Multiethnic Literatures in the U.S.

“I know what I’ve done.”—It is the end of the novel but it is just the beginning of questions. Like other novels, Parable of the Talents, by Octavia Butler, left the readers a bunch of questions. One of those questions which deeply impress me was ideal and reality.  Lauren’s town of Acorn was invaded, and she failed her people. But it did not change her mind to continue to be the person of Earthseed. She tried to reach more people, bring purpose to them, and spread the seeds anywhere she had passed. She wanted people to understand what they could be, and what they could do. She wanted people to be like her mentally so that they could send the information to more and more people. Those are all right. And she did the right things—touched the people, tried to make them change the world, and make better lives. Her purpose was that children would be educated, towns would be built, and country would be developed, no wars, no hunger, and no disease spread. Everything sounds so beautiful.  Back to the real world, the things Lauren talked about sounds just like a dream, a joke. Look at our country, look at the world! “Those kids are the future. But if they manage to grow up, what kind of men will they be?” “That’s what Earthseed was about.” That is right, but in the real world, it looks like we do not really have Earthseed. The only thing she said was true is that people get a job, eat, and find a place to live. “They had no purpose beyond survival.” That will be it. That will be all! Most of the people are just enjoying their lives right now. They are numb and still optimistic. They do not really care about the politics, and what happened to our country and the world. And they would tell you “Do we have to care about them? Then what should we do? It will change nothing.” That is also true.  The politicians are still canvassing the people on the stage. No one knows it is true or not. Then, we will be involved in another war. Some people think that is the way to keep our country strong and the world steady. But they did not see that so many people were suffered in the war. People lost their jobs, their families, even their lives. They actually could find a better way to survive the world but they just ignored and forgot ideal that ancestors have left for us, and put our country in a very difficult situation. Earthseed is just a piece of beautiful ideal. It may influence some of the people, but just a small part of them. Right now, reality is too far away from ideal that we can not even reach it. I don’t think that is the main point of the book that Octavia Butler wanted to show us. It is also not a question for us to answer but a problem to solve. Who will be our Earthseed? Who will save our country?

Religion: A Distraction or Necessity?

Throughout history, religion has always played a crucial role in the lives of most people in a functioning society. To most individuals religion provides extended moral structure, as well as hope for the afterlife. Nearly all religions have some type of book or scriptures to help define these processes and sets of rules that are to be followed; many of these “hard copies” were written thousands of years ago, but are still perceived just as literally as the day they were written. In both the Parable of the Talents, as well as today’s society, I believe that the use of religion presents a distraction—or attempt at mild brainwashing—which helps to take people’s minds away from the real problems that are going on around us. Although this does not fit the public’s accepted view of religions, I still feel that most religions were originally founded to provide a false sense of security, while also helping leaders gain better control of their citizen’s behavior. After reading the Parable of Talents I notice that Octavia Butler shares similar viewpoints; we notice this by examining how Butler portrays Lauren and President Jarrett’s use of religion and its effect on others. Butler seems use a deteriorating society to exaggerate these present day misconceptions in religion.

In Parable of Talents society seems to be in an exaggerated state of chaos although many characteristics mirror the early stages of serious problems in today’s society. This type of exaggerated setting allows Butler to easily and accurately examine how religion is oftentimes used to distract society from the important issues that should be resolved. In the novel, Butler never really provides specific reasoning for Lauren’s need to start Earthseed, as well as to why she continues to dream about the need for its growth. This illustrates that Lauren might care so much about Earthseed because it provides a much needed distraction from the daily chaos. Chaos has surrounded Lauren her whole life, which may explain why she shows the need to pursue Earthseed with such determination. In many cases, we see this happening in today’s culture as well. For example many people feel satisfied by strictly following the words of the bible, but in reality they are losing sight of the actual economical and political problems that are sometimes more important. Religion may also become a distraction by providing a false sense of security. We see this first hand when Lauren is so caught up in her Earthseed community that it “forces” her to refuse a safe refuge for her elderly husband and their new bourn child. Lauren likes the way that Earthseed provides her with a sense of accomplishment, as well as a self esteem boost from her followers; but because of this she decides there is no way she can abandon her Earthseed community. However, in reality she should have been concentrating on survival before religion. This concept is also seen in today’s society with people who feel their life is complete just because they follow the word of the lord.

