User:Cruz314/sandbox

Citation Practice
Octavia Butler was shy as a child.

Research Journal Entry #1
On Monday September 21st 2015, in my ENG103 class, I learned the different concepts of using the Wikipedia page. I found it interested on how I can edit the page and having my own account to write and express information for others to gain knowledge about. Within the 4 hours and 25 minutes of class, I attain a lot of information about the course and what is expected from me and the entire class in order to pass the course with a good grade. I never knew that there is a lot of ways in making your information go viral for others to look upon and learn from you. I feel like having my own Wikipedia account and sharing my thoughts and ideas will make people understand and know about the information provided within this website, especially since Wikipedia is a free website where anybody can edit the information. This is and will be a great website to help others who don't have access to the internet and where they can access information on different people and issues that are happening in the world. Moreover, you can also interact with other users and incorporate their ideas into yours from what you learned and understood in what they have written on their page. In my opinion, I feel like this is a strong start in the use of having an account on a website where you can voice out your thoughts, ideas, feelings, and useful information where people can relate to what you have expressed. They should be able to follow the same footsteps as you in creating an account for them to voice out their notions as well. From understanding the description about the course to learning how to use the official page for this class to keep up with the assignments, and to formatting our own account for Wikipedia, I can say that I am going to gain a lot of knowledge in this ENG103 course and I will have a better comprehension on the author who wrote "Wild Seed", Octavia Butler. It's all about sharing and expressing our point of views on what we have read as a class and individually. Also, the judgments that we have based on what has been taught in the course.

Research Journal Entry #2
On Monday September 28th, 2015 I found class intriguing because we all learned how to sign our username at the end of a statement that we wrote. It's basically having our name put into a statement that was written in our own perspective. We also gain information on the use of secondary sources for our research paper for this class and any other classes. Secondary sources are other information on what others have to say about the primary text. I also learned that when writing the research paper for this course, we have to start our paper by using the primary text which will be Wild Seed then, we will have to provide and continue our argument with the secondary sources. We will be incorporating the information from the secondary sources in our papers. When presenting an argument on a research paper, you have to make sure that you introduce who you're going to talk about and what you're going to talk about. The readers have to know what the argument is going to be about in order for them to have a clear understanding on the points that you're trying to prove on the paper. In addition to writing the research paper, we will have to gather information, use it, then make an argument based on the information that was gathered. You have to look for sources that will make your points strong in the argument that you're trying to prove and knowing when to enter the conversation. While gathering information for the research paper, you have to make sure that you quote TWICE to make your reasons strong. However, towards the last half hour of class or so, professor Gallardo taught our class how to paraphrase and quote from interviews that Butler was a part of so we can become experts at doing this task in order for us to do it on our own.

Research Journal #3
On Monday October 5th 2015, I learned about the themes that are demonstrated in he novel, Wild Seed. The themes that we went over connects with what the characters are about and how they act in the story. As a class, we also went over paraphrasing and quoting in order to understand how to do it so we can be experts at doing this when writing our research paper. In my group, my partner and I gave feedback/criticism on another group's paraphrase and quoting so the other group can understand and gain knowledge on what they have to correct on what they wrote. Moreover, we also learned what goes into a research paper which is the sandwich method. The sandwich method includes the introduction, four body paragraphs, and the conclusion which is summarizing everything that was written in the research paper. We all have to make sure that we create topic sentences that connects back with our thesis statement from the last sentence of the introduction. If our topic sentences doesn't make sense then our ideas are going to be all over the place and professor Ximena is not going to understand what we're trying to express on our paper. Last but not least, professor Ximena gave everybody a new partner to work with in order to paraphrase the Wild Seed Analysis. The more we practice on the paraphrasing and quoting, the better everybody is going to get at it.

Research Journal Entry #4
On Wednesday October 14th 2015, in the beginning of class, I became knowledgeable in the components on the Style Guide in the WikiProjects Novels on the wikipedia page and understood how the guidelines were incorporated in the article for Kindred by: Octavia E. Butler. In my opinion, I feel like I have to understand the style guidelines in order to write a very well-organized paper for this ENG103 class and make sure that all the components that we, as a class reviewed today, is demonstrated when I write my paper. Moreover, I also viewed a version of the Wild Seed novel and as a class, we debated on whether or not it met the style requirements as it was presented for the Kindred novel. Kindred's style guidelines was a lot more stronger and better than Wild Seed. I also looked over the paraphrases that my classmates wrote on the two quizzes that we took for homework and figured out in what component of the style guidelines will perfectly fit in. However, I summarized a secondary source on what Orson Scott Card expressed about Wild Seed in How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy and what makes a good author write about science fiction and the novels that they write about and make readers have a better understanding on the meanings to it.

