Please analyse and reflect on these first pages ofOctavia Butler's Parable of the Sower. Attempt to pay attention to both form and content, and feel free to drop in your opinion of the text thus far. Blog length: a half-page or so.
Butler’s book, Parable of the Sower, has me interested and thinking. The fact that gasoline isn’t even used anymore and that water costs more than what gasoline costs now, makes me fear the future. Other futuristic stories predict flying cars and time travel which makes people want to experience the future, but Butler’s description has me scared that things will only continue to get worse in our economy. Reading the book through a 15 year-olds eyes is definitely relatable. I can imagine myself as being 15 again and having to live this awful life of destruction and closed off houses. While reading, I question things that Butler has stated. For example, the walls around the houses and yards; I can’t even begin to picture what that secluded life would feel like. I question whether I would go through with some of the things that the main character, Lauren, had to go through with. Shooting a dog is something that I never wish or hope to do and knowing that Lauren shot one while feeling its pain through her hyperempathy makes me have more respect for her in this future that she is living in. The dates that Lauren is writing in her journal seem significant to me. The fact that the deaths of people, the house fires, and the thief break-ins are so close to one another in days has me questioning even more. Do horrible things really happen every day? Does Lauren only write about the terrible times? Will Lauren ever feel happiness? All of these questions keep me interested. Writing this book as a journal not only makes it more interesting to read, but it really captures the mind of a reader and takes them forward in time to imagine this dreaded future.
Wow! This reading really did stretch my worldview and made me think. I was reading along and all of a sudden, I reached page 82.
Page 82 is where Lauren makes the suggestion to head north for a better life, to Oregon, Washington or hopefully Canada. The father says that people are shot just for trying to cross the border. All of a sudden, I was hit with a juxtaposition. If I moved the border south, change 'United States' to 'south and central America' as well as move the space program, the story could be talking about today.
I asked myself tough questions. South and Central America have a lot of resources. Why is it that there is extreme brutality and poverty with all of its attendant suffering? Because the class and the question about energy was fresh in my mind, my thoughts immediately focused on a specific reason. Enter greed, corporations, their lobbyists and the politicians they own. My thoughts raced down multiple paths; I took a more critical view of my country. Why were we, the bulk of the American people blinded to the imbalance? Granted there was the 99% movement regarding the imbalance of wealth in the United States itself, but why do we not pay attention to something as simple as survival in the so called ‘third world countries?’ I am attributing this lapse to 'magic.' Magic employs sleight of hand, fancy speech, and other actions for the sole purpose of distraction.
We Americans are constantly bombarded with advertising and news stories of how 'more, more and more' will make our lives better. We live under tremendous stress and buy into the fact that if we had a bigger house, a better phone, the newest convenience gadget, we would have less stress. Our lives would be easier. Unfortunately, we mortgage our very souls to try to 'improve' our lives so that we can have some serenity. We get deeper and deeper into debt trying to pay for the last few ‘improvements.’ Our stress gets higher and higher. Then something 'new and better' is introduced, and the wheel goes round and round.
Then a lot of other thoughts assailed me. In David Weber's 'Honor Harrington' series, the antagonists are a republic that keeps it's ‘proles’ in line by keeping them fed at the trough. "The government is your friend and we will take care of you" was the trend of the day in the books. However, when someone made waves, either internally or externally, the government was definitely not their friend. I shivered when I thought of the Patriot Act, and how the government can declare anyone a ‘terrorist.’
For the record, I am not an alarmist. Rather, I have gone through some things in life that no one should ever have to go through. These life experiences have made me look at a lot of things critically. For example, the media. When I was living at the VA, the Casey Anthony trial was on. There were a lot of arguments among the residents on her guilt or innocence. I tried to explain that there can be no true opinion one way or the other. We had only the information that the media was reporting. While the media could report fact, they slant it in a way that fits their own agenda. Also, there could be a lot of evidence that never made it to the jury because it was ‘tainted’ in the way it was collected or handled. The evidence could be the ‘smoking gun,’ but the jury would never see it. Consequently we would never see it.
I know this based on my own experiences from being a witness to a murder. The story appeared heavily in the media. I knew the facts; I lived them. I know what was printed and what was reported on TV. The quotes and facts represented by the media were accurate, but the way they were used changed the story.
Sorry Spring, I know this is supposed to be a blog post, but you did say you wanted ‘passion.’
To reference the book, 'The Parable of the Sower...'
I appreciate the way the book is written, from Lauren's perspective. It jumps to important events, but describes them from the facts Lauren knows as well as her guesses, opinions and beliefs. At times, she doesn't know how to handle things. Should she tell her father of her conclusions about their future? Yet at other times, she definitely knows what to do. She knew the dog would be shot either way, yet if she did not do it, her supposed weakness would be revealed. She shot the dog.
The story represents two generational viewpoints, the older one thinking of what was and working hard on holding what they have. The younger generation sees what is and is thinking about how to change it to the better.
I think toward the end of the reading Lauren and her father absolutely had the same views. They both recognize and prepare for the day they no longer have walls to protect them. The only difference was at first Lauren attempted to scare her friend into change while her father coaxes people with ulterior motives. Lauren's friend denied that anything serious could happen to the neighborhood just like other adults, even though they all knew they cant be protected forever. To me this particular section is not representing generational viewpoints, but is expressing her coming of age. Her father trusts her enough to agree with her, and is now actively letting her help him prepare for it.
