Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower - Amazing Visionist of the Future Presents Today's World! In the 1990s

 

I should have known better! When I finished the first book by this new author, for me, I immediately wanted to read the previous book. So, my promised review related to the parable of the talents is coming, now, next... I wanted to start at the beginning and learn about how the second book actually began. Because the second book was so real, related to the last 5 or 6 years, I thought it was a new book--it was so close to the reality we've just experienced, I had imagined that she had just changed the characters, their roles, site, but that it was presenting a magnified version of today's continued chaos!

I was, then, shocked when I read her bio! She had died and these books were written in the 1990s! I hope you'll take the time to listen to the videos above, especially the first one where she was asked to read from The Parable of the Talents!  But first I want to set up the background as to how the main character and several of the characters from the next book came to be living in a little community called Acorn...

"Belief initiates and guides action--

or it does nothing!

All that you touch You Change. 

All that you Change 

Changes you. 

The only lasting truth Is Change. 

God Is Change.

Note that audio vids are available on UTube; 1 sample below

There was a period of silence. After a while, he said, “How did you get your ideas about God?” 

“I was looking for God,” I said. “I wasn’t looking for mythology or mysticism or magic. I didn’t know whether there was a god to find, but I wanted to know. God would have to be a power that could not be defied by anyone or anything.” 

“Change.” 

“Change, yes,” 

“But it’s not a god. It’s not a person or an intelligence or even a thing. It’s just … I don’t know. An idea.” 

I smiled. Was that such a terrible criticism?

“It’s a truth,” I said. “Change is ongoing. Everything changes in some way—size, position, composition, frequency, velocity, thinking, whatever. Every living thing, every bit of matter, all the energy in the universe changes in some way. I don’t claim that everything changes in every way, but everything changes in some way.” 

Harry, coming in dripping from the sea, heard this last. “Sort of like saying God is the second law of thermodynamics,” he said, grinning. He and I had already had this conversation. 

“That’s an aspect of God,” I said to Travis. “Do you know about the second law?” 

He nodded. “Entropy, the idea that the natural flow of heat is from something hot to something cold—not the other way—so that the universe itself is cooling down, running down, dissipating its energy.” 

I let my surprise show. “My mother wrote for newspapers and magazines at first,” he said. “She taught me at home. Then my father died and she couldn’t earn enough for us to keep the house. And she couldn’t find any other work that paid money. She had to take a job as a live-in cook, but she went on teaching me.” 

“She taught you about entropy?” Harry asked. 

“She taught me to read and write,” Travis said. “Then she taught me to teach myself. The man she worked for had a library—a whole big room full of books.” “He let you read them?” I asked. “He didn’t let me near them.” Travis gave me a humorless smile. “I read them anyway. My mother would sneak them to me.” Of course. 

Slaves did that two hundred years ago. They sneaked around and educated themselves as best they could, sometimes suffering whipping, sale, or mutilation for their efforts. 

“Did he ever catch you or her at it?” I asked. 

“No.” Travis turned to look toward the sea. “We were careful. It was important. She never borrowed more than one book at a time. I think his wife knew, but she was a decent woman. She never said anything. She was the one who talked him into letting me marry Natividad.” 

The son of the cook marrying one of the maids. That was like something out of another era, too. “Then my mother died and all Natividad and I had was each other, and then the baby. I was staying on as gardener-handyman, but then the old bastard we worked for decided he wanted Natividad. He would try to watch when she fed the baby. Couldn’t let her alone. That’s why we left. That’s why his wife helped us leave. She gave us money. She knew it wasn’t Natividad’s fault. And I knew I didn’t want to have to kill the guy. So we left.” 

In slavery when that happened, there was nothing the slaves could do about it—or nothing that wouldn’t get them killed, sold, or beaten. I looked at Natividad who sat a short distance away, on spread out sleepsacks, playing with her baby and talking to Zahra. She had been lucky. Did she know? How many other people were less lucky—unable to escape the master’s attentions or gain the mistress’s sympathies. How far did masters and mistresses go these days toward putting less than submissive servants in their places? “I still can’t see change or entropy as God,” Travis said, bringing the conversation back to Earthseed. “Then show me a more pervasive power than change,” I said. “It isn’t just entropy. God is more complex than that. Human behavior alone should teach you that much. And there’s still more complexity when you’re dealing with several things at once—as you always are. There are all kinds of changes in the universe.” 

He shook his head. “Maybe, but nobody’s going to worship them.” 

“I hope not,” I said. “Earthseed deals with ongoing reality, not with supernatural authority figures. Worship is no good without action. With action, it’s only useful if it steadies you, focuses your efforts, eases your mind.” 

He gave me an unhappy smile. “Praying makes people feel better even when there’s no action they can take,” he said. “I used to think that was all God was good for—to help people like my mother stand what they had to stand.” 