Research Journal Entry #6
On Monday October 26th 2015, my class and I were reviewing the sections that is incorporated for the article and the contribution to feminist thoughts. My professor gave us a lecture on the sections that was important for her to cover for us to have an understanding on what to write about in our papers. It is very relevant to know about how and why feminism came about and how it has became an effect and impact in the society. We were also finishing up research assignment #4 that was ordered for us to do for homework and having a discussion about the readings and what was the main points of the readings. However, as a class but individually, we started to do Research Assignment #3 and we had to read and summarize what we read and describe the main points. As well as copying 2-3 lines and choose which sentences should be quoted and why. In my opinion, this is a good practice because we already have an idea on what to do when it comes to us writing the paper and expressing our thoughts on it. As a class, we're learning the different concepts of what to do for our research paper and even though there's a lot of reading and research to do, we have to do it in order to pass this class but to have a clear comprehension on how to write an English research paper.

Research Journal Entry #10
On Monday November 23rd 2015 my class and I were working in teams to get our group work done and write down information on the assigned topic, based from the novel we read. My team and I had difficulty in expressing some thoughts on the background on "Wild Seed" because we had to find specific quotes to represent what we were expressing in the section that we were on. In addition, we also reviewed what we have to do for our first draft of our research papers that we will submit on Tuesday November 24th. In my opinion, writing the research paper is self-explanatory but the only thing that I find hard to do is looking for the quotes in the story that will indicate the description of my topic. Professor Ximena Gallardo went over what we have to incorporate in our papers and make sure that we use enough information to prove our argument in our papers.

Research Assignment #1
Octavia E. Butler was a famous African American woman who was a Science Fiction writer that wrote numerous of novels. She was born on June 22, 1947 but she passed away on February 24th, 2006. In her early ages of growing up, Butler suffered through segregation because of the cultural and ethnic diversity there was in her town. It was hard for her growing up in a place where there were white people around her and her mother who cleaned for them but mostly, they were being disrespected by them. In the time period that she was growing up, it was complicated because blacks were treated as slaves and they had to do everything for the white people in order to maintain their lives. In addition, she didn't feel comfortable talking to kids around her age because she was shy and she felt very insecure about herself. She was also an easy target for others to make fun of who she was. As time passed by, Octavia started to get hooked on science-fiction books and she took interest very fast because of her mother bringing her books and magazines that made Butler get her attention in reading. Although her mother wanted her to become something that will keep her in a dependable income, she worked in temporary jobs until she went to school and attended college at Pasadena City College and graduated in 1968. She received her Associate of Arts Degree with a focus in history. Surprisingly, Octavia's freshman year at her college, she won a short story contest in which she received her first payment of fifteen dollars.

As a young black woman that Butler was, she was doubted by her aunt Hazel expressing to Butler that she wouldn't be able to become a writer because it was stated that "Negroes can't be writers...." which made Butler feel hesitant on whether or not she should continue her passion in writing her stories. However, she sustained her passion in writing her stories and wanting to publish it so she asked her junior-high school science teacher if she can type the first manuscript in order to submit her story into a science fiction magazine. Personally, I ask myself, why would Octavia ask her science teacher to publish her story into a science magazine? It is because she has been writing many stories that was related to the science fiction genre. Butler wanted to make her writings go viral and have people become interested on what she has written. In my opinion. I noticed that she wanted to show others including her family, how passionate she was about her writing skills and the things that she was expressing herself at the time period that she was maturing.

Octavia E. Butler finally rises up to her success and she stopped working in temporary jobs because she was finally being recognized on the writings that she has expressed and described which eventually became stories. Her ideas and her feelings developed into stories that traveled all over the world and millions of people have read them and have looked up to her because of the struggle that she went through in segregation in her early years from growing up, from her being a teenager, and then her passing away forever. She tried to make her life easy by not letting the negativity of her society and others get to her and she just pushed herself to become the person that she wanted to be. She was confident on the African-American woman that she was as well as her art in the writing expression that she had in herself and she took it upon herself to make others see what she saw in herself. Octavia Butler's writings was a success and her career lives on as students and older adults read her science-fiction stories and relate to what she has written.

