How does Octavia Butler use the character Lauren Olamina to explore and address social issues in the novel “Parable of the Sower?” 

Agustí, Clara Escoda. “The relationship between community and subjectivity in Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower.” Extrapolation (pre-2012) 46.3 (2005): 351.

In this article the author discusses the odds that the main character has to beat as a black woman. In the novel we know that the main character chooses to dress as a man in an attempt to prevent herself from getting sexually assaulted. This identity change for the sake of surviving challenges a lot of gender and racial stereotypes that men are typically stronger than women and are seen as better leaders. The article goes on about how Lauren is able to redefine womanhood.  

Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower. Headline Book Publishing, 2019.

This novel is set in a post-apocalyptic time period where climate change and social inequality is prevalent. The novel follows the main character Lauren Olamina who possesses a condition called hyperempathy that enables her to feel the pain and emotion of others. She is a black female trying to navigate this new world. She ends up losing her home and ends up having to survive on the “outside” world. Along the way she meets people and introduces them to her ideology called earthseed. As a group they are stronger and more vigilant together and therefore have a better chance at survival. 

Frazier, C. M. (2016). Troubling Ecology: Wangechi Mutu, Octavia Butler, and Black Feminist Interventions in Environmentalism. Critical Ethnic Studies, 2(1), 40–72. https://doi.org/10.5749/jcritethnstud.2.1.0040

Frazier dives into the essay discussing and understanding work where the protagonists are female characters. She compares an artist named Wangechi Mutu and Octavia Butler’s geographical location and race and how their work is able to depict a strong black female character. Although the main focus for my argument is on Butler, Frazier notes that although they come from this same “diaspora”,  they do have different nationalities and cultures. She discusses having a black female as the protagonist and the author is able to deconstruct typical western standards. 

Govan, S. (2003). THE PARABLE OF THE SOwER AS REnDERED BY OCTAVIA BUTLER: LESSOnS FOR OUR CHAnGInG TImES. Femspec, 4(2), 239. Retrieved from http://proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/parable-sower-as-rendered-octavia-butler-lessons/docview/200166258/se-2

This article mentions a very interesting point in the Abstract about Lauren’s name and the meaning which relates to the depiction that Butler wants the audience to understand about the main character. The author states that her last name means “this is my wealth.” Not only that but he mentions her hyperempathy that is seen as a weakness considering at times in the novel she often passes out. We see that despite this condition we see a strong black female that is able to lead an entire group of men, women, and children to survival. 

Kouhestani, Maryam. “Environmental and Social Crises: New Perspective on Social and Environmental Injustice in Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower.” International Journal of Social Science and Humanity 5.10 (2015): 898

In this journal the author discusses certain social injustice such as race, women, and the poor. When we hear these things, one tends to think that this person is at a disadvantage in which they are on a social scale.  The author notes for one Butler stating that we live in this new form of neo-slavery, that it never vanished but took on a new form. She believes this is something we as humans are not aware of, but she does make the main character Lauren aware of it. In the novel Lauren notes that these people are imprisoned. These companies that are supposed to help are providing room and board but in return the people living there still have to owe these companies money for shelter in the utopian world. Lauren explains this as debt-slavery as noted in this journal. This also adds onto the type of depiction Octavia Butler wanted for the main character. She is very smart and aware of the social issues and how her race and gender can set her up for failure in this new world. 

Annotated Bibliography

• Dubey, Madhu. “Folk and Urban Communities in African-American Women’s Fiction: Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower.” Studies in American Fiction, vol. 27, no. 1, 1999, pp. 103–28, https://doi.org/10.1353/saf.1999.0017. 

Like the previous article, this one also does a better job at analyzing the political and socioeconomic impact on LA during the time. However, using that information, I can tie   it to the effects of drug use.

• Govan, Sandra. “THE PARABLE OF THE SOwER AS REnDERED BY OCTAVIA BUTLER: LESSOnS FOR OUR CHAnGInG TImES.” Femspec, vol. 4, no. 2, 2003, pp. 239. ProQuest, http://proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/parable-sower-as-rendered-octavia-butler-lessons/docview/200166258/se-2. 

