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 3”
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One important distinction that Butler draws between her father’s understanding of the world and Lauren’s is their interpretation of God. Lauren’s dad believes that God is unchangeable and this is most evident when he recites bible verses to justify his actions. He is willing to kill over and over again because of Nehemiah 4:14 which we find out when Lauren is overhearing her parents argue and suggesting that their conversation has happened before. Further, Reverend Olimina is a character who is representative on Baptist beliefs which are not to be argued against. This suggests that Lauren’s father understands the world as linear. Lauren, on the other hand, believes that God represents change. She believes that the world will constantly push its living beings to adapt and survive. We see these two ideas clash early on in the novel when Lauren scares her best friend ‘Jo.’ This leads to her having a discussion with her father about how to guide people. Lauren believes that she is to provide people with information that would help them, even if it scares them. Her father believes that this is incorrect and prefers to only scare people when their religion is threatened. Thus, we see a clash between someone who sees the world linearly and one who sees the world as malleable. What is interesting about this distinction is that this reminds me of the story of Jesus and how he spread the word, only to have his followers question him. Jesus then suggested that his goal was to spread information and whether people followed him was not his goal. This is what seems to happen in the middle as Reverend Olimina is presumably dead and Lauren takes over with her Earthseed religion.
Many important distinctions are seen throughout the book that draws on the understanding of the world from Lauren’s point of view and her father’s point of view. This can be seen right from the beginning of the book, when Lauren is talking about the church and getting baptized. Although she goes through with the becoming baptized into a baptist, which is the religion that Lauren’s father believes in, she believes in a whole other religion than her father (which later realized is called Earthseed). Through religion, Lauren almost seems to question the norms and ideals that her father believes in and how the world functions. She says, “Most of the dead are the street poor who have nowhere to go… Where’s safety for them anyway? Is it a sin against God to be poor? We’re almost poor ourselves.” (p. 15).
The idea of change from previous beliefs and norms comes up again and is a distinction between how Lauren’s father sees the world and how Lauren sees the world. In Chapter 5, when Amy dies from a stray bullet, Lauren begins to tell Joanne about the safety of the community that they live in and whether or not they should begin to prepare for the worst within the community. Lauren says, “Don’t you ever wonder if maybe Amy and Mrs. Sims are the lucky ones?… I mean, don’t you ever wonder what’s going to happen to the rest of us?” (p. 40). When Lauren’s father realizes the things that she said to Joanne, he seems to push away the fact that there are problems within the community and that it may be in danger in the near future, although he does not want to admit to the mere fact of it all. He says, “You don’t really understand what’s going on here. The problems we have now have been building since long before you were born” (p. 47).
Throughout the book, it seems like Lauren is more progressive and forward looking, while Lauren’s father likes to remain thinking about the past and continue to have past ideals. One other example of this that I think about is when the astronaut dies on Mars and Lauren argues how important space travel is to humanity while Lauren’s father believes, “… it is a criminal waste of time and money…” (p. 18). This shows the forward-looking way that Lauren is viewing the world where change and progression is good, while it almost seems as if Lauren’s father continues to be bleak and unenthusiastic about the future and does not seem to mind really anything that is happening outside of the community that he is running.
I agree with Jasmine – the core difference between Lauren and her father is that she believes in escape and progress to a new future whereas her father believes in defense and bringing things back to the way they were.
A passage in the first half that comes to mind is when Lauren eavesdrops on her father and Cory talking in the kitchen at night about the hypothetical of shooting the rabbit thief. After Cory cries out “what do we do if they shoot you over some damn rabbits,” he responds: “Live! That’s all anybody can do right now. Live. Hold out. Survive. I don’t know whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won’t matter if we don’t survive these times” (76). Lauren’s father has experienced the wealth and peace of the 20th century; he holds onto memories of the so-called “good times”. Much like the MAGA slogan, this guides him to the belief – though it may not be his true belief – that things can return to the golden age as they once were. Because of his age and experience, he holds onto this belief to motivate him to lead the community in the strengthening and fortification of the community as it is now in the hope that things may become better one day.