Research Assignment #2
Lynn, E. “Vampires Aliens, and Dodos"


 * One main point is that Wild Seed came to Africa in 1690 and it lasts in the New World until the Civil War took over.*There are no new goals for the science fiction principle and the subject matter of what it means to be human has Mary Shelley take interest on it.*It makes the question weird on what it means to be human because of the experiences that Doro had who is the demonstration of brotherhood that has been altered and demolished by his strong abilities.*Overall, Butler uses her historical morals to express the struggles of her ceaseless main characters that give a touch of sanity of an imagined future. The novel is forbidding but is not vicious.

Lines that should be Quoted:

1. "Doro's existence is obsessively dedicated to breeding a line of people with various psychic gifts, and for his people he is God. Anyanwu is forced to join the gene pool, to pass on her abilities of healing, shape-changing and great physical strength to Doro's people." I feel like this sentence should be quoted because it expresses how Doro is and the breeding that he has been doing to his people and it also describes how Anyanwu is going to be healing Doro's people with the strong skills that she has.

Pfeiffer, “Octavia Estelle Butler (b. 1947)"


 * The struggle in the novel, Wild Seed, is a exertion of male versus female than just having the image being black and white. *There are two main characters, who are Doro and Anyanwu, that are classic and genuine, trying to please the readers and have consideration on some type of level. *While Doro represents "perversity of male-dominated human history", Anyanwu represents "humanity’s destiny". This shows how the gender roles come into play in the story and how they overcome their control of their abilities that they bring upon others. * Doro and Anyanwu having different morals because they view and do things differently.

Lines that should be Quoted:

1. "He lives by taking, one after the other, the living bodies of people he chooses, who yield their consciousness to him when he takes their bodies, and die when he discards them". I feel like this sentence should be quoted because Doro's character is shown as a human being who acts like a monster by killing people and throwing them away. He lives off by the deaths of others and continues to do so because he feels like the less people that is, the better. 2. "Anyanwu is healer, mother to some of Doro's children, and owner of a Louisiana plantation when she changes her body to that of a white male." This sentence should be quoted because it shows the type of character Anyanwu is and how much of a helper she is by healing people and letting them do what they want without hurting one another. Not only is she the mother of Doro's children, but that is why she traveled to Louisiana and stood over there because of her plantation that she has. 3. "The relationship between Doro and Anyanwu dramatizes a fundamental conflict between the affinity a solitary immortal male and female might feel for one another in a world of mortals, and the hatred Anyanwu must feel toward a being who kills people, including his own children, without remorse". This sentence should be quoted because it is manifestation of the relationship that Doro and Anyanwu have and how differently they are especially since they're opposite genders and have power on people. Whether it is Doro killing people or Anyanwu healing and helping them. Doro has no shame on what he does to people and Anyanwu doesn't like that.

Bishop. M. “Wild Seed,”
 * Butler draws us to be certain of humanity of two ever-lasting characters that never die in the novel, Wild Seed. *In addition, Butler becomes a storyteller and psychologist when it comes to expressing about the relationship between Anyanwu and Doro. *Doro and Anyanwu are two incompatible characters who have talents that they present in the story. As Doro is the bad guy in the novel, becoming dangerous and harming people, Anyanwu is a pleasant character who is healing people along the way. *Moreover, Butler wants her readers to see what she sees and have them notice the cold-blooded behaviors and characteristics of the people that are in the story.

Line that should be Quoted:

1. "This novel, one of the oddest love stories you are ever likely to read, treats effectively of the enduring human conflicts between duty and desire, conscience and expediency". This sentence should be quoted because it is a fable that expresses about love and the people that are in it and the things that they face in order to accept each other's flaws for how the way they are. 2. "After Doro has either directly or indirectly brought about the deaths of several of those close to her, she surrenders first to an indifference that Doro finds maddening and then to a kind of passive pity for one whose immortality is contingent upon these and other deaths". This sentence should be quoted because Anyanwu has no choice but to accept him for all the killings he has done but they eventually become close after all the bad things he has committed to his people.

