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Octavia Butler's Three Good Rules Equals One Good Book

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Three Good Rules Equals One Good Book In the novel Kindred by Octavia Butler is about courage and reveals that one who is willing to sacrifice their safety for others is a benevolent person and is almost guaranteed, respect, or hatred from the people around them. The book Kindred demonstrates the three rules needed to write a successful book. They are the setting, good imagery, and symbolism. These rules should be the base of any great book. A good rule to begin with would be foreshadowing. Butler started the story off with, “The trouble began long before June 9, 1976, when I became aware of it, but June 9 is the day I remember” (Butler 13). When the reader reads this they wonder why this date in general, it is her birthday but as they continue …show more content…

. . the trees I’d been near were pine needles for instance, were pine trees, tall and straight with branches and needles mostly at the top … she had worn a long dark dress that covered her from neck to feet.” (Butler 15). This was a great place to put such imagery because it describes the setting and what women wore. Although she was at the riverbank and she was bound to get mud on her she still wore that dress; Butler describes the scene making it sound old and because of her good imagery she is able to make the reader feel like they are there and experiencing it. Butler also created a character with a gun she described the gun with, “I turned, startled, and found myself looking down the barrel of the longest rifle I had ever seen. I heard a metallic click” (Butler 14). Butler shows the rule, use good imagery, when she describes the gun when I read it I felt like I was there I read quickly but it felt like it lasted a bit longer because it makes your heart beat faster because she described it and you felt like you were so close to

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