How we cite our quotes: The main text of the story is cited (Chapter.Paragraph). The date headers are not counted as paragraphs. The verses in the chapters with a single passage from the narrator's religious texts are cited (Chapter.Verse.Line#). In chapters with multiple passages, the verses are cited (Chapter.Verse#.Line#). The four section pages with the years and passages are cited (Year.Verse).
Quote #4
"You better marry Curtis and make babies," he said. "Out there, outside, you wouldn't last a day. That hyperempathy s*** of yours would bring you down even if nobody touched you."
"You think that," I said. (10.97-98)
This is Keith, Lauren's brother, advising her to stay in Robledo, and her response. Many times, people advise those with an unusual, troublesome condition—such as Lauren with her hyperempathy—to just play life safely, to not rock the boat or do anything risky, since the condition is already hard enough as it is. That's how Keith sees Lauren's syndrome, but she doesn't see it that way at all. She believes it's just another fact that she has to take into account. She won't let anything stop her.
Quote #5
[Keith] messed up our family, broke it into something less than a family. Still, I would never have wished him dead. I would never wish anyone dead in that horrible way. I think he was killed by monsters much worse than himself. It's beyond me how one human being could do that to another. If hyperempathy syndrome were a more common complaint, people couldn't do such things. They could kill if they had to, and bear the pain of it or be destroyed by it. But if everyone could feel everyone else's pain, who would torture? Who would cause anyone unnecessary pain? I've never thought of my problem as something that might do some good before, but the way things are, I think it would help. I wish I could give it to people. Failing that, I wish I could find other people who have it, and live among them. A biological conscience is better than no conscience at all. (10.136)
How do you cultivate compassion? Is Lauren right that a society of people who could feel each other's pain as their own would be a more moral society? Would a society of caring and compassionate people have any drawbacks to it? You can read Parable of the Talents to find out a bit more of what Octavia Butler thinks.
Quote #6
The day [Zahra] and Harry use their knives, I hope they kill. If they don't, I might have to, to escape the pain. And what will they think of that?
They deserve to know that I'm a sharer. For their own safety, they should know. But I've never told anyone. Sharing is a weakness, a shameful secret. A person who knows what I am can hurt me, betray me, disable me with little effort. (15.108-109)
Lauren seems to think that her hyperempathy syndrome makes her more compassionate toward her enemy than those without it would be. Yet in this passage, she thinks the syndrome (her curse) would make it harder for her to merely wound and not kill in a fight situation. She's never quite sure in what ways her condition is an advantage and in what ways it's a disadvantage.