The article addresses the socioeconomic and political issues surrounding the time period. Due to this, according to the article, Lauren is forced to then separate herself and her community from such a catastrophe. The rampant drug use and cycle of violent crime triggers her hyperempathy beyond anything that she can fix. Because the sphere has become impossible to live in, she creates Earthseed to counteract the already devastated state of Robledo.

• S. Lavanya. (2023). Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower as the Pyro Epidemic Novel. Creative Saplings, 2(08), 1–9. Retrieved from https://creativesaplings.in/index.php/1/article/view/444 

The article talks briefly about the definition of crack and what it does to people once they get sucked into the cycle of addiction. From there the author takes the article in a direction that analyzes the pre existing flaws in humans that enhance the devastation caused by crack intake. Further down, it mentions the relation between crack/heroin and the rise in violent crime due to the effects of the drug on the human body and mind. 

• Miller, Jim. “Post-Apocalyptic Hoping: Octavia Butler’s Dystopian/Utopian Vision.” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 25, no. 2, 1998, pp. 336–60. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4240705.  Accessed 30 Nov. 2023. (pg 15)

The pyro drug that fuels political insurrection from the dirt poor directs their anger toward the wrong people. While they intend to “burn the rich”, they instead burn those that are comparatively poor to those on top. This issue not only addresses the issue of political instability, but also socioeconomic status, or rather the blurriness of such to those at the very bottom. Around the bottom of page 15 specifically comments on the cycle of devastation that crime and drug addiction has on LA during the time. This article provides great evidence toward my argument of the catastrophic drug/crack epidemic on LA in the 80s and 90s and how that affected the hierarchy of politics and socioeconomic development.

• Phillips, Jerry. “The Intuition of the Future: Utopia and Catastrophe in Octavia Butler’s ‘Parable of the Sower.’” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, vol. 35, no. 2/3, 2002, pp. 299–311. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1346188.  Accessed 30 Nov. 2023.

This article also recognizes the disturbing effects of the living situation within the period of the novel due to the organization, or lack thereof, of people within their own communities and of the government. I think this article does more in analyzing the socioeconomic aspect of the area during that time, but mentions less about the effects of drugs and addiction.

• STILLMAN, PETER G. “Dystopian Critiques, Utopian Possibilities, and Human Purposes in Octavia Butler’s Parables.” Utopian Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, 2003, pp. 15–35. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20718544.  Accessed 30 Nov. 2023.

This article like the others, emphasizes the effects of drug use on the LA region during the 1980s and 90s. However, this article mentions that due to the lack of “operative enforcement of public order”, it is almost guaranteed that most people know someone that is killed or affected by the devastation of drug use and addiction/its side effects (crime). He mentions how those stuck in the circle involved in drug use are trapped mostly physically and theoretically because they have nowhere to go. All their family/community is there, but they’re also being physically kept there by the lack of social order.

Research Question: How does Butler’s Parable of the Sower navigate the impact of the drug epidemic on the socioeconomic, political, and environmentalist sphere?

“Does Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler teach us to not see color?”

Sources:

Grecca, G. B. (2021). ‘A racist challenge might force us apart’: divergence, reliance and empathy in Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler. 

Blazan, S. (2022). “Something Beyond Pain”: Race, Gender, and Hyperempathy in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. Gender Forum, 82, 34–34

Johnson, Ikea  (2020). “On Compassion and the Sublime Black Body: Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower

Prudence L. Carter (2016). You Can’t Fix What You Don’t Look At: Acknowledging Race in Addressing Racial Discipline Disparities

Romano, R. C. (2021). The Dangers of “Race Mixing.” In Race Mixing (pp. 44–81). Harvard University Press.

Research Question: How does Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower depict the intersection of religion, survival, and community in a dystopian future as a utopian vision?  

                                             Annotated Bibliography 

Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower: The New York Times Bestseller. Hachette UK, 2014.

Serving as the main source of the research, Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler is a dystopian novel set in a post-apocalyptic future, where society has collapsed due to environmental and social crises. The story follows a young girl named Lauren Olamina who possesses “hyperempathy,” a condition that allows her to feel the pain and emotions of others. As she witnesses the disintegration of her community, she develops a new belief system called Earthseed, centered around the idea that “God is change.” She sets out on a journey to find a safe place and build a community based on her newfound faith.