Butler’s book, Parable of the Sower, has me interested and thinking. The fact that gasoline isn’t even used anymore and that water costs more than what gasoline costs now, makes me fear the future. Other futuristic stories predict flying cars and time travel which makes people want to experience the future, but Butler’s description has me scared that things will only continue to get worse in our economy. Reading the book through a 15 year-olds eyes is definitely relatable. I can imagine myself as being 15 again and having to live this awful life of destruction and closed off houses. While reading, I question things that Butler has stated. For example, the walls around the houses and yards; I can’t even begin to picture what that secluded life would feel like. I question whether I would go through with some of the things that the main character, Lauren, had to go through with. Shooting a dog is something that I never wish or hope to do and knowing that Lauren shot one while feeling its pain through her hyperempathy makes me have more respect for her in this future that she is living in.
ReplyDeleteThe dates that Lauren is writing in her journal seem significant to me. The fact that the deaths of people, the house fires, and the thief break-ins are so close to one another in days has me questioning even more. Do horrible things really happen every day? Does Lauren only write about the terrible times? Will Lauren ever feel happiness? All of these questions keep me interested. Writing this book as a journal not only makes it more interesting to read, but it really captures the mind of a reader and takes them forward in time to imagine this dreaded future.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWow! This reading really did stretch my worldview and made me think. I was reading along and all of a sudden, I reached page 82.
ReplyDeletePage 82 is where Lauren makes the suggestion to head north for a better life, to Oregon, Washington or hopefully Canada. The father says that people are shot just for trying to cross the border. All of a sudden, I was hit with a juxtaposition. If I moved the border south, change 'United States' to 'south and central America' as well as move the space program, the story could be talking about today.
I asked myself tough questions. South and Central America have a lot of resources. Why is it that there is extreme brutality and poverty with all of its attendant suffering? Because the class and the question about energy was fresh in my mind, my thoughts immediately focused on a specific reason. Enter greed, corporations, their lobbyists and the politicians they own. My thoughts raced down multiple paths; I took a more critical view of my country. Why were we, the bulk of the American people blinded to the imbalance? Granted there was the 99% movement regarding the imbalance of wealth in the United States itself, but why do we not pay attention to something as simple as survival in the so called ‘third world countries?’ I am attributing this lapse to 'magic.' Magic employs sleight of hand, fancy speech, and other actions for the sole purpose of distraction.
We Americans are constantly bombarded with advertising and news stories of how 'more, more and more' will make our lives better. We live under tremendous stress and buy into the fact that if we had a bigger house, a better phone, the newest convenience gadget, we would have less stress. Our lives would be easier. Unfortunately, we mortgage our very souls to try to 'improve' our lives so that we can have some serenity. We get deeper and deeper into debt trying to pay for the last few ‘improvements.’ Our stress gets higher and higher. Then something 'new and better' is introduced, and the wheel goes round and round.
Then a lot of other thoughts assailed me. In David Weber's 'Honor Harrington' series, the antagonists are a republic that keeps it's ‘proles’ in line by keeping them fed at the trough. "The government is your friend and we will take care of you" was the trend of the day in the books. However, when someone made waves, either internally or externally, the government was definitely not their friend. I shivered when I thought of the Patriot Act, and how the government can declare anyone a ‘terrorist.’
For the record, I am not an alarmist. Rather, I have gone through some things in life that no one should ever have to go through. These life experiences have made me look at a lot of things critically. For example, the media.
When I was living at the VA, the Casey Anthony trial was on. There were a lot of arguments among the residents on her guilt or innocence. I tried to explain that there can be no true opinion one way or the other. We had only the information that the media was reporting. While the media could report fact, they slant it in a way that fits their own agenda. Also, there could be a lot of evidence that never made it to the jury because it was ‘tainted’ in the way it was collected or handled. The evidence could be the ‘smoking gun,’ but the jury would never see it. Consequently we would never see it.
I know this based on my own experiences from being a witness to a murder. The story appeared heavily in the media. I knew the facts; I lived them. I know what was printed and what was reported on TV. The quotes and facts represented by the media were accurate, but the way they were used changed the story.
Sorry Spring, I know this is supposed to be a blog post, but you did say you wanted ‘passion.’
To reference the book, 'The Parable of the Sower...'
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the way the book is written, from Lauren's perspective. It jumps to important events, but describes them from the facts Lauren knows as well as her guesses, opinions and beliefs. At times, she doesn't know how to handle things. Should she tell her father of her conclusions about their future? Yet at other times, she definitely knows what to do. She knew the dog would be shot either way, yet if she did not do it, her supposed weakness would be revealed. She shot the dog.
The story represents two generational viewpoints, the older one thinking of what was and working hard on holding what they have. The younger generation sees what is and is thinking about how to change it to the better.
I think toward the end of the reading Lauren and her father absolutely had the same views. They both recognize and prepare for the day they no longer have walls to protect them. The only difference was at first Lauren attempted to scare her friend into change while her father coaxes people with ulterior motives. Lauren's friend denied that anything serious could happen to the neighborhood just like other adults, even though they all knew they cant be protected forever. To me this particular section is not representing generational viewpoints, but is expressing her coming of age. Her father trusts her enough to agree with her, and is now actively letting her help him prepare for it.
ReplyDelete