Lauren

I actually had something to mention from the conversation we had on Tuesday. We talked about how we view Lauren as a character herself. And I found a passage in the beginning of the novel to really speak to her personality and character a lot. It is on page 7, where she talks about her fathers God and how it is different from her God. For one, I thought it was interesting the amount of God and religion is mentioned in this novel. Knowing that Lauren believes in a God, but not the same one her father did, confused and intrigued me. I can relate to this on some level due to my upbringing and religion, but I won’t get too much into that, other than the fact that I can understand not believing in the same things your parents/family do. Aside from that, this paragraph at the beinning of chapter two shows who Lauren is and a big part of her personality. This shows her individuality, her need to separate herself from others, her curiosity, and her reblousness. On another note though, this passage shows how she is scared to rebel as well. She does not believe in the same thing as her father and yet continues to pretend and act like she does, therefore showing how she is still hesitant and in fear of the outside and everything else she does not know. All of these things are then built upon through out the book but I noticed them all within this paragraph alone.

Me VS We

Throughout the course of the novel our main character and her family members and friends are consistently confronted with the factors of choosing between themselves and the group. There is the instance of Cory finally admitting that she cares more for Keith than she does Lauren. There is the instance of Harry deciding whether or not to leave Lauren after she reveals her empathy to the two survivors of the cul-de-sac fire. When does ‘we’ become ‘me’ and when are instances where one must unite? In the beginning of Chapter 17 

“Embrace diversity.

Unite-

Or be divided,

Robbed

Ruled,

Killed

By those that see you as prey.

Embrace diversity or be destroyed.” (Butler 541, Digital copy.)

Is it possible to survive alone in this dystopia? Or do all loners end up like Keith or his victim that is hiking to Alaska? When would an instance of division instead of unity be the best course of action?

That escalated quickly

At the end of the 2026 sections is dramatic irony. Lauren's initial conclusion on Wyatt Talcott and his fate is that "he may not live much longer" and what makes it ironic is the fact that the cul-de-sac gets raided in July of the next year (149). It's probably safe to assume that Wyatt lived longer than everyone else. This sudden onslaught of carnage should be as surprising to the reader as it was for Lauren as she lived through the moment. At this point in the story, the reader should have some kind of emotional connection to most of the characters who die and, if not the characters, then the cul-de-sac they all lived on which was, in a way, a character. At this point in the book, it may be that this destruction of the cul-de-sac is the turning point in the story, hopefully. What else could possibly go wrong?

Let’s talk about the Sower

I went to pick up my book when it hit me that Lauren is the sower of Earthseed that the title references, and in a sense one could read this book as a religious text.

I went down a deep rabbit hole of thought and managested in my mind appeared the complicated idea of comparison to this book, (the life of Lauren), to something like the gospels of the New Testament, (which is the story of a Jesus through the eyes of his disciples).

It then became obvious that this book is actually structured as a religious text, each new chapter with verses and titles. I don’t quite know how to articulate the way this book makes me feel but it’s disturbing to me for maybe a reason I can’t put my finger on.

Yet it is pleasing to see a that group of people has found peace with one other in spite of the hell that surrounds the. The group is diverse in age, race, and backgroun, but they share the common religious beliefs of Earthseed, and follow its creator, the Sower of a Earthseed Lauren. I thought it was nice that despite the horrors nested in between the first and last page of the book, the final scene ends somewhat peacefully with the community of Acorn established and the group finely having a chance to rest.

The World of Parable of the Sower

In Parable of the Sower, civilized life appears to be breaking down completely; people kill one another for food or clothing, or sometimes only for sport. My reactions to the book were as follows:

Dogs, beasts or pets?

When I came across the passage about dogs on page 40, reading how Lauren describes them in their different roles in society really got me thinking. Specifically when she said "Rich people still keep dogs, either because they like them or because they use them to guard estates..." (Butler 40). In my head I was picturing the classic "Beware Of Dog" signs that people put on their gates and doors, but then y mind jumped to a certain movie. I am sure we all know this movie and will know what I am talking about once I say the same, The Hunger Games. In The Hunger Games there are wild vicious dogs that are sent after Katniss and Peta. In Hunger Games the districts do not own dogs as pets, but the Capitol (where the rich people are) does have dogs that are domesticated (if I am remembering correctly). I thought this might be a stretch of a connection, but it seemed worth sharing anyway.

Close to home

Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower strikes a note that our other readings have not. The setting is not some vague, distant future like Brave New World or Caves of Steel, nor is it a clear fabrication of the past, like Herland Or Utopia. Instead, Butler gives us concrete dates, beginning in July 2024. The vision of a world where communities must wall themselves for safety, the primary use of petroleum is arson, and so much else seems all too real for a book set to begin just five years from now.