In the opening chapters of ‘Parable of the Sower,” Octavia Butler establishes the dystopian setting of the world and atmosphere by illustrating the community that Lauren Olamina lives in as one in extremely dire conditions. The world is greatly impacted by climate change and as well as several years along into a full societal collapse. Through world-building Butler gradually reveals this world’s backstory, explaining how society reached this state of collapse. Butler’s world is rife with climate change, political instability, and economic disparity. Basic needs like gas and water have become incredibly expensive and hard to access. It’s stated that. “Dad says water now costs several times as much as gasoline. But, except for arsonists and the rich, most people have given up buying gasoline. No one I know uses a gas-powered car, truck, or cycle. Vehicles like that are rusting is driveways…It’s a lot harder to give up water.” (13).  While Butler’s world is intended to feel extreme, it’s impossible to ignore the many parallels it has to our own, as these deteriorating social and economic conditions have profound impacts on Lauren’s family and their neighborhood, Butler seems to make a commentary on the contemporary issues of her and our time. Hyperinflation has rendered the currency almost worthless, leading to extreme poverty and scarcity. Lauren’s family struggles to make ends meet, and the desperation for basic necessities is palpable. All of these problems mirror contemporary concerns about income inequality, economic instability, and the vulnerability of marginalized communities in times of crisis.

The world that Butler has made as a form of contemporary criticism leaves the reader with a rather bleak view of reality. There are so many different cruelties, with people outside of the community walls living and dying in abject poverty, the police become something no one can afford to employ or rely on, and there is intense brutality throughout. It is no surprise that Lauren’s idea of God is one that is moralless and without feeling, “My God doesn’t love me or hate me or watch over me or know me at all, and I feel no love for or loyalty to my God. My God just is.” (16) Earthseed is Lauren’s spiritual belief system that she begins to develop in response to the harsh conditions of her world. It’s interesting how in the collapse of traditional societal structures, through Lauren, Butler gives us not an example of someone collapsing under these struggles but instead takes up a powerful form of creation. Personally, I find Earthseed very moving, as I am not religious myself and I feel like her stanzas are empowering. There is something very powerful about a faith system that doesn’t ask you to obey or follow planned-out ways of being but instead asks you to cultivate one of your own. 

I felt throughout the opening chapters of Parable that Bulter was asking the reader, what do we have left when/if the societal framework collapses? What is the culture that we have cultivated to fall back on?  The world that she shows us, that which illustrates the culture we have cultivated already is one that is very worrying. The political parties are legalizing a form of slavery for poor workers, wherein they have no right to clean or safe working conditions in exchange for room and board. People are murdered and raped with no government or police that works to stop these crimes or protect its citizens. After a member of the community puts together his own form of religion, one that allows him to become a ruler and protector of women, and target beautiful homeless women so he can keep them in polyamorous relationships, Lauren states, “Is that the way it’s going to be, I wonder? Is that the future? Large numbers of people stuck in either President-elect Donner’s version of slavery or Richard Moss’s.” (21) 

By creating a world that highlights these weaknesses of contemporary society, such as a lack of community and an excessive focus on individualism and greed, Butler highlights the importance of community. Lauren’s father is a wonderful example of this as he spends his life as a leader in their cul-de-sac, encouraging the people to take care of and protect one another despite any personal disputes they may have. Through this tightly-knit community, we witness these people thrive in a certain way. They’re able to educate their children through homeschooling, they band together to continue their religious beliefs and sacraments, they trade goods amongst themselves, and when under threat of robbers they even institute a kind of community watch. 

Lauren’s father’s response to adversity in all these forms has been to band together with his people, and through it we witness them gain strength and protection. With Lauren’s own hyper-empathy, she feels that being around others and working with them is just another kind of weakness. As she shares their pain, she fears that this trait will weaken her and does what she can to keep it hidden. Through such a brilliant and strong character, combined with her stunning ability for empathy, I wonder the kind of statement Butler is going to work to make throughout Parable about community and its complexities.

 In Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler begins to introduce a lifestyle that seems normal at first until we start getting rough details. For example, when everyone goes out to get baptized Lauren says that the rule is to go out in a bunch and go armed. Lauren is extremely empathetic, she suffers from hyperempathy syndrome which makes it so that she feels everybody else’s pain. This is why the ride to the church is so uncomfortable for her; she sees so much poverty, sickness, and dangers that she can’t help but look away. Two scenes that are important when describing the situation that they’re in would be when Lauren says how “a lot of the houses were trashed-burned, vandalized, infested with drunks or druggies or squatted in by homeless families with their filthy, gaunt, half-naked children.” This is really able to paint a picture for the reader since we haven’t yet seen what a dystopia would look like. It is a bit terrifying how this is not that far-fetched. If you go to poor areas of the country you will see things that are very similar to this. The only difference is that in this case there is a wall that separates the dirt poor from the sort of poor. It is not at all surprising the need to reinforce social classes, even at a time wheneverybody is doing badly.

There are times when it’s easy to forget that this is based on the time where the world is basically ending. If you forget about that fact for a second it seems like a normal neighborhood who has night patrol just to make the people feel safer; or a normal teenage girl who is hanging out with her best friend. You would expect them to be talking about music or boys but in reality they’re trying to make a plan in case things get really bad. They question if maybe it would be better to die now than later. Or reading books on survival in the wilderness, guns, medical emergencies, how to farm. You also wouldn’t think that the night patrol is there so that people will stop stealing your trees, your seeds, your bunnies or chickens to eat them and to sell them or so that nobody gets shot while walking past the wall. It’s just a very corrupt and scary place for such  young children to be growing up in,  but it is inevitable due to the state that the world has accommodated to.