Research Assignment #3
Govan, S. Y. "Connections, Links, and Extended Networks: Patterns in Octavia Butler’s Science Fiction"


 * Science-fiction fans are noticing and appreciating Butler's work even though her stories are being judicious.
 * According to Butler, the world is revolved in the definition of power and the struggle in having it. Having different thoughts on people and the power that each can have.
 * Power is the expression and the main theme to all of her fables. Giving authority to form a plot and having confined concerns to associate with the novel.
 * In the fable, "Wild Seed", Anyanwu is looked as a God because she enriches her people by healing them and doing as much as she can for them. She is known to have survival skills in protecting herself from not dying especially when it comes towards, Doro. Doro looks Anyanwu as a "Wild Seed" because he wants her to add her genes to his "breeding stock". He wants to take control of her and make her do what he says.
 * "Wild Seed" is being presented as the black movement because Butler expresses the setting and characters in the novel that represent the time period of black people and having them travel to Africa and central Africa.
 * In addition, Anyanwu makes Doro come into realization about love and having him change to better himself.
 * Based on this quote, "Genes and bloodlines are important not as they bear on race or sex but as they bear on the development of psychic identity, on the enhancement of psionic talent", explains how the characters' development is based on their identity and the skills that they bring upon themselves. For example, Anyanwu has a talent to cure and help people while Doro, kills people and doesn't care about the world. It's not about their race or sex, but it's about how they present themselves, as human beings that they are and should act like.
 * Overall, Butler should be recognized as a unique writer who is voicing out her thoughts on the black movement and having a black presence in science-fiction and as a woman, establishing from new values for her own proposal.

Govan, S. Y. "Homage to Tradition: Octavia Butler Renovates the Historical Novel"


 * From historical novels to slave narrative, having a fantasy.
 * Having the association in science-fiction into injecting. Historical narratives specifically related to the African-American experience.
 * Africa being seen as a cultural scenery. Authentic experience within the African culture.
 * Anyanwu's "maternal" noticed as a cultural legacy. The Africa background of the story, the idea of cultural kinship networks, coming together from similar places.

Salvaggio, R. "Octavia Butler and the Science-Fiction Heroine"


 * Science-fiction being dominated by male authors who control and express masculine worlds. But for a couple of years now, women have been changing the domination of male writing science-fiction stories.
 * By women changing the control of the male category, they feel like they have a voice for others, such as men, to hear to what they have to express and understand what they're trying to demonstrate to the society.
 * There's a lot of male superiority that makes women seem and feel very low about themselves because women feel like their gender role is not heard or looked as much as they're supposed to. There should be an objective to women having freedom by having their voices heard out in whatever they have to express and making changes to better their living and not let or show men that they're in the bottom. Female and male rights should be equal, no matter what their differences are.
 * Butler does a great job by presenting and incorporating female roles that represent the track of the social affair.
 * In addition, Butler embodies the actions of the black women that is arrogated for white, male roles in "Wild Seed". Butler brings in white people into her novel because she knows that they're a threat to black people and she wants to show that by describing how they act towards black people and the effect that it has on black women and women, in general.
 * Everything that Salvaggio has voiced out throughout this article is explaining how sexist and racist can impact the world in a negatively manner.
 * Nevertheless, she also voices out the struggle to have power, the form of power and change. Butler describes these themes throughout her novel which makes her readers understand the effect that power has on the characters.
 * Although they are so many authors that mention and explain how males are heroes, Butler demonstrated otherwise in her novel.
 * Race and Gender roles seem to play a big task when it comes to her characters, Anyanwu and Doro, in "Wild Seed". Both characters are very different and display different emotions when it comes to their living environment.
 * Anyanwu is Butler's hero, not only as an individual, but as a woman hero that she is and well-represented in her novel. Anyanwu has strong traits that she shows others and she is very independent on what she does and the way she is.
 * Slavery is another theme that best demonstrates in "Wild Seed" and expresses the struggle within the black movement.
 * Overall, Butler has a powerful feminist viewpoint on how women are looked and judged as in the society. She felt like there should be equality between women and men and there should be humanity between both genders in the society. When it comes to dealing with race and gender roles, it's like a thought-provoking direction. You're changing your attitude to make or change something for the better.

