Review Of Parable Of The Sower By Octavia Butler

Economics focuses on scarcity and the implications of the use of resources, production, and transfer of wealth. The book Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, written in 1993, shows a dystopian future where economic collapse and society falling apart have reshaped their world. In this sad place where they live, economics is something that shapes the lives of the characters, it goes on to highlight the impact of corporations and politics on society. They have economic instability and political corruption. Economic instability is when there are many factors in the economy that are out of balance. An economic system that is powered by corporations and a political system that doesn’t care for its people is the driving force for this dystopian

The rich people are able to have access to resources and are also able to live in gated communities, while the poor people have to try to manage to survive. The inequality here is unfair. Neoliberalism is a good word for the economy in this book. In an article I read it says “Neoliberalism describes a global stage of advanced capitalism wherein governments are both incentivized and disciplined by international institutions and multilateral agreements into forcing economic policies that include privatization, deregulation, and market liberalization. (Whatcott, 2021)” Neoliberalism is basically capitalism, and the politicians and government workers work for profit and are even willing to exploit the poor. Octavia Butler, the author of Parable of the Sower, could have put Earthseed as a potential economic model. In one article I read, the author suggests that there is an alternative to responding to power and constructing communities. Having power or dealing with power is something that is often discussed in the Parable of the Sower. The author talks about the complication of power, and she offers strategies for confronting and navigating the power dynamics in her books. The main characters in some of her stories deal with power and creating alternative communities, it suggests that there are other ways to deal with power structures. In the Parable of the Sower, Lauren’s response to power was creating an alternative community and religion and an alternative discourse that answers to dominant power structures. She created a community called Acorn that is dedicated to the teachings of earthseed. Lauren would rather transform power than exist within it. The article goes on to say that the main characters attempt to understand the complications of power, and they work to transform the power dynamics in their world. It also goes on to say that the characters go through a process of