February Intermission: Parable of the Sower - Octavia E. Butler

Hi there!

Welcome to our February Intermission for Octavia E. Butler's 1993 novel Parable of the Sower.

Content Warning: Murder, Robbery, Animal Murder, Religious Trauma, Dead Bodies & Body Parts, Firearms, Drug Abuse, Arson, Mention of Sex, Accidental Firearm-Related Child Death, Wasteland Dystopia

Overall

We love the first half of this book so far, actually. Unexpected sleeper hit from the nineties? Absolutely. Brieanna had no idea that this would be the kind of book we'd be reading. Very easy read to be honest, super accessible to the masses. It's a cautionary tale, and if it wasn't accessible, then what would be the point of it? The world itself seems to be limping along, and Lauren, even being well-off in this world, barely has a sense of minuscule safety. The people living outside of the compound are living in a horror film - nude and desperate for any food. Tons of people live that way. And in this world, there are STILL somehow systems in place that provide the facade of a society. Perhaps somewhere else in the world, we may hear of Los Angeles as having a college, but what does the community in that space truly look like in Octavia's written world? It looks like children are being killed by stray gunfire and maggots crawling out of the corpses left in the wastelands to be eaten by the wild dogs. It's chaos. Somehow, there are police officers and a fire department - water is precious and expensive - and there are drugs that make people want to set fires because it feels better than sex. Insanity - but you know some people in these societies still trust the government. Cory, Lauren's stepmom, is one such individual who is SUPER in denial. Lauren's Dad may want to do something proactive, but Cory doesn't want to do it because things may be difficult or unsafe. Girl, the WORLD is difficult and unsafe. And President Donner, who is elected, is a figurehead over WHAT, exactly? This lovely land, the good ole' USA?

There are people in their neighborhood who voted for Donner or supported Donner, and they are living in the same shithole as the neighbors they hate, which was created by Donner and his constituents.

Octavia shows us the slow violence of systemic collapse. We may not realize that horrible things are unchangeable until the situation is way more dire than expected. Donner isn't necessarily at fault because someone paved the way for Donner's current failures. These things can't be identified or pinpointed in the present so much as they can be learned from in hindsight. YES, we can learn from hindsight - but we can also make choices that will better the future. Any injustice will allow for more and more injustice.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - MLK

We, as humans, seem to be entirely incapable of learning from the past.

The Nazi's invaded their own country first. Let's try to learn from that.

Lauren

We really appreciate that this religion Lauren has come up with is authentic and unique, and that Lauren has discovered it. We loved the scene that Lauren has with her father, in which he explains to her that she can teach people survival instead of fear for their lives.

We think Lauren is adapting well - she's smart and sees things for how they are - she listens when it counts, and doesn't when it also counts. Her dad raised her super well, even though her brothers struggled.

Lauren's Hyperempathy seems more intense with the more sentient creatures, and especially with humans. Lauren's condition speaks to how black women (and an eldest daughter to boot) are the emotional burden carriers in society. Gold mines of advice and a shoulder to always lean on, until they experience a negative emotion, they become Sassy or rude or nasty, and are suddenly demonized. Lauren has the BURDEN and GIFT of Hyperempathy because she has to have it. She supports the family, and the only thing that's holding her back is taking care of the men.

What is a legacy? It's planting seeds in a garden you never get to see. - Lin Manuel Miranda

Earthseed - God as Change

Earthseed challenges traditional religion in that it offers less structure and more freedom to worship in unique ways. Heavy structure and direction are very traditional, but Earthseed seems to be more of an observation of life that one can grow alongside, instead of something concrete and always practiced from the beginning in one way.

God as Change is a very unique concept - it has less to do with where God may WANT you to go, and more to do with where the worshipper may go with their lives. Change will always rule your life, and it's the only thing you can rely on to concretely and always be there; Change. God has never been an individual - God is a concept.

Where We Are Now

Lauren's Dad is gone, and the community and family have held a funeral for him, under the assumption that he has died. Lauren's Hyperempathy does not seem to be very present in the first half of this book, and we are hoping it comes back into the book for the second half.

We also hope we learn that we learn how we get to where Lauren is in the book from where Ceraya and Brieanna are in the real world. So we can avoid it.

Read against the Machine!

Ceraya & Brieanna