1st thoughts

The prologue captured my attention right away. I was surprised by how much excitement Octavia Butler was able to fit into a few short pages. By simply reading the prologue, one can already tell that this book will be filled with adventure, fear, and confusion. It is evident to me that while Dana's travels start out short, they will escalate throughout the book until finally resulting in massive amounts of lost time. The more Dana helps, the more she will be needed. She is depicted as a strong woman: one who has a good sense of priority. She is shown in sharp contrast to Rufus' mother, who is the stereotypical woman in distress. Dana knows that she has no time to think about how she appeared by a random river. She instead uses her first instincts in knowing that she must save the drowning boy. I believe that as the book goes on, her strength will increase to a high level. Once she has reached this level, she will either have to use her strength for one final heroic gesture or she will break and give up. It should be interesting to see how it plays out.