Citations of the articles:


 * Govan, Sandra Y. "Connections, Links, and Extended Networks: Patterns in Octavia Butler's Science Fiction." Black American Literature Forum 18.2 (1984): 82-84. Web.
 * Govan, Sandra Y. "Homage to Tradition: Octavia Butler Renovates the Historical Novel." Melus 13.1/2 (1986): 79-96. Web.
 * Salvaggio, Ruth. "Octavia Butler and the Black Science-Fiction Heroine." Black American Literature Forum 18.2 (1984): 78; 80-81. Web.

Research Assignment #4
Duchamp, L.T. “‘Sun Woman’ or ‘Wild Seed?’ How a Young Feminist Writer Found Alternatives to White Bourgeois Narrative Models in the Early Novels of Octavia Butler.”


 * Continuing Butler's legacy by presenting and reading her novels more. She had such an impact on the world.
 * She uses unusual terms to make a readers explore deeper in what she's expressing in her fable, "Wild Seed". Wanting to give such a structure to the setting, plot, and characters of the story.
 * She also expresses the gender roles between a woman and a man; for instance: Doro is very controlling and kills people for a living while Anyanwu heals and helps people out which means that the more Doro was destroying people in his own will, Anyanwu was a passive character and took things as it came to her.
 * Although Anyanwu went for his bad intentions, she felt like she had no other choice but to do go along with him because of what he was capable of doing to her.
 * According to the actions of Doro and Anyanwu, they struggled for the power that they encountered together and overcame their struggle.
 * "Wild Seed" is a great example of the different views on gender, race, slavery sentiments which represents as Duchamp ideal because not only is the novel Science-Fiction but it also expresses the authority, domination, submissive, cognitive, and rational that the characters were. In addition, the character's actions showed these traits.
 * Duchamp also feels that the novel is a representation of major differences between gender roles and how society views them. There may be some similarities between Anyanwu and Doro, but there were differences that took long to resolve in the story. Doro was very controlling over people especially Anyanwu because he didn't want to lose her.

Lines that should be Quoted:

1. "If Buder had treated these differences as simply the context within which the conflict between Doro and Anyanwu unfolds, though the story would have been just as dramatic psychologically, it would also have been flatter: for the conflict would, then, simply have been the contest between two powerful beings, in which the ruthless, murderous male seeks to tame and enslave the humane and caring female."

This line should be quoted because it explains how intense the conflict was between Anyanwu and Doro. They were both authoritative in their own ways and Doro, as a male role that he plays, he felt that he should have control over a woman that had a soft-loving and caring heart. He took advantage of that until he finally realized that he was losing her. Anyanwu let him take her for granted because if she didn't let him, he would kill her and she didn't want that to happen.

Holden, R.J. "'I began writing about power because I had so little': The Impact of Octavia Butler's Early Work on feminist Science Fiction as a Whole (and on One Feminist Science Fiction Scholar in Particular)."


 * The author Holden, R.J. looks into detail about feminism notion in the gender and science-fiction genre.
 * Holden also mentions the black movement that Butler expresses throughout her story and how gender, race, and history has a major effect on black women because of who they are and where they come from.
 * Butler is known for describing about the feminism movement, which is based off of how Anyanwu's character is.
 * Butler creates these characters that act like they're robots and opposes identities that come clashing together and show the traits and behaviors that they have.
 * Furthermore, she also explains how her protagonists, Anyanwu and Doro, are fighters of their own struggle that they went through in their living environment.
 * While Anyanwu is a character who personifies deep connections to the human life by helping and healing people, Doro is a character who breeds people to kill them and he feels as if he lives in a superhumanizied race. Anyanwu continues to be the non-human being that she is and remains being human while she helps out Doro in becoming one. Although it was a struggle between the both of them and individually, they got passed their struggle and continued being together.

Lines to be Quoted:

1. "For this reason, Butler ended up as the only writer with a chapter to herself in my dissertation. Butler's choice of black female protagonists, emphasis on biological technologies and disease, and incorporation of Mrican-American history, forces readers and writers of feminist sf to step back and acknowledge historical, cultural, and socio-economic differences among women."

This line should be quoted because Butler clearly speaks upon the black feminist movement to express the history behind it all and have people understand what they went through in the real world. She wrote it as a Science-Fiction novel to tell a history that not many people know about neither do they know the deep meaning of it. Black women are treated as slaves because not only were they easy to take advantage of, but because of where they came from. They weren't respected neither was in favor of black women and how they were. In "Wild Seed", there is a lot of acknowledgment in the historical, cultural, and socio-economic among women because of their struggle in fitting in within the society and the rights that the men had that didn't have. Black women and women, in general, voiced out their feelings to show that they needed their rights not only because they were women but they are human beings that need to be taken into consideration and have their voices be heard out as needed. There has been a lot of differences that women had and continue to deal with because they don't have enough power as much as men do and they are never acknowledged for what they do.