“That isn’t what God is for, but there are times when that’s what prayer is for. And there are times when that’s what these verses are for. God is Change, and in the end, God prevails. But there’s hope in understanding the nature of God—not punishing or jealous, but infinitely malleable. There’s comfort in realizing that everyone and everything yields to God. There’s power in knowing that God can be focused, diverted, shaped by anyone at all. But there’s no power in having strength and brains, and yet waiting for God to fix things for you or take revenge for you. You know that. You knew it when you took your family and got the hell out of your boss’s house. God will shape us all every day of our lives. Best to understand that and return the effort: Shape God.” “Amen!” Harry said, smiling.

~~~

Lauren is the main character for both books. I found I felt a kindred spirit connection with this character, and, I would assume, also the writer. Lauren is the daughter of a Baptist minister and she loves him dearly... But she finds herself having to force being a good daughter who follows and believes as she is being taught. She keeps all of that within herself, using only her writing to express what she is feeling and where she thinks we as a people should be headed... In fact, both books (some duplicative) often have in poetic format her thoughts... I found that much of what she wrote is logical--and I formed a connection with her words...

Butler does not mention the title of the book reference until the closing but I wanted to share it earlier so that we can, together, see, where her thinking evolves from...

A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And others fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bore fruit an hundredfold. The Bible Authorized King James Version St. Luke 8: 5-8

Lauren was a sower...of people...of action, of change... of God...

Butler, the author, was a watcher, a visionary, a woman of action, of change...of God...

In being a watcher Butler has watched how America has evolved, has changed...and from that watching, she has created a remarkable set of actions that would be happening...just...about...right...now...

Lauren in the years beginning 2020 and moving forward, begins to challenge what her father is teaching, especially, about waiting upon the Lord...Lauren had been watching... in the time period in which the book(s) are written. 

The setting of the book as presented is more graphic, more substantive, more encompassing than my own view, which did not begin as early as Butler's. In choosing to write the book as science fiction, she has magnified the many issues that are "alive and well" here in the United States! The impact is more dramatic, but the reader realizes that in some parts of America, it could be exactly as written...

Climate change had been ignored too long and was impossible to recapture...

There are many homeless. Water is scarce and must be purchased. Water is more expensive than gasoline. Only the extremely rich can use their cars. Most sit in garages unable to be used due to lack of gas, water... There is a high utilization of drugs. There is violence; everybody MUST have a gun because of the increase in homelessness, drugs, and the anger of those facing a more and more meaningless life than ever before. Although not rich, by any means, Lauren's family and others nearby do live what some might consider middle-class. The major difference is that all of the homes are behind walls. Indeed, leaving the home can be and is... dangerous...  For years, Lauren's father has held his church within his own home, for those who are willing to at least travel from home to home.

All members of families are taught how to use guns and groups will travel outside of the walls to practice and/or teach the younger children as they become old enough to learn. Being dirty is the norm. In fact, if you have a little water to wash yourself, but also need to go outside of the wall, then you ensure you are dirty so that you are not easy to spot...

There are no electronics--the last television in the community went out. They had paid to watch the news from outside through a window... The only thing available and in each family is a radio. Few people were paid in cash; most worked for food and sometimes somewhere to sleep.

It is not uncommon to have guns and signs of rioting outside of their walls... And, it is anticipated that they must be diligent. Food is scarce, but behind the walls, where Lauren's community works, they have gardens and fruit-bearing trees. The state is California. And those outside the walls can see the trees and know there is food...

And when they strike, it was verified that the community was, even though they had tried to be prepared,unable to respond to the anger, the hate, the hunger... 

Pyro was the latest drug, one that resulted in the addicts wanting nothing more than to burn things... And the community was attacked...and lost...

Lauren had been told to run and she did, thinking others were behind her... She learned later that all of her family were caught and pulled back into the burning community. Harry was a neighbor who had also got out.

We do not worship God. We perceive and attend God. We learn from God. With forethought and work, We shape God. In the end, we yield to God. We adapt and endure, For we are Earthseed And God is Change.

As Lauren saw all that had been happening, she had felt that they all needed to be prepared. She herself had created a go-bag that contained what she needed if she had to act immediately. She had made a mistake and told her best friend of her thoughts, and, of course, it caused gossip, confusion, and a stern discussion with her father... He accepted what her concerns were and even agreed to some of her ideas. But she was told to keep her mouth shut--that there were elders who were also concerned and talking...

Now, when she had grabbed her bag and ran, she must have thought about how she had tried to get people involved...to prepare...to change... and they had not... Nearly all of her community were now dead... And she knew that whatever that group of elders had been doing, it had never been enough. She remembered that her father had even been prepared with a relevant scripture... but their fighting had not worked!

Nehemiah, chapter four, Verse 14: “And I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, be not afraid of them: remember the Lord which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives and your houses.”

To get along with God, Consider the consequences of your behavior.

There were three that found each other after their community had been burned. Lauren had already planned, if she had to leave, that she would dress as a man. She was a big woman and thought she could get away with it... So, there were two women and one man leaving to walk away, not knowing where they would be going... But as they traveled, there were two men and one woman that they both worked to protect.

And as they traveled, more came to join them, knowing it was safer to travel with others... and, at the end, they had reached what would be called Acorn!

Which is where the next book begins! Parts of this book are not easily read... There were dogs, scangers who would steal children... There were addicts who would paint themselves and rush to burn whatever got in their way...

But it's a book that must be read. Right Now...It is still not too late. In fact, it may seem it's getting better. But now, when the world has brought hundreds and hundreds of those who are poor, afraid for their lives, and seeking food and shelter... we had not prepared when we should have been dealing with the situation.

Let's face it, immigrants have been turned into a political tool that, instead of helping, are used to demonstrate failure on the part of the democratic party, never willing to admit that the problem began with the former republican president!

Will we be able to meet all needs?