Parable of the Sower-response to 85-125-Gabriella Maddaloni

            In the second assigned reading section of the novel, Parable of the Sower, there is a very dynamic shift in the content of the writing.  Since we are reading this from Lauren’s perspective, we see through her eyes, we empathize with her, and feel the emotions she allows us to feel with her words.  In the beginning, there were many horrible descriptions of the outside world; the actions people take to simply harm others.  Yet, between the pages of 85-125, the actions and terrible incidents become much for personable because they are happening within Lauren’s family.  She is the one going through it all, as well as watching it all occur.  This is the first time in the novel that we see how family issues of this magnitude influence and affect Lauren directly.  Lauren has hyper-empthany, which allows her to empathize with others that are in pain.  The reader experiences this hyper-empathy early on, but it isn’t until Lauren’s family issues that the reader is able to see how Lauren responds to emotional trauma and pain instead of physical. 

            There was a very unexpected turn in the tone of the novel, it became very depressive and morbid.  Yet, since the reader is experiencing it as if they are Lauren and she was in fact experiencing depressive times, it explains the change.  Keith, Lauren’s younger brother and the black sheep in the family, leaves home to go outside.   He returns, bloody and bruised, only to say that she did it to show his father that he was a man.  Despite the pain Keith experienced while outside, he again runs away, but this time seems to be doing better and keeping himself alive.  He comes back, after being gone for a few days, and just acts as if everything is normal.  He looks fine, dressed in even better clothing than before.  Yet, his father beats him, for endangering the family and putting the community’s lives continuously at risk.  Then Keith leaves once more, but this time he doesn’t return back home to stay.  He comes back to visit the family, mostly Cory, to give Cory money, and some of the children presents.  His rivalry with Lauren proves to stand strong as he doesn’t bring anything for her, or Marcus which is one of the family members Lauren most gets along with.  Keith is smart enough to watch the house, wait until his father has gone and then sneak in.  After a few times of bringing Cory money, the last time he visits is to actually see Lauren. Keith breaks the sisterhood-brotherhood rivalry long enough to visit Lauren on her birthday.  He wishes her a happy birthday, and gives her money that she gives to Cory anyway.  Not long afterwards, Keith is found dead.  Cory is crushed, but both Lauren and her father never shed a tear.  I find it interesting that Lauren is so much like her father, but she doesn’t seem to realize it.  Lauren tells Keith one night when he’s visiting, that he looks more and more like their father everyday, but Lauren is the one who acts like the minister .  She may have hyper-empathy that allows her to share pain with people, but when it came to her brother being dead, she was as cold as her own father.