise human genetic structure, which would explain the cross-fertility, or Butler may intend for them to be non-human, there's no way to tell. TheronJ 20:53, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
 * 1) Obviously, they are cross-fertile with humans, and there is no reason to believe that the mixed Missionary-Kohn children are sterile.
 * 2) Alanna herself ultimately concludes that the Kohn are "human", but she may be speaking metaphorically.


 * If the word "human" is debated in the novel, then we shouldn't use it either way. "Extraterrestrial" seems to work.


 * I just added an edit to note that Survivor is the only one of Butler's novel's not brought back into print--which I know because it's the only one I haven't read. Nareek 03:30, 16 December 2006 (UTC)


 * It's good - probably not worth the $200+ you would have to pay to get it on Ebay, but certainly worth an interlibrary loan request. TheronJ 15:36, 19 December 2006 (UTC)