How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"The enemy is few but determined. Once they ran this whole world, they had power as no one, even the Roman emperors, and riches drained from everywhere. Now they have the power to exterminate us and we to exterminate them." (13.95)
The people with more power than the Roman empire—that's the rich who are around now (or were around in 1976.). The super-rich are even richer now than they were in Piercy's time. Bill Gates and the Koch brothers have more money than Roman Emperors did (and also snazzy corporate jets).
Quote #5
"Jackrabbit was no born fighter. Person would have been happier staying home. But fought well. Jackrabbit was wounded running out to move a sonic shield to protect our emplacement." (16.74)
Jackrabbit isn't a born fighter. But is Connie? And if Connie is, is that why she thinks up a future in which Jackrabbit has to fight? (Or is it Marge Piercy, the author, who's a born fighter?)
Quote #6
"We come to ask that a new baby be begun, to replace Jackrabbit, who is dead and buried," Bee said. (16.123)
Woman on the Edge of Time is not exactly a realist novel, so pointing out plot holes in the future that may or may not exist seems maybe silly. But still—if you were in a war, and you could birth as many babies as you wanted from tubes, wouldn't you be churning out the tube babies to win the war, and then drop your population back down afterwards?