Clausen, Daniel D. “Cli-Fi Georgic and Grassroots Mutual Aid in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower.” Western American Literature, vol. 56 no. 3, 2021, p. 269-286. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/wal.2021.0040.

Clausen argues that Butler’s novel presents a complex and hopeful vision of the future, stating how Butler’s novel serves as a mode of learning how to survive a dystopian future. Clausen suggests that the novel offers a vision of a possible future in which black people can resist and transform the dominant culture of white supremacy, therefore creating a “how-to guide” to survive a post-apocalyptic future. While past critics Canavan and Frazier focus on the dystopian elements of the novel and its portrayal of a white supremacist future society, Clausen shifts the focus to the novel’s depiction of grassroots mutual aid and the potential for collective resistance and transformation. 

Kubiak, Samantha. “Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower: Utopia as a Mindset Within Dystopia.” The Digital Literature Review, 11 Dec. 2018, blogs.bsu.edu/dlr/2018/12/11/octavia-butlers-parable-of-the-sower-utopia-mindset-within-dystopia.

Kubiak explains that through Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler challenges readers by introducing Earthseed, a set of beliefs that is presented as a utopia. This challenges the traditional idea of a utopia being a physical place or a seemingly perfect society. Earthseed is essentially a mindset that allows the characters, especially Lauren, to find hope and strive for positive change in their lives, even in the face of a contrasting dystopian reality. Lauren believes in creating Earthseed even in a terrifying world, and Butler’s novel challenges the idea of what a perfect society can be, even amid a bleak dystopia.

Miller, Jim. “Post-Apocalyptic Hoping: Octavia Butler’s Dystopian/Utopian Vision.” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 25, no. 2, 1998, pp. 336–60. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4240705. Accessed 16 Nov. 2023.

Miller argues that Butler’s work challenges traditional dystopian narratives by not simply presenting a bleak and hopeless future, but by showing that change is possible even in the face of dystopia. Instead of portraying a dystopian world as the result of some inherent flaw in human nature, Butler’s work highlights the consequences of identifiable historical causes. This approach creates a more nuanced and complex vision of the future, one that is not simply utopian or dystopian, but rather a blend of both. Hope plays an important role in Butler’s vision of the future, as she presents a post-utopian hope that is tempered by the lessons of the past, emphasizing the importance of resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity, rather than presenting a hopeless future.

Phillips, Jerry. “The Intuition of the Future: Utopia and Catastrophe in Octavia Butler’s ‘Parable of the Sower.’” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, vol. 35, no. 2/3, 2002, pp. 299–311. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1346188. Accessed 16 Nov. 2023.

Phillips’ analysis of Parable of the Sower suggests that the novel does not present a straight and clear utopian vision but rather offers a “vague blueprint of what, ideally, ought to be” (Phillips 307).  The protagonist, Lauren, advocates for a transcendent consciousness that sees hopeful possibility in even the deadliest of situations. The novel portrays a future marked by violence, environmental collapse, and social breakdown but frames a sense of hope, thus, Phillips suggests that the novel’s vision of the future is complex and multifaceted, engaging with both utopian and dystopian elements in its portrayal of a world in crisis. 

STILLMAN, PETER G. “Dystopian Critiques, Utopian Possibilities, and Human Purposes in Octavia Butler’s Parables.” Utopian Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, 2003, pp. 15–35. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20718544. Accessed 16 Nov. 2023.

Stillman suggests that Parable of the Sower does not simply present a straightforward utopian vision. Instead, it offers a complex portrayal of a utopian possibility through the new religion called Earthseed, founded by the protagonist Lauren Olamina. Earthseed is depicted as a religion that emphasizes the interconnectedness of all living things and the importance of adapting to change. Lauren established a small community named Acorn, which operates based on the principles of Earthseed. Acorn is characterized by trust and close personal ties, where individuals collaborate to establish a sustainable way of life. Despite encountering numerous challenges such as violence and scarcity, Acorn represents a utopian alternative to the dystopian society that surrounds it.