To make changes with my bibliography, I had to remove the article “ Katopodis, C. (2023). Teaching for a Habitable Future with Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower: We’ll Have to Seed Ourselves Farther and Farther from This Dying Place. English Language Notes, 61(1), 77–94.” Since it is more for teachers. While thoroughly doing my research I found that there is a lot of reading regarding Octavia Butler’s Power of the Sower, but very limited articles about religion and how to tie it with integration and Survival. I struggled to find a more englishy term for this specific question.  

Bibliography :

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

Grecca, G. B. (2021). ‘A racist challenge might force us apart’: divergence, reliance and empathy in Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler. Ilha Do Desterro, 74(1), 347–362. https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2021.e73535

In this article I found out how racism plays a role in groups. Lauren embraces diversity and it made me realize that when it comes to survival , there is no color. It is all about surviving and who you make alliances with to best suit your safety and future. This reminds me of the hunger games where you are put in an arena to fight for your lives, but in this case it is you and your alliances against the apocalypse. I would like to expand on racism because Lauren was a figure that embodied women of color. 

Guerrero, P. B. (2021). Post-Apocalyptic Memory Sites: Damaged Space, Nostalgia, and Refuge in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. Science-Fiction Studies, 48(1), 29-. https://doi.org/10.5621/sciefictstud.48.1.0029

This article is one of the most important articles that could contribute to my final paper because it speaks about the concepts of shelter, dislocation, memory, home, and loss. There is a complex relationship with post- nostalgia and the sites of damages,personal memories, and sites of memory. If you think about it ,dystopian novels try to make it look like it’s the end of the world with little chance of surviving. Many of these places have been burned by the arsonists in the Novel. Many items lost hold sentimental value with every survivor who is trying to stay alive. Lauren and her group may think about this. 

Achachelooei, E. M., & Leon, C. E. (2021). The Past and “Discontinuity in Religion” in Octavia Butler’s Parables: A Feminist Theological Perspective. Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association), 68(2), 120–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/20512856.2021.1935492

This article focuses on the post-biblical aspect of renovation involving religion, which in this case is “Earth Seed” . Her belief that God has changed is what pushed her to be a survivor. The post apocalyptic games made her who she is as a person. With this belief it brought unity, so it is safe to say that religion could push people to go harder and be a survivor with their own beliefs. This is what I would like to mention in my article.

How does the Parable of the Sower show how a postapocalyptic event controls the way people deal with religion, integration ,and survival?

Bibliography :

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

Agusti, C. (2005). The relationship between community and subjectivity in Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower.” Extrapolation, 46(3), 351–359. https://doi.org/10.3828/extr.2005.46.3.7

Katopodis, C. (2023). Teaching for a Habitable Future with Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower: We’ll Have to Seed Ourselves Farther and Farther from This Dying Place. English Language Notes, 61(1), 77–94. https://doi.org/10.1215/00138282-10293184

Grecca, G. B. (2021). ‘A racist challenge might force us apart’: divergence, reliance and empathy in Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler. Ilha Do Desterro, 74(1), 347–362. https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2021.e73535

Guerrero, P. B. (2021). Post-Apocalyptic Memory Sites: Damaged Space, Nostalgia, and Refuge in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. Science-Fiction Studies, 48(1), 29-. https://doi.org/10.5621/sciefictstud.48.1.0029

Achachelooei, E. M., & Leon, C. E. (2021). The Past and “Discontinuity in Religion” in Octavia Butler’s Parables: A Feminist Theological Perspective. Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association), 68(2), 120–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/20512856.2021.1935492

I recently changed my question because my last question was too broad. My new question is How does the Parable of the Sower show how a postapocalyptic event controls the way people deal with religion, integration ,and survival. I was able to look for 5 articles and selected those 5 specific ones.  Octavia Butler’s, Parable of the Sower shows Lauren’s resilience and her leadership at such a young age. With my question, I want to thoroughly discuss a post-apocalyptic event. How do people call for survival and what steps shall they take? In this Novel they were fighting people, getting away from arsonists who were causing severe damage to the community. She brought up her earthseed religion which caused her to believe that “God is change”. Using all the articles that I chose as resources, I believe that they will be very beneficial in the process of my writing. Even though a dystopian era is considered  very damaging and negative, I wanted to focus on integration. How did people unite during these times and how did they use religion to form unity. I sensed that the original question was much broader but I made some corrections and I’m hoping that this helps with my essay writing.

