Discussion Questions on Wild Seed by Octavia Butler

1. How might the people of Avoyelles Parish describe their neighbor Edward Warrick, and how might their description of him be incorrect?

2. If Anyanwu is a werewolf, then which equivalent role might Doro play in the European-American folklore tradition?

3. What is the difference between the treatment of white women and African American women in the South as Anyanwu and Doro describe it on page 233?

4. How does Joseph kill Stephen?

5. Why does Doro begin to murder Anyanwu at the end of Chapter 13?

6. Why does Anyanwu threaten to commit suicide at the end of Book III, and what prevents her from acting on this desire?

7. Why does Anyanwu move her community to California in the novel's epilogue?