Octavia Butler's Parable Of The Sower

I’m not alone in feeling an undercurrent of dread and uncertainty going through day-to-day life due to the nature of our world. It can be disheartening to see greed prioritized over the well-being of the the world, and it being driven into a state of crisis while those at the top simply make long-term moves to benefit themselves in the future, such as building bunkers in stolen territories and having a space race amongst themselves. It feels like a prelude to a dystopian novel. In her groundbreaking novel, Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler envisions a dystopian, almost post-apocalyptic future of the United States. The collapse of the American economy and the disintegration of American infrastructure led on by climate change create major …show more content…
Butler thoroughly details the extent to which violence motivated by race and gender is exacerbated due to economic collapse, and the incompetence of the authorities in intervening. Despite the grim nature of the future she illustrates in her novel, Butler also writes with a hopeful outlook regarding the power of community, faith, and kindness in the face of horrific circumstances. I connected to Parable of the Sower due to Butler’s integration of Californian culture and geography, indigenous knowledge, and intersectionality into the story. Butler thoroughly describes Californian regions and cities and the ways they’re impacted by economic collapse and widening socio-economic disparities; her description of California serves as a good example of the ways the rest of the United States can be impacted. In one of her entries, Lauren breaks down how a corporation called Kagimoto, Stamm, Frampton, and Company (KSF) capitalizes on a coastal town named Olivar and plans on creating an industry out of desalination plants in California: “Somewhat richer and less geologically active communities are getting help–dikes, sea walls, evacuation assistance, whatever’s

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