Isabelle Segadelli
“Then show me a more persuasive power than change.”(Ch.18) A Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler is the first book in an unfinished trilogy about Lauren Olamina’s journey through life set in a future Earth dystopia. Guided by the belief that change is the purpose of life and Earthseed, a belief of her own shaping, Lauren sets out on a path to attempt to make the world a better place, or at least change it, hopefully for the better.
I found this book to be a captivating read. Although the setting is depressing and society moral has essentially dissipated, Lauren’s faith in her belief encourages the reader to keep reading as well as the curiosity to see what the world outside the walled community is like. In the beginning, we are introduced to Lauren’s current way of life. We learn that Lauren has something called hyperempathy, she lives with her family in a walled community which she intends and does end up leaving. Within those walls I found
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I appreciated Lauren’s straightforward writing style and her matter-of-fact outlook on life which I could relate to. Telling this story in this way made me think that Butler was presenting the state of society in two extremes, the majority of people lived in denial that the state of living was so bad and then there is Lauren who feels everything and seems like the only awake person in the walled community. When she gets out the walled community though I feel like the scene has only shifted. She is still the only purpose who intends to survive for a greater purpose, for Earthseed to live among the stars. The other travelers she comes across are really only looking to survive the next day of their lives, but as the story continues we can see that with Earthseed and Lauren’s persistence they may come around to realizing that there may be, and should be a greater purpose to life than just