Butler, Octavia. Parable of the Sower. Grand Central Publishing Edition: New York, 1993.
Summary:
Parable of the Sower is a story of a destroyed world and a young black woman who believes that it requires a new philosophy to navigate it and tries to carve out a space. The world is 21st century California, and some of socio-ecological crises of water, fire, violence, and racism are terrifying lessons of a potential future. The story is told by Lauren through her journal entries and starts out in her childhood home of Robeldo, a gated/walled predominately colored community. Her father is a reverend at the only church, and is somewhat of a town leader, fostering community and activism to preserve the ‘town’ through the church. The outside world, is filled with violence, and scavengers and thieves constantly threaten the not so safe walls of the community. As events unfold, Lauren is forced to leave and head north, in search of better land, water and safety meeting some new companions along the way that she builds a community herself with. As an alternative to her father’s Christian church, Lauren becomes a preacher of a new religion ‘Earthseed,’ which believes God is change, and accepts the agency and responsibility that we all have in a socio-ecologically collapsed world. The world died of growth and now she will grow a new one.
Recommended Reading:
Kat, Anderson. Tending the wild Native American Knowledge and the management of California’s natural resources. Berkley: University of California Press, 2005.
Lauren loves to read and write, which are abilities that most people do not even have in the Parable world. In her childhood community she was teaching people how to read and write and along the journey to Acorn she was also teaching. One of the first books though not mentioned by title was a book on native plant species and the ways they were used by the indigenous communities in Southern California. This knowledge ended up getting her in trouble in her community for trying to think of alternative ways of living, and also ended up giving her some knowledge to help her survive throughout her journey to Acorn. One major theme of Parable of the Sower is stewardship, and a book on indigenous management of natural resources could be a great selection that ties into the themes of this novel.
Tweedy, Clarence W, III. “The Anointed: Countering Dystopia with Faith in Octavia’s Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents.” Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture 1900 – Present, vol 13 iss 1. Spring 2014.
This article frames Earthseed as a representation of black identity within the church. Earthseed is an attempt to free one’s identity from the subservient position of the Christian God with one that is both empowering and also a responsibility. In some way it is a critique against institutions like the church that have pledged to help African-Americans but have also perpetuated systems of racism. Earthseed is a way to free blacks from this paradigm and help them forge their own paths.
Melzer, Patricia. ‘”All that you touch you change’: Utopian Desire and the Concept of Change in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents.” San Francisco Vol 3, Iss 2, (Jun 2002): 31.
This article talks about how Butler both constructs and challenges the classic utopian narrative. She sets up that there is a destroyed world and a chance to make a new one. But with part of her focus with characters who are BIPOC, her emphasis on change in earthseed, she doesn’t replicated classic utopian narratives. Rather, at the end of the story there is a question of whether or not Acorn will succeed, will they survive at all. Butler uses this example to illustrate challenges that marginalized people face in society, and a notion of a utopia that is in flux, that is something to constantly work for rather than a privileged entitlement.
Discussion Questions:
- How does Lauren compare to her father? What are the similarities and differences between Earthseed and Acorn and Robledo and her father’s church? On a side note: Where did her father disappear too? And is it somewhat strange that Lauren enlopes with Bankrole, a very similar character to her father? Does Lauren possess a father complex?
- What is the significance of race in the novel? What was the affect that Lauren being black and the majority of the characters being BIPOC have on the novel?
- What do you think of Earthseed? Do you think Acorn will survive? Do you think that they will reach their destiny and land among the stars? If a central tenant of Earthseed is change, do you think that a sedentary lifestyle, and the eventually institutions that come with expansion will counter the philosophy of Earthseed?
#socio-ecologicallycollapse #climate_dystopia #earthseed #new_world #violence #newworld #father_complexes #theworlddiedofgrowthsowemustgrowanewone
