Human Resilience In Octavia E. Butler's Parable Of The Sower

Human resilience has been explored for decades by famous philosophers and psychologists. Charles Darwin a distinguished philosopher proclaims “It is not the strongest that survives, but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself” (Megginson). Essentially, people are able to survive, if they adapt to the world around them. Octavia E. Butler creates this notion in her dystopian novel. In the year of 1993, Octavia E. Butler wrote the novel Parable of the Sower. The novel is set in the year of 2025, where the world is overrun by corruption, greed, criminals, violence, famine, thirst, slavery and division. The main character, Lauren Olamina, narrates her life and journey in the novel. Lauren describes the horrendous and corrupt world around her and notes of the population’s response to the barbarity of mankind. Occasionally, Lauren and individuals from

Lauren views the people of Robledo, as deflective and isolative thinkers. They refuse to adapt to the environment around them and instead wish to dream about the good old days. Lauren views this neglectful behavior, as a coping mechanism. Eventually, it leads to the community 's untimely demise. In her writings, of Earthseed, Lauren postulates “People tend to give in to fear and depression, to need and greed. When no influence is strong enough to unify people, they divide. They struggle” (91). During times of instability, people only look out for themselves, instead of helping out their community. This stimulates the division of like people and as a result, the community struggles. She examines individuals around her to make sense of her thoughts and values and to find her place in the world. Therefore, she explains that humans show detrimental actions, during times of