Octavia Butler Fledgling Summary

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

This literary analysis will be of Octavia Butler’s 2005 novel, Fledgling, exploring the role of the narrator and protagonist, Shori Matthews. The question to be examined is whether or not the voice of the sympathetic character comes across as reliable, or unreliable to the reader. For Shori’s role to be properly analyzed, it is important to become acquainted with the author. Ms. Butler is a master storyteller, extraordinaire. She is also a black feminist, known for spurring conversations in book clubs and classrooms across America. In Fledgling, like many of her books, women hold an esteemed place of authority. Women rule. Women dominate. Women in Butler's stories have an audible voice,
Shori begins, “I awoke to darkness.” (Butler, 1) She is terribly burned, without clothes, starving for food, and has absolutely no memory of how she could have awakened to this frightening situation. There is no recall of her past, leaving her fragmented and incomplete. She comments, "Nothing. No answers. Just slivers of memory, tormenting me." (Butler, 24) The use of the word "tormenting" is an indicator that the narrator has an unsettled persona, creating doubt as to her reliability. Butler is brilliant, empowering and gifting Shori the opportunity to write her story, using first person point of view, without the complexities of having to tell us about the time prior to the start of this novel. The audience is hooked, eagerly awaiting the rebirth of Shori Matthews; a story which the narrator can now create as she reconstructs her identity, filling in the blanks as she goes along. This blank slate brings us to the issue of trust. Just how reliable can a narrator be when the audience is aware of there being no historical recollection to validate her viewpoint? What exactly were her ethics, morals, values? She doesn't even know her