The Novel 10:04 by Ben Learner is by far the most intriguing novel we had read in class. Ben Lerner is an author who is dedicated to writing novels passionately while dealing with his aortic valve condition that could be life threatening, he writes the importance of time since it is part of the theme in the novel. He referred back to the future quite often in the Novel which reminded me when Marty was accidentally sent back to the 50’s by a scientist and witnessed younger versions of his parents where through the journey he constantly worries about time. Ben worries about time because he mixes his personal life conflicts with his passion and for him it is writing. In the Novel it states that, “ I would still probably require, eventual surgery, but with a more distant threshold (5 centimeters), and the possibility of much slower progression. In either case , I was now burdened with the awareness that there was a statistically significant chance the largest artery in my body would rupture at any moment- an event i visualized, how- ever incorrectly, as a whipping hose spraying blood into my blood; before collapse a far look comes into my eyes as though, etc” (10). Life is unpredictable and anything could happen. This was a constant worry for the author because how if he dies before finishing his Novel. This also reminded me of how time is also prevalent, as a theme in Octavia Butler’s, Sower of the Parable. You never know what could happen and time is ticking, in an apocalypse you cannot waste any time. From running from the arsonists, from forming a group quickly to prioritize safety, time is valuable. What stood out to me is his characteristics in the Novel, is his resilience. It is important to talk about fear because it shows the truth of reality. Yes it is important to understand fear and how to deal with fear. It is normal for people who are diagnosed with certain diseases to feel fear, cancer patients have fear all the time, and heart problems could cause people to fear because you can collapse any time. Fearing for the future is what I think ties in the Novel you are constantly predicting the good and the bad possibilities of every outcome in life. In Octavia’s Butler’s novel, fear was inevitable , it is about how you deal with fear, how you handle it, and how to stay alive. Which is what both authors prioritize throughout the novels. 

How does the use of climate change in Octavia’s Butler’s, Parable of the Sower affect the way people look at literary fiction.

The Novel 10:04 By Ben Learner is eccentric but it is completely intriguing compared to the past two novels we read in class. I want to point out how this novel focuses on time , and time is the most valuable thing in life since people have said it cannot be created or destroyed nor does it have a beginning or end. It is constant and the only constant thing in life is change. Ben Lerner brought up time a couple times in the first chapter , which I’m guessing he wants us to understand its prevalence. This novel is more realistic compared to the past two and bringing up his condition made the narrator more resilient as he brought up is chronic heart illness that could be very dangerous because of the high mortality rate heart problems lead to. I would like to tie this to time because he doesn’t necessarily know how much time he has left but is very focused on writing his own Novel and publishing it which shows his dedication. To add on, he used Back to the future as a reference which could be tied with time. According to page 23, it States that ” Standing there that afternoon with Alex, I was reminded of the photograph Marty carries in Back to the Future , crucial movie of my youth: as Marty’s time- traveling disrupts the prehistory of his family, he and his siblings begin to fade from the snapshot. Only here it’s a presence, not an absence , that eats away at her hand: she’s being pulled into the future” meaning that the future is bound to happened but it felt as if it was rushed. Alex was an important person in the book and they had a significant relationship . I always thought he was curious and thought about his role as a father in the future, when he spoke about how Alex proposed impregnating herself with his own sperm but not engaging in sexual activities but through intrauterine insemination (12). This could also lead to many thinking about what are the possibilities which we could all tie to the future. Maybe he will be a great father? or maybe it will be impossible if his condition kills him before he even has the chance to become one. Although it is not the primarily important part of this novel it is good to get an understanding of how it all ties into time. The past, future, and present.