What is one important distinction that Butler draws between her father’s understanding of the world and Lauren’s? Where is the specific point in the novel’s first half that made that distinction clear to you?
6 thoughts on “Parable (first half)–Group 2”
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We first realize the stark difference in Lauren’s understanding of the world and her father’s when she shares that she stopped believing in her fathers baptist church and religion. Although she is willingly baptized, she calls herself a coward for allowing herself to do so. As the story goes on, we begin to realize that Lauren has a much more complex ideology and religion which she has called Earthseed. To her, Earthseed is a much more rational and appropriate view and lifestyle of the current post-apocalpyic world surrounding her family’s gated community, with ideas emphasizing change and adaptation as seen by its belief that humans will have to settle on other planets. As the crime and tension continue to cave in to the community, we begin to realize that her father’s efforts to keep her community are futile. Lauren seems much more invested in growing out of the gated community of Robledo and adapting to the situation around her while her father seeks to defend an almost hopeless situation.
I really enjoy the constant observation and reshaping of ideas Lauren experiences in the first half of the book. The fundamental difference between Lauren and her father is their beliefs and sentiment towards religion. Lauren tells us she wants to believe in her fathers god, but the logic and rules that come with that belief system don’t make sense to her. Lauren is a very logical person and we follow her thought process throughout the book. A key moment is when Mrs. Sims commits suicide. Like Lauren’s father, Mrs. Sims believes in the Christian god. Lauren finds Mrs. Sims actions so confusing because suicide is punished by being sent to hell, which is eternal pain. Clearly, that decision makes no sense to Lauren. We can see her reason through this decision trying to find an explanation but be unsatisfied. In some ways the true difference between Lauren and her father is the way they interpret and respond to the world. Lauren must find a logical answer to why something happened and incorporate that into her beliefs. Whereas her father seems to have beliefs that are ridged and unchanged by future events.
Religion is a cornerstone of the Olamina family value system, and Lauren and her father differ in their interpretations. With her rejection of her father’s belief system, Lauren seeks to create her own religion with its own ideals and conception of God. For her, the people of Robledo are too complacent in accepting the conditions they live under, and Lauren’s religion emphasizes change and a proactive approach to helping others. We see a manifestation of this conflict in Lauren and her father’s interaction after he finds out about what she tells Joanne. The Reverend emphasizes that warding away panic is paramount to keeping the townspeople under control and safe. This is in essence what his use of religion accomplishes. The system of baptism and prayer placates peoples’ fears and gives them the illusion that they are being looked after by a higher power. That’s not to say that his religion is fictional–but it certainly serves a function in society beyond just being a metaphysical calling. While Lauren still believes in a higher power, her religion tries to shed the dogma and social control endemic to Christianity. Although less well-defined, her beliefs seem to offer more agency and dynamism than her father’s.
Lauren and her fathers distinct difference in opinion can be tracked perfectly in their space travel conversation in chapter 3. Laurens father believes that there is no prospect for life in space and that the entire conversation is a waste of time. This thought process can be directly raced back to his thought process for Robledo. He truly believes Robledo can remain protected and peaceful and he can live out of the rest of his days there comfortably. He has lived both lives and understands what it means to be able to live peacefully. From this it is not hard to understand why he takes such a hard stance mitigating panic. He doesn’t want to have to move again and feel more despair. However, Lauren believes that life in space is possible and could be the future that brings everyone the peace her father desires too. Lauren recognizes the earths deterioration and is still young and starry eyed ready to see more. After the string of robberies Lauren gives into this feeling and leaves in search of something better and just like her father her actions are reasonable.
In the second chapter there were two moments where I knew that Lauren had a different worldview than her father.
One example I noticed in chapter two was Lauren’s views on religion. Her father is a baptist minister who holds services in his own home. In chapter two, we learn from lauren that she stopped believing in the Baptist religion three years ago. I would generally say that religion is a major indicator of general worldview, and that this was an obvious moment where I knew that Lauren felt differently about the world than her father.
Another example I found in the chapter was when Lauren began to notice the various afflictions of the people sitting outside of the neighborhood gate. We begin to understand in further depth Lauren’s hyperempathy at this part of the story, and how it effects her day to day life. Lauren’s father is ashamed of her hyperempathy, labeling is as delusional, illogical, and reminiscent of the drug addiction of her late mother.
While it is clear that Lauren feels empathy to a fault, the manner in which her father denounces the condition is indicative of his own worldview. I think his complete and utter lack of, well, empathizing with Lauren’s condition demonstrates a clear lack of empathy on his part. I think this example is clearly to demonstrate that Lauren’s worldview is an empathetic one, whereas her father’s is more of a self centered one.
The novel Parable of Sorrow has some very complex relationships within the Olamina family, especially between Lauren and her father. I will focus on how both Lauren and her father both are religious leaders but for two very different ideologies. Lauren’s father, Reverend Olamina, is a Baptist Reverend who is one of, if not the main, leader of the Robledo town. Baptist beliefs are aligned with Christianity, and it uses the Bible as its main source of written testament.
Meanwhile, Lauren gets baptized, but immediately does not believe in it since she does not align with the beliefs of the Baptist religion that her father preaches. She begins writing her own testaments of Earthseed, which she uses the main phrase “God is change” to help recognize change and enhance the society’s ability to survive. The Baptist beliefs look back at the past to gain wisdom and insight in how to live their lives, which sadly does not work out for the Robledo town as they begin experiencing break-ins and crime as outsiders infiltrate the outdated town (outdated in defense structure). Meanwhile, Lauren is focused on living in the present, learning how to change and adapt to the environment on a daily basis. These two different ideologies have pros and cons to the way they live their lives, but the differences between both is evident. It is very interesting the fact that this contrast is within the main family of the story, as the town’s Baptist Reverend (Leader) is focused on continuing to live out their mission while his daughter (Lauren) is focused on learning and adapting and changing everyday. I think this change is most evident when the chaos begins to escalate, but it actually stems all the way back to Lauren getting baptized. Her immediate rejection of the Baptist religions main initiation practice shows that she does not believe in their ideologies (and thus her father’s) and wants to forge her own path, altering both of their understandings of the world and how individuals and societies operate.