Parable of the Sower- 2nd Analysis- Alex Parkinson

Before this class I had never heard of Octavia E. Butler. I did not have any background knowledge about her but thanks to class discussion now I do. After talking about her in Wednesday's class I have begun to see the connections between the main character of Parable of the Sower, Lauren, and the author, Butler. These similarities have to be more than just coincidences. I believe that Butler uses the diary format of this book to share her own beliefs and that Butler and Lauren are really one in the same. Both of their fathers are Baptist preachers, both are free spirits who don't quite think like those who surround them and most importantly they are both African American. 

It is obvious that in this dystopia that the characters live in still has problems accepting people who are different than they are. Chapter eight starts by mentioning a feud between families because a black woman and a hispanic man are about to be married and are expecting a child. There are many other examples of racism and sexism in this novel. Women seem to be getting married and getting pregnant at much younger ages than people would get married in today's society. 

This is an odd jump backward for someone to see. We are used to progress. Racism has certainly not gone away however we see a lot less of it today than we did in the sixties, and today women are basically equal to men. This dystopia seems to have just abruptly stopped progressing and taken a step backwards in terms of equality- and a lot of other things for that matter. Not only do they no longer have the recourses that they need to keep up with modern conveniences, they seem to have jumped back into practices that existed long before I was born. One quote in particular stuck out to me as proof of this. On page 85 Lauren says, "The best they could hope for would be to move into some rich people's compound as domestic servants and work for room and board. There's no way to save any money or ever do any better." I took enough American History courses in high school to realize that this sounds exactly like indentured servitude. There is no where for them to go. The people are just stuck where they have always been with little room for change. Is it possible that Butler has also thought of connection and is using it to prove a point? That these people are really stuck in their current situations. Or does Butler have hope that people will find away out and make it through the rough times as they have before by "going north and trying for a better life in Oregon or Washington or Canada?" (Butler 85.) And if so is Lauren going to be their Harriet Tubman? It seems that in this world Butler is having the past repeat itself.