Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler starts off with a little text similar to a poem which doesn’t make much sense when the reader first sees it. However, as the text goes on, you quickly realize that the short poem is a cryptic summary of the chapter. The poem talks about change and its effects on people and then sneaks in a portion about God in it. Throughout majority of the first chapter, the main character is reminiscing with her stepmother, the past, and how the changes from then have shaped their lives. As Lauren’s mother states, “There aren’t anywhere near as many [stars] as there were. Kids today have no idea what a blaze of light cities used to be—and not that long ago” (6). Unlike what the other readings say about climate change destroying the world, I think that these light cities disappearing has more to do with the fall of society than it does with climate change.

Throughout the rest of the chapters up to 7 it mainly covers the downfall of society. Society has turned so dangerous that many people do not leave their homes anymore and have walls set up around them so that they have protection. The dangers of not having a wall were quickly shown to us where it says, “Dad once had a church just a few blocks outside our wall. He began it before there were so many walls. But after it had been slept in by the homeless, robbed, and vandalized several times, someone poured gasoline in and around it and burned it down. Seven of the homeless people sleeping inside on that last night burned with it” (8). To further support my argument that the book is about the downfall of society rather than climate change negatively affecting the earth, on the very next page we get more information about the people in this world. “A woman, young, naked, and filthy stumbled along past us. I got a look at her slack expression and realized that she was dazed or drunk or something. Maybe she had been raped so much that she was crazy. I’d heard stories of that happening. Or maybe she was just high on drugs” (9). Throughout the history of the earth, there was never a time where climate change caused a natural disaster, that made a good majority of society to start robbing, vandalizing, and burn down buildings, as well as a naked person who was raped until she was insane or on drugs randomly stumbling on a street seem normal.

The book is written in a way similar to a diary. In the very beginning we see a book title with the main characters name in it and then throughout the chapters, we see a date. The main characters diaries are written in the year 2024 and 2025. That isn’t that far away in our world and the scenarios that are painted in the book seem more and more plausible the closer we get towards these dates. The examples I used in the previous paragraph about the homelessness, robbing, and arson is quite similar to what is happening in California. California has a horrible homeless problem with many of them similar to what is told in the story. California also has a lot of people robbing cars and stores in broad daylight as well as the destruction of private property. The blaze of light cities that I used in the first paragraph can also be seen as the corporations leaving certain states due to the massive looting and destruction of property to their stores. However, climate change isn’t the reason why California is the way it is, it’s the horrible government and community there. With the 2024 election coming up, I do see a future in which society turns out the way it is portrayed in the book, which I find very fascinating as this book was written in 1993. Octavia Butler might possibly be the new Nostradamus.