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Octavia e butler12/3/2023 ![]() As the minister's daughter in a small walled community, she must play an expected role rather than giving free reign to her dreams. Lauren begins the story ashamed of her hyperempathy and fearful of sharing her burgeoning belief system of Earthseed. How does the character of Lauren change through the novel? Many consider The Parable of the Sower to be a coming-of-age story. In many such communities in the real world, police are distrusted for their tendency to do the same kinds of things that the police in The Parable of the Sower do. This parallels the horrendous violence committed by police forces against communities of color in the contemporary United States. On the streets, they are almost as much of a danger as the gangs or drug addicts, because they will arrest people for carrying guns - even though anyone who walks the streets needs a gun to survive. They demand a fee for their services (though theoretically their work should be paid for by taxes), and they tend to arrest the easiest person to blame rather than attempting to find the actual culprit. In the novel, the police are not to be trusted. ![]() Are there any features of the world in which Lauren lives that have already happened in ours, or that are likely to occur in the near future? The Parable of the Sower is often praised for its very realistic dystopia. The determination of Lauren's father to use water for his daughter's baptism shows his commitment to his faith. This shows that in Lauren's world, major environmental crises have turned water into a rare and important commodity. In our world, where we can turn on a tap and get drinkable water (as in most places in the United States), this seems strange. Later on, Lauren mentions that her father has decided that they will go to the great trouble of using potable water for baptism. This "something" turns out to be major economic collapse. This suggests that Lauren's world differs from ours in some major respect, because something has happened to reduce city lights. In the first chapter, Lauren and her stepmother are hanging laundry outside in her dream, and her stepmother comments that there are fewer city lights than before, but this means they can see the stars more and they can afford the stars. How does Butler show the breakdown of society? What are some of the clues in the first few pages or chapters that demonstrate that this world is not the same as the one we live in? The use of this parable in the novel also makes the name "Earthseed" more significant: Lauren, like Jesus, is sowing seed. They would be likened to the seed sown on good soil that produces a crop. Travis, Zahra, Harry, and others ask questions and meditate on the belief system of Earthseed, and eventually decide to accept it for themselves and live in a community based on its principles. Later on, during her journeys in the violent world outside the walls, Lauren draws people to her who take her message more seriously. They could be compared to the seed sown along a path, which never takes root. She first tries to explain some of her beliefs to her father and other members of her walled neighborhood, but they are extremely skeptical and dismiss her ideas due to age. Like Jesus, Lauren starts a new religion and must gain followers. The Biblical parable of the sower refers to people who have heard the religious message of Jesus: some of them ignore it, some of them act upon it for a little while and then abandon the way, and yet others accept the message and live it fully. Why do you think Octavia Butler chose to make a Biblical reference by choosing to give her book the title The Parable of the Sower? Though Lauren's hyperempathy sometimes seems like a liability, it can actually be used to gain people's trust and to build community. Secondly, she has little fear of pain being inflicted upon her because she has already dealt with feeling so much pain from the people around her. This can of trust can be the basis for building community. ![]() Firstly, she can empathize with people and gain their trust in a world where most people rightly have a very hard time trusting others. She is able to feel the pain of others, and this can be useful to her in a variety of ways. I think that Lauren's hyperempathy is a superpower. Do you think Lauren's hyperempathy is a weakness or a superpower? ![]()
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