Research Assignment #5
Whiteside, Briana. "Octavia Butler's Uncanny Women: Structure and Characters in The Patternist Series."


 * Throughout my reading on this article, Butler has been a portrayal of black women and has demonstrated the black movement by being the first person to write about black women. By incorporating the history of the black movement, she added a black female protagonist that would represent the struggle that they went through. In the her novel, "Wild Seed", Anyanwu was her black female protagonist.
 * Whiteside expresses that Anyanwu was like a God-like because she healed and helped people. That was her favorite thing that she has always done and she felt like she didn't need nobody's help when it came to her having power. Within time, she gained strength on her own which gave her power to do anything that she wanted to do. It is proven that Anyanwu's authority is a lot stronger than other black women.
 * Furthermore, Butler has signified that her characters are mystical, especially Anyanwu, because of her spiritual ways in healing people and helping them in her own way of power. However, Butler's characters had no way in getting out of their anxiousness when it was time to deal with slavery and the people that were dying or getting killed.
 * Anyanwu is not dependent on other standards of power because she's her own healer as well as she is to others and eventually, she gained enough power to do as she please. She didn't do what Doro did which was kill people with the power given but she saved them which gave her more strength and courage. Within time, that is how Anyanwu obtained the power that Doro strongly believes like he gave to her.
 * Butler further explains that her characters are unnatural because of the power that they had which combined with the essential qualities that black women have in the literature of Science-Fiction.

Lines that should be Quoted:

1. "Each character, whether it is having n having a darker skin color from others or the ability to read minds, is extra human because they do not comfortably fit within the society in which they live. They are capable of protecting others, exemplify a great amount of strength, but never express the need to be protected." (Whiteside, 8) These lines should be quoted because Whiteside explains how Butler demonstrated how the characters in her novel were treated very differently because of their race. The characters that she mentioned were African American. Butler has indicated that African American has came into unity by protecting one another but they never felt like it was important enough to voice out the necessity of their immunity. Although black people have been treated wrongfully in the society, they are still unprotected as much and are not treated equally. They are always being targeted just because of their complexion color and the way they present themselves to others.

2. ". Butler’s characters are empowerment characters for other black women; they provide a sense of hope to the non-supernatural characters in their stories. They are black feminist characters who seem to motivate other women who may not be as strong mentally, physically, and emotionally as they are." (Whiteside, 9) These lines should be quoted because Butler clearly expresses that black women have more of an impact than other women and they seem to help other women who may be struggling with being themselves. In my opinion, I feel like black women have been looked as strong human beings in the society because of the slavery that they went through, being treated unequally, and being judged all the time. Black women have been broken down many of times and that is why they help other women out so they don't feel like they're alone in their living environment. Unfournetly, black women are not looked as helping people. They are looked as abnormal people who don't fit right with others in the society. Overall, they are strong motivators who have been through a lot of issues and have overcame them. They have became an inspiration to others, especially Butler who is a African American woman that has been criticized a lot but has became successful in her life.

3. "Butler’s healing women challenge "normal" healing rituals by providing women who are designed to heal." (Whiteside, 18) This line should be quoted because it represents how Anyanwu is like as a healer and the challenge that she faces in order to be that character, that woman who saves people even when they're at their worst. She's a healer to her people and a healer to the society. It's a "normal" thing for her to.

