Recently, I read Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. Judging by the name, I thought it would be an old timey book similar to classical literature but it’s actually set in the dystopian future. Not too far away either, the events occur over a couple of years but it starts in 2024. The book is actually a journal written by the main character, Lauren, who tells us all the events in the story. Each chapter is also prefaced by a short poem or verse, describing God as change.
The story starts out as Lauren, her family, and her neighbors in a gated community with a wall trying to get by. Water is expensive, it’s difficult to get food, and it’s violent. All the good dystopian stuff. The format the book is written in makes the reader feel like they're getting flashes of that life. One day things are normal and the next, someone’s dead. It’s very glaring and you don’t get details of events happening in the moment, just recounts given by Lauren. Through the book, you can see Laurens thoughts on impending doom and her thoughts on her neighbors. She thinks that the gated community is eventually going to be broken through and they have to prepare to run and live on the streets. Others don’t seem to care as much.
Now back to the poem thing. I find this aspect of the book very interesting. These verses were written by Lauren for this thing called Earthseed. Lauren’s community is religious, and her father is a pastor, but Lauren believes in Earthseed. Usually she writes about how God and humans interact and tries to make sense of what God is, which is change. It’s honestly a little difficult for me to understand but if you spent some time on it, I think you can understand. Lauren has big dreams for Earthseed. She wants to start an Earthseed community and maybe even make more in the future. To me, it sounds very cultish, or similar to those isolated communities of religious sects. Usually these communities have a bad rep and are a bit scary. But perhaps in a broken world like the one Lauren is in, these kinds of communities are vital for survival. Religion can bring people together and keep them on track. Also, the ideologies of this group seem a lot less extreme than other cults and the leader, Lauren, is not power hungry and everyone seems very sensible.
Religion isn’t a super big part of the book, I think it can work fine without all the Earthseed stuff, but it does add an interesting spice to the story. And who knows, maybe it will be more important later on, the series is literally called Earthseed. Also, the title of the book is a biblical reference. According to History class, we learned that religion can help society functionally grow large, so I’m curious if that’s the direction this series will go, and if this cult like community can undystopianize things.
By Maggie
The book sounds really interesting! I think it's cool that it's set pretty recently compared to the current time. It's cool how you applied some of the things we learned in history class and applied it to the book and how you think things will play out. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a pretty interesting dystopian novel. However, after reading your review I have a question: is the entire story just about what happens after the person dies? I think that it might be a little bland if this was the entire basis of the story, but I like how you mentioned your experiences after reading the passages. I also like your reflection on aspects of religion and the role it plays in the story. Overall, good job!
ReplyDeleteFascinating discussion of the role that religion plays in this book, Maggie - I feel as though modern society often carries negative attitudes towards religion due to its frequent rejection of scientific principles and unfortunate intolerance towards certain minority groups, so it's quite interesting to see you talk about its more positive effects, especially in a dystopian society where hope is scarce. Overall, great job!
ReplyDeleteI love that the book is written in the style of a journal but manages to still have an intimate discussion with the reader about the role of religion in society. Earthseed sounds like a crazy idea and very cultish. Espicially if someone feels compelled to write poems about it in their journal. Can you imagine writing poems every day? She must really be compelled to talk about and convince the reader of her theory. You didn't go too in-depth about the cult side of it and how the whole thing plays out so I can only imagine what happens when her parents find out. Overall, it sounds like a great book and I can tell that you took away a lot from it.
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