LAW
Keith: End of legal
order. “Is this Butler’s way of telling us that legal order will totally
break down in a society at wits end?”
LIKE HUNGER GAMES
Lauren: Hunger Games
comparison. “Parable of the Sower to be very interesting. It’s very similar to my favorite book The
Hunger Games. Both books take place in the future
during extremely difficult times. The main characters are both strong and
somewhat rebellious teenage girls. Death is very common to these people and
they usually react as if it's completely normal to find out that someone
they know has died. They are trained to look out for themselves and the members
of their small communities. Their neighborhoods are separated and protected
from outsiders by walls and wires, even though it doesn't always work. In Parable
and the Sower Lauren seems to be not only fighting an external
battle with her father, but also an internal battle. She’s trying to figure out
within herself if she should relay her thoughts about the bad times to those
around her. She doesn’t really have anyone she can turn to with her feelings
because she can't trust anyone. She’s completely independent, but still very
caring. She tests her father, but is still very respectful of his decisions, or
at least she makes him think she is. She thinks very creatively when it comes
to religion. What is god? Why does everyone seem to think the same way?”
MORE ON SEXUAL REGRESSION
Diana: Lauren would
rather die than get pregnant and feel trapped. “In the beginning of Chapter
8 Lauren talks about Bianca Montoya being pregnant and she goes on to say, ‘If
all I had to look forward to was marriage to him(Curtis) and babies and poverty
that just keeps getting worse, I think I’d kill myself.’ This shows the
suspected thought processes of, what I imagine is a good portion of the
community. No one wants to be in this poverty and live this way, they would
rather die than have to live in such conditions and follow the norms and low
moral standards that are popular in the community.”
MORE ON ECONOMIC REALITIES
Gerard: Olivar as antagonist.
“The appearance of Olivar is a new antagonist. Its providing an easy way
out and false hope for other families. The private town lures people in with
the promise of a return to an older lifestyle, but at the cost of freedom and
high wages. This also defeats the point of earth seed, which seems to be to
take care of one another.”
Nathan: On the fence
about Olivar. “As Lauren steps into the world of adulthood and considers
leaving the safety (or lack thereof?) of her childhood home to find a life for
herself in the outside world and spread the word of her Earthseed doctrine, I
cannot help but relate it to my own personal experience here at college and
being on my own for the first time. Leaving home is a terrifying thing, even
more so if it is out into a ruthless world such as the one Butler has shaped.
Could enlisting yourself into a life of indentured servitude to a corporate
machine such as the KSF be any worse than facing that brutal world? I
personally do not think so, but the question is quite arguable.”
IMAGINING THE AUTHOR
Shelby: Who is Octavia
Butler? “After reading these chapters I am inspired by the person Lauren is
and it makes me wonder if Butler was an amazing person too.”
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