On the other hand, we have Lauren who believes in change. Later on the same page: “God exists to be shaped. It isn’t enough for us to just survive, limping along, playing business as usual while things get worse and worse. If that’s the shape we give to God, then someday we must become too weak – too poor, too hungry too sick – to defend ourselves. Then we’ll be wiped out” (76). Since Lauren does not hold on to memory and sentiment associated with the “good times” of the twentieth century, she believes in change and active escape to start a new community. Lauren and her father share the feeling that things are getting worse and so something must be done. This was clear when they talked following Lauren’s giving of the book to her friend. The difference is clear here: whether to take action inside the walls, or whether to break the walls and run to a new life. Lauren has only seen death, poverty, guns, violence in her community. She believes that the only way to escape is to find a new place: “The destiny of Earthseed / Is to take root among the stars”!
Which belief will lead to a better future? Is Lauren misguided due to her lack of experience? Is her father’s unwillingness to leave possibly the right way to safeguard the community and not laziness or being stuck in the past? These are all questions I’m excited to read about in the second half.
I agree with Ben I about how Lauren and her father focused on the future and present. Her father is hyper-focused on keeping their town running and keeping things as they are. Lauren’s character is built around the idea of change and skepticism of belief systems and the world around her. This is evident through her creation of Earthseed. This is partially due to her hyper empathy because it allows her to understand her hyperviolent world and the suffering of people outside of her neighborhood. She understands that society can not sustain itself in its current iteration as people will begin to seek to gain resources just as her neighborhood does. This contrasts with her father, who puts faith that the walls will hold even though robberies are starting to take place. We also see him upkeep old traditions despite how dangerous and costly they can be such as the baptism, in an attempt to hold on to the past. Since Lauren has never known a different world she can see it crumbling much faster than her dad can. Although I think her dad sees the world clearer than any of the other people in the neighborhood. He distrusts what is happening in Olivar and recognizes that they would be indebted before Cory does. Lauren and he are the only ones to acknowledge that it is slavery and the safety it provides is not worth it. So I think they understand the world similarly, but Lauren believes that the world is capable of change whereas her dad does not, and attempts to focus on saving his community as a consequence rather than looking to what the outside has to offer.
I was actually thinking a comparison between Keith’s and Lauren’s perspective would be more fruitful. They both try to escape from their father’s shadow and believe in their own agency, yet they meet two different ends. Why? In this almost Randian like action valued and oriented world, both exhibit the admirable characteristic of being driven individuals who do actively shape the world around them, and they both show care towards their family with Keith supporting them financially and Lauren by remaining to take care of her brothers and help out the community. Yet where does Keith go wrong? For me the answer lies in humility. In one of the Earthseed passages, which I can’t find 🙁 , we are told to assume we know nothing and to see everything around us as our teacher. Keith aims to replace his teachers (as seen by his insistence on going shooting before he’s of age) and become one himself (his opening up to Lauren when she inquires about the Outside). It’s almost as if he values only the power within certain relationships, whereas Lauren values relationships themselves. His own death is even assumed to be caused by his hubris in trying to outsmart drug dealers. Keith’s dying really does change the novel for me from a egotistical, godless world where the ends justify the means to one where morality is present.
One important distinction between Lauren and her father is their take on religion. Lauren’s dad is a baptist reverend but Lauren does not practice the Baptist religion. Even though she got baptized, she does not agree with the ideologies of the religion. Lauren develops the belief system that “God is Change” and calls it Earthseed. Lauren and her father also differ in their views on the future. Her dad seems to be more interested in the past and conserving resources. For example, the reverend makes bread from acorns. Basically he sees survival as a win for the town. Although the people in the gated community are better off than outsiders, they still do not have the perfect lifestyles. On the other hand, Lauren thinks that society is doomed if they continue their way of living. She thinks they must change and adapt to further progress in life. Overall, the way Lauren and her father see the future are very different as the reverend has a more optimistic view and Lauren has a more pessimistic view. These differences can be stemmed from their different religious beliefs in my opinion.