The Future Is Here: Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler is not a book I had much thought on before reading. The most knowledge I had of the novel was that it was speculative fiction, and I haven’t had much interaction with the genre. I sometimes mix the genre up with dystopian future, as that genre often commentates on modern problems or changes in society. Because of this I unfairly assumed that this book would feel similar to other dystopian future stories such as The Hunger Games, Divergent, or The Giver. The reputation of the genre was sullied by a mix of the many knockoffs of The Hunger Games, authors who did not understand the purpose of the genre or give any meaningful commentary, and society’s general hatred of things aimed at teenagers and young adults so I was weary when picking up this book. I expected it to fall into the tropes of the more shallow books in the genre, however, this book surprised me by subverting those tropes.

   My first surprise was how realistic the book felt in comparison to the above-mentioned books. It feels closer to another book in the genre, “The Handmaid’s Tale”. It is a dystopian future, however, there are very few fantastical elements that would make it blend in with more popular young adult dystopian novels or works of speculative fiction. The closest I can think of is the main character’s hyperempathy extending beyond feelings and into sharing the others’ physical pain. Even then I may be wrong, as my knowledge of hyper-empathy only extends to how it affects people with autism, borderline personality disorder, depression, and anxiety. The future the main character lives in is the result of problems we are currently facing, and the lack of any fantasy elements makes the connection even more believable in my opinion. Most of the world lives in poverty, the politicians mentioned in the book have little to an effect on the world and are trying to bring it back to “normal”, essentially how the world was before slow violence set in. What really stuck with me is the main character’s discussion with her friend.

“Things are changing now, too. Our adults haven’t been wiped out by a plague so they’re still anchored in the past, waiting for the good old days to come back. But things have changed a lot, and they’ll change more. Things are always changing. This is just one of the big jumps instead of the little step-by-step changes that are easier to take. People have changed the climate of the world. Now they’re waiting for the old days to come back.” (Pg 56 – 57)

  This sentiment is a good summary of the conflict between millennials, generation Z, and older generations. Their entire conversation reads as millennial and Gen Z’s view of the current world and the future, a mix of dread and despair. Despair because this is the world they have grown up in and are used to and dread because the worst is inevitable and the people who are in charge who have the power to change things refuse to take action. Even then some things have gotten so out of control that any single person or group of people can’t change it. I’ve thought and had this conversation many times, as have my friends and people of my generation. It’s raw, emotional, and really spoke to me in just how there is no sugarcoating what is happening in the world.

In Octavia Butler’s novel, Parable of the Sower, the story follows Lauren Olamina, the protagonist and narrator, who is navigating her life in a dystopian society filled with death and destruction. Lauren lives in a gated community with her family and numerous others, protected from the outside world that is “infested with drunks or druggies…  homeless families with their filthy, gaunt, half-naked children… squatters, [and] winos” (10). Those who can’t afford the protection that comes with a gated community, like Lauren’s, are forced to live on the streets, scraping by with the little they have, susceptible to being robbed, beaten, and raped. Everyday necessities such as water cost “several times as much as gasoline,” (18) so many people are forced to go without it and those who can afford it have to use it scarcely. Even though the world seems disastrous and depressing, Lauren chooses to have hope for a future that could be better than the one they are currently living in. Unlike her father and much of the community who turns to religion and their God as a source of hope for a future that will reflect the past, Lauren chooses to be more practical in her approach. She states that “space exploration and colonization are among the few things left over from the last century that can help us more than they hurt us” (20). From Lauren’s perspective, the world is crashing and burning, and it has no future, not one that can sustain the decreasing population of people that are left. Rather than looking to the prosperity of the past and hoping it will magically be brought back, Lauren’s hope is propelled by her belief that the neighborhood community should accept the circumstances they are in and work to change them in their favor. For her, that means not only exploring space for a better civilization but also preparing for the day when they no longer have their gated community to rely on for safety and are forced to venture outside the bubble they live in. During a conversation with her friend, Joanna, Lauren states “I think we should all study books like these… I think we should make emergency packs–grab and run packs–in case we have to get out of here in a hurry. Money, food, clothing, matches, a blanket… I think we should fix places outside where we can meet up in case we get separated” (58). Lauren acknowledges that the situation they are in is only going to get worse as time passes by and instead of believing in a God who doesn’t seem to care about the disastrous state of the world, her community should be focused on putting their time and effort into moving forward and bracing themselves for an uncertain future.

