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?
7 thoughts on “Parable (second half)–Group 3”
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I feel that Parable is somehow at once dystopian and hopeful. I would agree with your assessment in the slides; there is so much inhumanity, destruction, and gore in the world Butler paints. There’s a lonely, wandering, depressing tone to the whole novel due to the number of saddening events in the pages. This is most visible to me in the descriptions of the various means by which a late-stage capitalist array of powerful corporations has blatantly exploited humans, especially Black humans, into a sort of neo-slavery powered by Reaganism. However, the essence of hope that I derive from this novel comes to me not from the fact that they are physically running away from the evil drug abusers and rapists but that they are able to find a way of escape from capitalist traps like Olivar, though this new way of life is extremely far from luxurious. Butler seems to paint a gruesome world that makes us worried about the direction we are heading while also reminding us that there is always escape. The way that Lauren prepared for escape and starting a new community in the early days of the book and Earthseed is a direct reflection of this.
Brutality and difficulties are both a constant theme throughout the book, where the life that Lauren lives in is filled with a lot of horrible memories and experiences. Fires, arsons and attackers happen frequently before the whole neighborhood is burned down and destroyed, and the murderer of Lauren’s whole family and most of the rest of the neighborhood paints the world in which Lauren lives in as one that is filled with sadness and horrid. When Lauren, Zahra, and Harry start traveling north through the highway, they witness many more depressing experiences, such as when they walk on the highway and see, “… whole families are on the move with babies on backs or perched atop loads in carts, wagons or bicycle baskets…” where “everyone was filthy” and “they stank” (p. 127). This relates to the slides for this week, where “… unhindered capitalism and “concentration of wealth and income” becomes more and more separated between the top and the bottom.
To answer the question, I do think that there is a turning point within the book where it does seem that there is some hope after all the depressing things that occur within the book. This optimism and the idea that the future could be better starts to occur when Lauren talks to Travis about Earthseed. When Travis says, “Your God doesn’t care about you at all”, Lauren replies with, “All the more reason to care about myself and others. All the more reason to create Earthseed communities and shape God together” (p. 160). I see Lauren trying to expand her religion as a hopeful feeling of the book and Lauren’s idea of providing education to others about Earthseed. When they do settle on Bankole’s land on the hills and form the community, it does seem like they are about to live a fairly well life promoting the religion Earthseed. The future looks optimistic for Lauren and the others within their newly formed community, even with everything else that may be going on outside of the community and the world. “Acorn” does seem like a nice place to start a new community, with beautiful hills, and it leaves the reader with optimism about this future. However, there is some possibilities of brutality, just as what happened in Laurens father’s community.
I think that Butler’s book leaves us somewhat optimistic because in the last few chapters so much death happens. I think that Lauren and the gang come to the realization that they have been running for so long that settling down isn’t a bad idea. Everyone agrees that Lauren’s plan can fail because everything else in their journey has failed. However, they also understand that their best bet is to give Earthseed a shot. If the ideologies of Earthseed are rooted in change then the group will change as needed for their community to grow. Our impressions after we have finished this novel are the same after Jesus tells his Parable of the Sower. Some will be optimistic and follow Earthseed, some will think about and leave it be, and others will simply reject it. This is because when one takes a step back one realizes that they have read the Bible of Earthseed. If Butler posits this is what a utopian society can look like in a post-apocalyptic world then I have no reason to disagree because we cannot condemn the fact that our world is strangely paralleling the world she has created. This reminds me of settlers in early American history who were mainly Protestants, who were looking to build a city upon a hill. Whether they felt optimistic about settling into grounds that weren’t theirs, they decided to proceed with disregard to their surrounding–sustained by their belief that they would create some beacon of hope. The Protestants, of course, were people who had been pushed out by the Catholics. This is identical to the group that Butler presents us too–individuals who were oppressed in some form or another who got together tied to a belief in change. Thus, I do think that there is always a drive toward something better after all the brutality, I mean, that’s the power contained in the sower. Those who receive the message sprout and grow and the cycle repeats. I view Lauren’s Earthseed religion as hopeful as it helps manifest change within people.
I agree that Parable is optimistic about finding an alternative to late capitalism. Since Earthseed calls for the harnessing of change and understanding that change is necessary. The change Lauren is proposing is moving away from current society and being self-sufficient as well as being empathic. This is noted through the joining of Grayson, Doe, Emery, and Tori who share the same trait of hyper empathy as Lauren. She is able to aid them and help them not fear their abilities, even though their abilities are what allowed them to be exploited. Despite this there is skepticism towards Lauren’s utopia, which is introduced through Bankole and his hesitance about Earthseed. Much like Lauren’s parents, he represents a time before dystopian and a desire to return to a time before. Bankole’s desire for this is quickly squashed when it is discovered that his family has died. This sombers Lauren as well as she recognizes that there is no place where they will be free of the violence of the current society. I do find the end
I do find the ending of the story to not be fulfilling since they establish a community again just without walls. Although their society is more untied and elect to be there. I still question how different it is going to be from Lauren’s gated community outside of that.
Despite the negative futuristic (or current/past?) depiction going on in Parable, I felt optimistic after seeing and reading about every individual’s capacity to shape and mold their surroundings. What struck me the most is how the farther and farther people strayed from the path of God/morality/ civilized living, the potential for redemption only increases, like a rubber band snapping back into equilibrium. As Lauren travels further and further North, the travelers around her who have been forced to do anything to survive exhibit a higher propensity for kindness and righteousness and instead of Lauren hardening her heart with her journey as she told Harry that was required, we see her melt before our eyes.
What I enjoyed about this novel is that it acknowledges the harsh realities that we face and the burdens we’re carrying with us into the future, but the novel isn’t paralyzing; it is inspiring. In a world were tweets can go trending worldwide in minutes and a literal child is the face of environmentalism, I admit that I have forgotten how much I personally can do to shape things. One thing I’m not sure of is where exactly are we driving ourselves exactly, but I guess that is up to us to decide.
While I said in my last post that Lauren was more of a pessimist compared to her father, she wants a better future for herself and society. By establishing the first Earthseed community, Acorn, Lauren does have hope for the future and thinks that better days are ahead. There are many examples of awful things happening in the book such as Lauren’s brother being tortured and killed and her father disappearing for good. Likewise, her gated community is destroyed, looted, and people are murdered in Lauren’s town. in addition, I think Lauren genuinely wants to help others and thinks change is not necessary and inevitable, hence “God is change.” Since Lauren has hyper-empathy, she is naturally inclined to help others. It seemed that many people in her new community also have a strong sense of empathy towards others. While the overall tone of the book seems to be sad and depressing, the ending gives reason for hope. Lauren desires a better society and a utopia. She knows they need to change their ways and adapt as a community, but without their hope for a better future, then there is no point in even trying to escape the chaos.