While reading the first seven chapters of the “Parable of the Sower”, I noticed the many similarities between Butler and later theorists such as Nixon, LeMenager, and Haraway. Though it was written in the 1990s, it contains similar themes to those of modern theorists, which indicates that the issues discussed in the past are still relevant today. Climate change has become an even more prominent issue since the 1990s due to its devastating impact, including deadly storms, forest fires, endangered species, and loss of human lives. Concepts of Nixon’s “slow death,” Haraway’s “Chthulucene”, and LeMenager’s “everyday Anthropocene” are all evident throughout these chapters, painting a vivid picture of a possible future impacted by climate change.

 According to Nixon and Lemanager, the novel is a way to raise awareness and support for slow violence, particularly climate change. LeMenager mentions “Parable of the Sower” as a good example of cli-fi. Throughout the book, Butler uses Nixon’s idea of slow death to show people’s hesitance to realize that the situation can get worse. In the book, Lauren shares the same sentiment with Nixon, “But, Dad, that’s like ignoring fire in the living room because we’re all in the kitchen, and besides, house fires are too scary to talk about” (62). The people of her community realize that problems may arise but since they are not happening right in front of their eyes, they choose not to prepare for it. As my Ghanaian people say, they are in a pot of soup without realizing that there is fire under the pot. Their chances of survival are slimming and gradually their hesitancy and ignorance will lead to their death.

Haraway’s ideas stood out as the most prominent among these theorists in the few chapters. Just like Haraway, Lauren believes that to survive climate change, they need to adapt to their new environment by working together, “We can get ready. That’s what we’ve got to do now. Get ready for what’s going to happen, get ready to survive it, get ready to make like afterward” (55). Additionally, throughout these chapters, Lauren tells us about the community coming together to protect each other and share resources, “Everyone brought Mrs. Sims things after the robbery…food, clothing, money” (22). This reminds me of Haraway’s slogan, “Make Kin Not Babies”, where she explained that mass production of babies won’t save the world, rather working together and depending on each other along with nature we can survive in a world destroyed by climate change. Lauren’s community is made up of different families, they may not come from one ancestor or share the same genes but like Haraway mentioned they are kin.

LeMenager’s “Everyday Anthropocene”, is also dominant in Butler’s work. The book is an everyday Anthropocene. Throughout the chapters, Lauren talks about life in a world impacted by climate change, where water, food, and shelters are scarce. A place where people can only travel to certain places and be armed for their safety, “they don’t have to risk going outside where things are so dangerous and crazy. It’s bad enough that some people… have to go to work at least once a week. None of us goes to school anymore…That’s the rule. Go out in a bunch and go armed” (7-8). It paints an eerie picture of how the world could be if we don’t take proper actions. We could end up living in walled communities like Lauren’s community with little to no access to the internet. LeMenager and Nixon have both emphasized the importance of imaginative stories in helping people understand the severity of the situation. Lauren discusses her ideas for change with her friend Joanne, who dismisses them out of fear. Lauren’s father suggests that instead of talking about the end of the world, she should teach children about the changes necessary to prevent it. LeMenager mentioned the search for a genre for novels on climate change and the stories she believes should be told in those novels. LeMenager believes in realistic storytelling that showcases the everyday Anthropocene. She calls for realistic storytelling in novels about climate change to create a sense of urgency and hope rather than depicting an apocalyptic end.

              Butler’s novel”Parable of the sower ” is able to accurately present many of the issues raised by the theorists Nixon ,Haraway and Lemenager . The Novel which was written in the early 1990’s  predicts what our present is like in a very extreme way that yet is still applicable. Butler starts her Text in the Year 2024  where we are able to learn about Lauren’s life and How climate change has affected their lives . Nixon talks about the concept of slow violence  and how it’s something that occurs gradually and out of sight for example ,climate breakdown, oil spills,toxic drifts and more. As Butler gets to describe to her readers what her living conditions are and what her daily life looks like . We are able to  get a closer look into the outcome of Slow violence. In laurens reality there is no freedom, no safety , resources  are scarce, catastrophes are  very common and people struggle to survive. They live in walled communities in order to survive”That they don’t have to risk going outside where things are so dangerous and crazy”(7). They have no freedom and live in constant fear of the outside .

      A major problem Nixon talked about in his book was about poverty and slow violence. He said that  people who are from lower income have to face these two problems: poverty and the effects of slow violence. In Butler’s novel we are able to see this represented as people who are  low income struggle to afford the basic needs of a human not only because of poverty but also because of slow violence .”in fact we passed  a couple of neighborhoods so poor that their walls were made up of unmortared rocks ,chunks of concrete and trash”(10).  Not only  do they have to struggle to meet their needs but they also don’t have safety and are more exposed to the chances of being ,killed robbed and or drugged .Safety is not the only problem but the basic human needs and resources that we depend on are. In this new world  clean water is a privilege to have , electricity is something they no longer have  and gas power vehicles  are not used. “ The cost of water has gone up again . and I heard on the news today that more water peddlers are being killed”(17). A basic need like water has become extremely expensive to the point  people are finding different ways to obtain it. Through the first 6 chapters  of The novel we are able to have a glimpse into what our reality could look like . Slow violence is slowly making changes in our lives that we might not be able to drastically see but are definitely there. Many of these situations and problems Laura has faced in her life we are currently living or might be headed to. Laura’s reality might just slowly become  our new reality .

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.