Thoughtcrimes with Alice

I have a pesky suspicion that things are going too well. Despite being attacked a couple times, the group is still intact and unharmed. Not only that, Lauren has been recruiting more people to travel with them and they have been successfully stocking up on supplies. I find it interesting that before she left, she was intent on traveling alone, but now that she is out in the world, she is eager to help and share with strangers. Perhaps this shows her maturation--then again, she still hasn't accepted or dealt with her hyperempathy. So in some ways, the fire has promoted in new growth. In other ways, it has scorched the landscape and made it very ugly. On another note, I find Bankole particularly dubious. The rest of the party had at least a backstory and reason for being on the move. They also had clear motive to want to travel with the group, since Lauren somehow helped them. However, Bankole not only has an odd amount of belongings, he also chose to stick with the group without exp...

In the last class discussion, we speculated on how much longer the gated community would last. We were all wrong. I have been watching a lot of suspense shows lately and I have yet to see a slow burn like Parable of the Sower  escalate so intensely and suddenly. Unlike an episode based narrative, Butler does not have to write compelling cliffhangers at the end of every chapter. In fact, the way she chose to structure her book lends itself well to massive leaps into action that seem believable. I really like what she has done with the diary writing.  One important thing that I noticed was a short line under the entry for Monday, August 2, 2027: "(from notes expanded Sunday, August 8). That particular day also spans two chapters. I'm not sure if these details were intentional, but they make me question the significance of Lauren's writing and how it contributes to the story in general. Clearly she writes some of these entries retrospectively, or at least after the event has ...

I think in our reality, the US population has a sense of positive  change -- increasing vaccinations, improving equity, growing economy, etc. The US in  Parable of the Sower  is going in the opposite direction. The US cancelling their space program is a hallmark of turning away from science. Is that so shocking? The 2nd law of thermodynamics states that a system always tends to gain entropy, become a more disordered state, lose energy. And the universe is a massive system. Even in an equilibrium state, a system is only so because of a constant (but miniscule) back and forth between the opposing forces. Another big theme in thermodynamics (at least that I've encountered) is cycles. History, especially in this section of the reading, seems to be doing just that. Not only is there a reemergence of big business, income inequality, and drug use/homelessness/general lack of good living standards, Lauren's father even brings a slave narrative into the story. It seems the US is o...

By no means has our world deteriorated to the point of Parable of the Sower, but as I pointed out in my last post Octavia Butler's world bears some striking similarities. Lauren's verses about change and how it is our responsibility to shape our fate definitely apply to our experiences in the past year.  Ever since I became old enough to read dystopian books, I've had recurring dreams and thoughts right before falling asleep about how our world as we know it could suddenly end. I considered them nightmares--I believed the sun would rise upon the same reality for my entire lifespan. Clearly that was a naive notion. Lauren is almost my age (slightly younger) and her development of Earthseed is basically a sophisticated coming-of-age that outshines any half-baked thoughts I have had, at any rate.  Or perhaps Lauren's ideas are naive in their own way. She believes that change can and needs to happen, as soon as possible. Everything that I know about social and political dyn...

 When beginning this book there were two things that I noticed immediately. One, that it began like 1984  with a diary, but two, that it utilized the entry structure much more to it's benefit. From the sharp EARTHSEED verses to the words of the main character, I felt a much more powerful sense of narrative and emotion in this book. As a writer, I have to credit Octavia Butler for masterfully easing into the exposition of this dystopian world. The book is written such that you do not notice any "lore dumps" as was the first chapter in 1984/Brave New World , but you still feel as though you have wrenched from your seat into a very troubled world. Butler almost immediately calls out race, gender/sex, and class issues through the eyes of Lauren. The most disturbing part of the book is that the stories she tells I can see happening in our own world. Moreover, she addresses problems with government, education, and religion without shoving an entirely new state system in our fac...