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…
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18-22 of "Parable of the Sower," it explores survival and community in a world falling apart. The main character, Lauren, leads her group through chaos, searching for safety and hope. According to the Womenshistory.org National Women’s History Museum “Octavia Butler was a pioneering writer of science fiction. As one of the first African American and female science fiction writers, Butler wrote novels that concerned themes of injustice towards African Americans”. In those chapters, Octavia Butler explores…
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The first five chapters of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower sets up the background information of the story. It introduced us to the main character and her neighbour, friends and families. We learned about the protagonist’s baptist father, brother Keith and friend Joanne and their relationship to the main protagonist. Most importantly these five chapters provided context of the setting (a california suburb in 2024) and the current situation the characters are facing. Crimes like: rape, robbery…
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leaving the author a stage to explain human nature at its raw self in a collapsed and desperate world. Through this somber stage, authors can express their interpretations of the doom and salvation of a collapsed society. In Octavia E. Butler’s novel titled Parable of the Sower, Butler sets the stage for her novel in a world that is disastrously affected by climate change, there appears to be some form of normality in place…
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In Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler creates an apocalyptic world resulting from the current issues of our time, such as environmental degradation and economic crises caused by excessive hypercapitalism. In a society of gated communities that are closed off from the lawlessness of the outside world, Lauren Olamina realizes the fate that is quickly approaching and prepares for it. Through Lauren's journey, Butler expresses the importance of establishing community and human understanding to survive…
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In the novel “Parable of the Sower”, by Octavia E. Butler, it reveals that during some of the most troubling times in our lives such as the fall of a civilization is when we truly discover the truth about ourselves and the community that we’ve been living in. After resources have become scare and almost too expensive to afford, the lack of law and order, the issue of global warming, and the increasingly insane amount of drug usage, it leaves Lauren in a position to make the decision to as if her…
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The "Parable of the Sower" by Octavia Butler is a gripping trip through a dystopian world that has had a significant influence on me. With its backdrop of social breakdown and survival, the story provoked thoughtful reflection on human nature, fortitude, and the value of empathy in the face of hardship. The novel's depiction of a collapsing society struck a chord with me because it was a sharp reminder of the weaknesses in our own world. It was unsettlingly familiar to see the disarray of institutions…
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Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler takes place in California from the year 2024 to 2027. The post-apocalyptic type book gives you a glimpse into the near future by exaggerating trends in American life that were present in the 80s and 90s, such as crime, gated communities, illiteracy, drug addiction, and the growing gap between the rich and the poor. Climate change caused by global warming was also a central topic in the novel. The protagonist is an African American girl who is fifteen years old…
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always be deep-rooted expectations intertwined into humanity’s way of life and behavior. By living in a society, the influence of societal norms is inevitable and the effect of these expectations on a society is uniformity. Octavia E. Butler, the author of Parable of the Sower, experiments with the idea of defying societal expectations through the protagonist, Lauren Olamina. Lauren lives in a gated community, separated but not shielded from the violence and havoc occurring throughout the country…
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sexual and romantic dynamics, which may initially seem irrelevant to the plot. So, I pose the question: are sexual and romantic dynamics truly relevant to the plot and characters in a story? In both John Milius’s Conan the Barbarian and Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, the protagonist’s quest for survival is intertwined with underlying sexual dynamics, revealing deeper attributes about the individual characters, and enabling the audience to fully grasp the complexities of their worlds. Therefore…
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