In the slides, I try to suggest that Butler’s book has, at the end of the day, profoundly utopian urges, the proposition that alternatives to late capitalism and its many problems might exist. What do you think? Do you see anything hopeful in the book? If so, what? Is it possible to feel any drive toward something better after all of the brutality?
5 thoughts on “Parable (second half)–Group 2”
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Despite all of the violence and crime that had taken place in Robledo and the collapsing society around it, I do see the Utopian urges in the book and slowly gained hope in Lauren and her group as they traveled to Northern California to resettle. As the group continues their journey, Lauren’s empathy leads her to pick up other travelers such as Travis and Natividad who are eager to learn the ideas of Earthseed. For myself, it created hope that Lauren was able to connect with people with similar good intent and are still capable of empathizing with others. When the group finally settles at Acorn, they are able to rekindle hopes for an organized society which represents a small utopian zone among the much larger dystopia of what the rest of the nation has become. The entire group collectively decides to stay at Bankole’s land and commit to forming a community there. This serves as Lauren’s chance to run her own community in the way she envisioned, learning from the past mistakes and the collapse of Robledo.
For a book that is filled with so many terrible things it certainly does create hope for humanity. Community is a common theme in this book. The first half of the book we experience the neighborhood Lauren grows up in. Despite all of their differences her neighbors have they all look out for one another. We see this exemplified in the guard shifts and shooting practice. After Lauren loses her family and community she bands up with Harry and Zahra. Although most of humanity is either a rapist, murder, or cannibal. The trio eventually finds more and more people to join their group. Within their group many pairs of them find love. Throughout all the pain and horror we see I find myself rooting for the group to survive and prosper among themselves. I am very hopeful towards the end of the book for the group they have made. However, at the same time I don’t think there is much difference between Laurens old neighborhood and the new one they want to construct. They could very easily be hit by another fire and looters. The main difference is Laurens transformation she seems to become more divine as the book progresses. Her ability to attract new people to her group incites hope. Lauren in many ways has become her father. She may practice a different religion but she is certainly looked upon as the leader of the community and spiritual leader as well. I certainly found myself rooting for humanity and what they can create. This book also makes us realize the real important things in life are being with people you care about.
In the end of the story Lauren and her group of defectors are able to physically move away from society to start their own way of life. While their escape from the corruption of the cities is metaphorical, the idea of a physical removal–and subsequent renewal–away from the influence of capitalism is pertinent. For Butler, she imagines a utopia with a communal way of living centered around a respect for nature. This reminds me of the ongoing discussion around SpaceX and Blue Origin’s aspirations for the colonization of Mars, and specifically what tenants of society they’ll take with them to the new planet. Musk has stated that he believes colony on Mars is outside the jurisdiction of Earthly governments, and while he has not expressed an explicit plan it seems he imagines a radical reimagining of how people live. From the lens of late-stage capitalism, the idea of a utopia on Mars is impossible. Afterall, Musk’s society would be founded on the back of a corporation, one which has reaped the benefits of the financialization of the economies, the exploitation of workers and resources, along with a litany of other capitalist maneuvers. I acknowledge that Butler offers a metaphorical escape from a metaphorical dystopia, but it does irk me somewhat that Lauren’s escape is as simple as cultivating an unclaimed frontier. In reality, it seems, only billionaires get the privilege of trailblazing new ways of life.
Similar to Henry, I view the setting up of the Acorn community an attempted creation of Utopia by Lauren and her followers of the Eathseed religion. In the novel, we see numerous instances of Lauren helping others from the wrongdoings of the society they live in. I think this is the main reason why Lauren wants to leave her life and begin a new society and religion with all of her followers. I view their journey, where they encounter times of trouble like when they help Domingo and family escape from the attacker, as a long process to finding their utopia. They are constantly reminded through troublesome encounters why they need to leave their current society and begin a new community.
Lauren and all followers of the Earthseed community are focused on helping others, which is why their belief of “God is Change” is fitting, since giving help requires change and adaptation to the situation presented in order to find the best solution to the problem presented. It is especially important that Lauren and some individuals within the group are sharers of the hyper-empathy syndrome that Lauren has, and as a community, they are empathetic and focused on helping others. For them, this will be a utopia. They can live in a controlled environment with each other, away from all of the turmoil and chaos that forced them to leave in the first place.
I viewed the ending of the book as optimistic in that despite all of the brutality, Lauren and her group still end up starting their own home on top of the ashes of Bankole’s property. They plant, and subsequently name the land after, acorns.
I saw this ending as metaphoric in many ways, and likened it to a phoenix sort of analogy. From the ashes of the current society; a new one can be born. I feel as though the ending is a sort of manifestation of Earthseed as a religion. Earthseed views god as change, embracing this as a central concept.
In planting acorns in the soil on Bankole’s property, therefore, I feel as though a larger image is being developed. Its almost as though the burnt land represents what an end game scenario would like given current societal conditions described in the novel; as if the further collapse of society will be inevitable, and that so too will be the eventual reset that must take place. I view ‘Acorns’ as the metaphor for this process. I tend to view this as inherently optimistic.