Octavia E. Butler’s Novel, Fledgling: Societal Fear of Shori

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“How could it feel so good when it should be disgusting and painful?” (Butler 75) These words spoken by Theodora, an elderly white woman, about her symbiotic and sometimes sexual relationship with Shori, a black “elfin little girl” (Butler 75), express the societal fear that Octavia Butler exposes in her characterization of Shori as a monster. Shori is a monster because her very existence is a testament to the blurring of historically concrete lines. She is androgynous, vampire and human, black and white, a child with adult strength and urges. Shori’s relationship with her human symbionts and other Ina usually defies normal standards of behavior and acceptance by using pleasure instead of pain as a mechanism of control and abandoning traditional ideas about gender, sexuality, and crossbreeding.

One fear that Octavia Butler illustrates in the relationship, between Shori and her human symbionts, is the overwhelming influence that pleasure has over human beings. The euphoric feeling inspired by the venom of the Ina combined with several health benefits cause humans to leave their normal ways of life and adapt to a foreign culture. Brook, a symbiont that Shori inherited from her father articulates this point when she says, “They take over our lives. And we let them because they give us so much satisfaction and…just pure pleasure.” (Butler 127) Another example of the use of pleasure as a means of domination is visible in the way that humans become highly sensitive to the suggestions of Ina once they have bitten them. It is only after Shori bites her proposed assassin that she is able to question him. After exposure to her venom, the man has no choice but to answer her questions. This embodies the fear that people act against their...

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...cause she is, a crossbreed Shori is stronger than humans, more sensitive to smell and sound than humans are and less susceptible to the elements. She possesses qualities that make her superior to regular Ina, She can stay awake during the day, sleeps lighter, and her dark skin is not as vulnerable to sunburn. It is Shori’s enhanced human and Ina capabilities that allow her to keep the Gordon family safe against attackers. The fact that most Ina see Shori’s crossbreeding as a help and not a hinderence questions the American society’s fear of miscegenation and genetic engineering.

The Ina and their symbionts represent an alternate society of “other” people because they allow the lines between monster and friend, male and female, black and white, as well as vampire and human to become obscure.

Work Cited

Butler, Octavia E. Fledgling. New York: Seven Stories, 2005.

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