First off, I should explain the title. Octavia Butlers Parable of the Sower does what I think is one of the most difficult yet impressive thing a person can do: convey a point in a fashion that is easily accessible by many. Obviously we know the book centers around a future where climate change has drastically impacted the world to the point where water is a commodity that is worth leagues more than gasoline. From the beginning we can recognize the book as a work of fiction, yet the world presented in this book is frightening. We find it frightening because we know it could be possible. Learning is often equated with sitting for long periods of time and slaving away at a desk, yet here, Butler effortlessly presents the possible impact of climate change in a digestible way.

We see that in this society, capitalism is still in full effect despite the glaring issues. Water, a material that is essential to humans is commodified, and for many of us New York City natives, we see the price rising of water just as Lauren does when she says “the cost of water has gone up again”(17). Ironically, the book is set in the future(2025) yet we are only about a year away from that very “future”. We see around us that prices are rising and wages aren’t. So how close are we really to this reality? In Butlers world, space exploration for a time is being prioritized over the country’s own people and by extension the world. The solution to this issue? Privatization. After. new President was elected, he decided to abolish the space programs in favor for helping the people so as a result, “Near space programs dealing with communications and experimentations will be privatized-sold off”(27). Here we see a bit of background information on the world that Butler develops. While the effects of climate change are upfront and apparent, here she weaves in the ever present effects of capitalism. She constantly speaks on the effects of climate change through the perspective of our main character, yet does not fail to emphasize those that truly caused the issue.

Although we focus on climate change with this series and by extension this class, in this post I hoped to emphasize Butlers beautiful story telling. She builds her world well in that we as readers can understand that this world could be a reality. The way Butler weaves in elements of reality we don’t often think about in apocalyptic situations such as the government. We as fiction readers would expect the government to be out of commission yet here they are at the front and center of everything but at the same time not. The children of this book have lost faith not only in the government but religion as well, while the adults look towards the government to restore the world as it once was. Specifically they talk about having the city lights back over the stars(6). Yet us or rather me personally as a NYC native wish we could see stars but can’t.

Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower proposes a reality that, like the adults in the novel, people wouldn’t consciously think to materialize. It’s a world filled with poverty stricken drug addicts, flying crime rates, and living conditions that could scare even the most dangerous. 

Butler’s dystopian universe seems so out of touch for us, even as we approach 2024 quickly. However, the use of the words “could” and “would”  further reinforces Nixon’s concept of slow violence. Such an end result of cities “trashed, burned, vandalized, infested with drunks or druggies or squatted in by homeless families with their filthy, gaunt, half-naked children” (10) that seems unfathomable is manifesting right in our faces. The streets of the city show signs of heading straight into such a reality. All those issues, like climate change and rising rates of crime/homelessness, that people refuse to treat with a sense of urgency are beginning to creep up on them with a vengeance. 

Like Nixon’s slow violence, Haraway’s Cthlulucene is a great paradigm for the unknown nature of each day to come in the novel. Her description of it involves the “past, present, and to come.”Butler’s novel provides the same depiction of the three. Her relatives give their recantations of the past where life was safe and relatively livable. During that time, they were still able to walk outside without having to fear for their lives and safety. They wish “to relive the good old days or to tell kids how great it’s going to be when the country gets back on its feet and good times come back,” (8).The present time involves a constant state of distress whenever the protagonist, Lauren, or her family, is faced with stepping out of the house. They cannot lower their guard, and a rule of thumb was to “go out in a bunch, and go armed,” (8). The environment is so riddled with danger that no person from any class higher than those on the streets would dare trek on their own. 

Additionally, Butler’s novel satisfies the arguments that Ghosh makes about incorporating climate change and the like into works of fiction. It illustrates the devastating events that result from the immense lack of awareness and precaution toward climate change. Ironically, Lauren also tries to emphasize the importance of “any kind of survival information…Even some fiction might be useful,” (59). In her situation, the importance of accessing any sort of information regarding their chances at survival are of utmost urgency. Yet, we could consider doing the same as to prevent any similar dystopia from possibly materializing and put a halt to slow violence.