Wild Seed, Chapters 1-4
Throughout my reading in chapters 1-4, I noticed that the setting is in Africa in the 17th century and this is where Butler was from. It was a coincidence that the American slave trade was occurring at that time period which I can relate to when Butler and her mother were disrespected by the whites. And the reason to it was because they were black and the whites felt like they were very useful to take advantage of. The protagonist in the story is a lady name, Anyanwu and right off the bat, I can tell that she is a spiritual and strong woman that has very low self-esteem about herself. She feels like she has no ability in doing what she wants to do and she is very aggressive in ways that cannot be controlled. Although Anyanwu is very old and lives her life for longer years, she has given her life to help the sick individuals that need close attention. Moreover, another character that is represented as a perpetual character is Doro, who is similar to Anyanwu who lives for longer years and has low abilities in doing things. Although there is not much to say about Doro, he sees Anyanwu as his wife when he eventually finds her in the village in order for them to create and gain powers for one another to destroy others. By having them destroy others who live in the village, Doro will use a seed to boost blood relations in having the capacity on ruining peoples' lives so they can live their lives freely. But before they do that, Doro has to create a plan to inhabit the seed so his plan can work. In my opinion, it looks like Doro wants to control Anyanwu and make her do bad things and influence people in a negative manner by having her be in his life and just simply be cold-hearted in whatever they decide to do together. Anyanwu is in a bad path with Doro because he is a representation of humankind and the things that he is planning to do towards the human beings is just wrong. In spite of Anyanwu having an open, good, loving soul, it is a possibility that she will continue to fall for him and she doesn't know that it is for the wrong reasons. What I found very interesting is that Doro creates a colony in which he wants to have Anyanwu be a part of in the faith that she will be able to show off her talents to teach kids and have them learn from her skills in order to merge their abilities with other strengths that they can use. I wonder if Doro will continue to dominate Anyanwu and influence her to do other things that she wouldn't feel comfortable in doing? Will Anyanwu fall for his tricks or will she realize what he has been doing to her soul?

Wild Seed, Chapters 5-6
As I was reading chapters 5 & 6, I found it astonishing that slaves were merging into America on a ship. I can compare this to when the Titanic ship was heading towards America and there was people on it until the ship sank down. In this scenario, the slaves were treated with respect but as they were on their way to America, they wanted to go back to their land. They never wanted to tell Doro that they wanted to go home because they knew how he would get. He wouldn't want to let them go anyway. A new character joins in with Anyanwu and Doro in these two chapters, who's name is Issac. While Anyanwu, Doro, Issac, and the slaves are on the ship, they are confronted with a storm and as the storm is approaching, Issac maneuvers his strengths to take charge of the ship from getting shipwreck especially since the winds were very strong. However, Anyanwu is faced with another Doro's sons, who's name is Lale. She is convinced that she has to kill Lale which she ends up doing because not only was she fearful of him killing her with his thoughts overcoming him that he had for her, so she felt like she had to do what was best. Anyanwu defended herself in order for her to meal on his flesh to improve her powers again. When Anyanwu arrived to America, she was introduced to the culutre, how the society was like, and she was greeted by Indians who were the people that had issues with Doro which he did not mention about. There's a moment when Doro manifest his plan for Anyanwu to marry Doro's son, Issac, and make children with each other. She is scorned by what Doro expects her to do and she doesn't want to give in. However, if she resfues to not marry Issac, Doro will kill her. Eventually, she is influenced that the alliance between her and Issac will defend and guard the rest from danger that is bound to happen in the environment that they're in.

Wild Seed, Chapters 7-10
During my reading on Chapters 7-10, after 50 years passing by, Issac, the son of Doro, has aged very quickly. I found it shocking and it was unexpected to have read that not does Anyanwu has five children with Issac but she also has eight other children with Doro. I question myself as to why Anyanwu would be so disgusting to have children with 2 men that are father and son and raise them as if she never did anything wrong. It was disturbing for me to take in what I read because I wasn't expecting for her to do that to herself even though she was probably forced into having sexual intercourse with Doro and Issac but in someway, she could have stopped it and not have so many babies, especially if it's from two different men. However, she loves Issac more than she loves Doro. While she adores Issac, she hates Doro. Doro has been very forceful with Anyanwu in having her commmit different things and be with him and Issac at the same time. As I kept reading on through the pages, I was actually right. Doro put a lot of pressure on Anyanwu for her to have sex with him and a guy name, Thomas. Although Anyanwu didn't know Thomas, he presented himself as a thoughtfulness human being but was a troubled guy. After Doro and Thomas had sex with Anyanwu, Doro ended up killing Thomas as a retribution for Anyanwu's arrogance. On the other hand, I come to find out that Thomas, the guy that Doro killed, has a daughter name, Nweke. She is just like her father but it seems like she does not have self-control with her skills. Unintentionally, Nweke triggers Issac to die. Anyanwu tried to cure him and reconcile his body but her effort didn't work as strong as she thought it would. Furthermore, Anyanwu is afraid that Doro will kill her because she is not accepting to be with him. Since she knows that her and Issac are over because of his death, she becomes cold-hearted and her children is left hanging. She is on the run from Doro because she knows that he is going to go after her and kill her because of her denial in not being with him. Despite in in her not being accepting of Doro, she is looked as a unloyal, worthless human being.

