Shori the Little

In the book Fledgling the author, Octavia Butler, portrays Shori as a small African American girl that is extremely vulnerable. Octavia Butler makes Shori appear to be weak and strong throughout the book. In the beginning of the book Shori starts out not even knowing what she is, who she is, or how she got there. The reader learns that even though she starts off in a very weak state that she is no normal human. She eventually completely recovers by eating raw meat.

Shori eventually decides to leave the the area where she woke up. She travels along different roads until a man pulls over to offer her a ride. In this point in the book you realize that Shori is not only a small female but what appears to be an eleven year old girl. She rides in a man named Wright's car. Wright initially wants to take Shori to the hospital or police station, but when Shori bit him those thoughts went away fast as he was hooked to her.

Wright eventually takes Shori home with him not knowing what to expect, only knowing that what he felt when she bit him was nothing like anything that he had been experienced before. Wright helps Shori undress, which was a little weird to me knowing that Wright believed that she was eleven years old, and then proceeds to have sex with her. What Shori did not know at the time was that she was injecting Wright with a toxin that made him addicted to her.

Shori eventually learns about from her father Iosif. He tells her that she was an experiment and that is why she had dark skin and could stand to be in the sun. He explains to her the need to have symbionts and their dependence on her once they are bonded. Wright proclaimed that "It's not like I can leave. Hell, I can feel the hold she's got on me. I can't even think of leaving her without getting scared." Iosif explains how they go about mating and other things that could prove helpful in bringing back Shori's memory, he also tells her that she is fifty three years old. The only problem that what little information that she does receive doesn't help her with with all the situations that she will face. This is where she can be viewed as week. Shori has to depend on her symbionts for help in many different areas.

Once her fathers village was destroyed, Shori takes on two symbionts that were bound to her fathers family. In order to save their lives Shori takes them as her smybionts. Shori is reliant on these two symbionts for information and as well as for direction. They lead her another Ina village where her strength is shown more than any other part in the book. The village gets attacked during the day and Shori not only alerts everyone that there is an attack but takes out a couple shooters during the attack. The Gordon family calls for a council with other vampires soon after they figure out that the Silk family may be responsible for the attack.

During this council Shori is asked to take the stand and tell her case. The Silk family thought that Shori would be distraught from losing all her family members and her symbionts. They were wrong as for the most part Shori played it cool and collected during the proceedings. Even when Theodora (Shori's symbiont) was murdered and Shori wanted just to go and kill those who were responsible she played it cool. Eventually the mostly calm attitude during the council paid off as the Silk family and the person who killed Theodora were punished. It is my belief that the Octavia Butler purposely intended to portray Shori as a weak young girl in the beginning and have her progress into being a strong woman at the end.