Wild Seed, Chapters 11-Epilogue
During my reading in chapters 11-epilogue, Doro is trying to locate and is hunting down Anyanwu because she ran away and she doesn't want Doro to find her. Especially since she feels he is very dangerous to be around with. Surprisingly, Anyanwu was found in Louisiana, where she serves her time for people in the community. As I visualized Anyanwu and her strength in healing people, she is helping them out as much as she can so they don't feel the need to harm one another. Time passed by and Doro finally found Anyanwu and values her for who she is and he doesn't want to lose her again. Although Doro is relieved to see her again, he still wants her to follow his rules and what he has planned for her. He expects Anyanwu to have compliance and have her go along with what he says. However, Doro is up to no good again and he brings another guy name, Joseph, who is his son and he wants him to marry Margaret, who is Anyanwu's daughter. Although Doro wanted his son to marry Margaret, Joseph trys to rape Helen, who is Anyanwu's youngest daughter. Joseph has strong skills and enough power to influence human's bodies and their actions that come along with it. Basically, he would make Helen have a sexual intercourse with him only because he will have authority in her body and in her mind to do so. Shockingly, Stephen, who is Anyanwu's son, came to the rescue and avoid it from happening and hurt Joseph very badly. Unfortunately, the same day that Stephen hurt Joseph badly, Joseph got back at him and killed him but he tried to cover up, making it seem like he didn't do it and it was just an accident. In my opinion, I see this as double-standard because sine Stephen was defending his sister and avoiding her from getting raped, he beat up Joseph yet Joseph got back at him and ended up killing him. Without him saying a word to anybody so it will make it seem like it was a sudden death,but soon somebody very close to Stephen was going to find out. Finally, Anyanwu found out what happened and she notices that Joseph also attempts to kill her youngest daughter, Helen. Nevertheless, Anyanwu kills him and saves her daughter even though there is nothing she can do about her son's death. As I'm reading on, Margaret comes to light about her knowing Joseph and his way of character and she ends up killing herself because she knows that she is the next person to be killed and taken advantage by him before she gets killed. After losing two children, Anyanwu feels empty inside her heart and leaves for about a month out of the community. To fast forward, Doro realizes how Anyanwu feels and he continues to take her flaws for granted and uses that to his convenience but he trys not to hurt anybody while doing whatever he is trying to achieve. Anyanwu is hypnotized by Doro and his way of being but usually, she would fight him off. Furthermore, Anyanwu plans to commit suicide and Doro trys to talk her out of it. He wouldn't know what he will do if he was to lose her and he would feel very lonesome if he was to lose her. Overall, Doro and Anyanwu became close and they are each other's soul mate. Astonishingly, Doro stops using Anyanwu for breeding and she continues to assist him to look for more seeds. In my point of view, they want to find seeds that will represent their journey together and their plans on what to do for their people.

Orson Scott Card on Butler's craft in Wild Seed
Wild Seed in How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy


 * One name should be used for each character, there shouldn't be more than one name used for the same character nor should the author use the words "he" or "she". It would be confusing for the author to do this.
 * Two characters shouldn't be mentioned immediately because it will make the reader confused on who and what they're reading about.
 * Don't give the information away so soon. * The phrase "seed village" is not given a meaning yet because Butler doesn't want the reader to stop and think about the meaning of it. She doesn't expect the readers to know right away.
 * Eventually, Butler explains and describes the terms throughout the pages in the story. Also, you shouldn't be expected to have knowledge on phrases that the author didn't explain yet.* Dropping infrequent phrases as the point of view of the character thinks of them and expressing it later on in the story. *Having different visualizations on the plot and themes that have been read and picturing it one by one, and not having the images all combined together. It wouldn't make sense if it was like that. * However, Butler is not being uncertain on what she is expressing in her story. She is being straightforward on what she is writing about for her readers to understand the overall meaning to her tale. * Overall, it is highly suggested to choose one of Octavia E. Butler's fables and read them carefully in order to educate yourself on what the meaning is and have a clear comprehension on how and why she wrote the novel.