President Jarrett also uses religion as an obsolete solution for nearly every problem in their chaotic society. It is obvious that Jarrett is an extremist, but people start to believe that forced Christianity might be the only answer since conditions continue to worsen and no other options seem plausible. Extremists like Jarrett will always exist within any religion; this creates a problem since so many people will follow the orders of religious icon just because every part of a person’s life is structured on that religion. We obviously notice that extremists like Jarrett use the framework of a religion in a manipulative way, far from its original context. Nevertheless, the followers are distracted by religion as a whole, and fail to see the propaganda they are being fed. We see this through Jarrett’s manipulative speeches that result in a “cult-like” following. These “Crusaders,” as they are called, claim that they are fighting, killing, and torturing for the goodness of Christianity. This same type of blindness is seen throughout society today, especially through Jihad (a movement to kill all infidels who do not follow Islam) in the Muslim community. The ruthless individuals who pursue this Jihad show definite similarities to Jarrett’s crusaders. Both of these groups are similar because they use their own perception of religion to distract themselves from the wrongful injustices in which they involve themselves. Religion is always portrayed to be necessary in most societies, but can actually do more harm than expected if every part of our lives become concerned with religion. I feel this is why Butler chose religion to play an essential underlying theme in her The Parable of Talents.

In the novel, Parable of the Talents, by Octavia Butler, she presents Lauren, a character that closely parallels a biblical, God-like figure. Throughout the entire novel, it is obvious that Lauren, creator of Earthseed, has been presented as a religious figure, but at the close of the novel, she seems to really take on a more supernatural, God-like character. As the story of Lauren moves on, she spreads her word of Earthseed throughout the west coast of America, seducing followers as she goes. Lauren seems to accomplish this task by “sharing” and feeling other’s pain and giving people a purpose to live. With these tactics, Lauren ends up being portrayed as a modern day God.

            Most people are familiar with stories of the Bible, those stories in the New Testament which paint a picture of Jesus walking throughout the land, preaching and gaining followers. In reading the last part of Parable of the Talents, this is the same picture that is painted of Lauren. The word of Earthseed becomes mobile, as Lauren begins to travel and search for her daughter. Lauren says, “Things had worked out so well with Nia that I could go on recruiting people as we walked toward Portland” (373). As Lauren makes her journey, she takes advantage of those who give her work and food. She uses their generosity as a means of “recruiting” more people to work for her cause. Much like the biblical character of Jesus, Lauren stays in people’s homes, “breaks bread” with them, and teaches them about her religion.

            In addition to making the word of Earthseed mobile and reaching out to more and more of the population, Lauren gives people a purpose and gains their trust by being able to feel their pain. Several times at the close of the novel, Len claims that Lauren has a way of “seducing” people. Lauren is a sharer, which means that she is able to feel the pain of others. This is yet another way that Lauren mirrors the Biblical God-like character. By being able to size-up other people and connect with their pain, Lauren has an advantage to others and ends up gaining the respect of even complete strangers. While feeling others’ pain, Lauren gives them something they are desperately looking for – a purpose. Lauren says, “The world is full of needy people. They don’t all need the same things, but they all need purpose. Even some of the ones with plenty of money need purpose” (373). Without this part of Lauren’s teaching, she would not have been as successful at reaching people. Like God, Lauren aims at giving people reasons to keep living in an unjust, evil world. She often tells them to help those less fortunate, and to take others into their homes and care for them. This seems to be when Lauren really takes on the persona of a God-like character. She aims at making others in her image by giving them a purpose for their seemingly meaningless lives.

            At the start of Earthseed, people didn’t know why they were drawn to Lauren, a child with such large-scale ideas and dreams. Because of Lauren’s ability of sharing, her purpose for people, and the growing mobility of her written word, this novel closes with a grown woman gaining followers while slowly becoming a God-like character.

In Parable of the Talents, we see that Lauren’s town of Acorn has been invaded and Lauren’s community has been sent to Camp Christian. It is seen in this novel that Lauren’s efforts to create a better life for her community and the people of Earthseed have failed. There is a strong connection between the outcome of the Robledo community and the Acorn community. Both communities have suffered an almost identical fate. The reader sees that both communities crumble, despite strong religious leadership. It appears that Butler feels that power backed by religious reasoning is doomed to fail. This element of the novel is also revealed by the totalitarian leader, Jarrett. As we examine the character of Jarrett, the reader sees a negative relationship between power, community, and religion.

Both Robledo and Earthseed have strong religious leadership. In Robledo, the death of Lauren’s father, who embodies religious leadership, corresponds with the fall of the community. It is as if Butler is saying that communities led by religion will always ultimately fail. As soon as Lauren’s father disappears, the community is destroyed. Through this incident, a statement is made about communities that are too strongly influenced by religion. Once the foundation of the belief system is destroyed, the community will also be destroyed.

In Acorn, we see this point stressed even more. Acorn is a community founded almost entirely on the religion of Earthseed. Lauren uses the truths of Earthseed to create the structure of the community and teach all of the community’s people. Here, the reader sees one religion fail a community as another overtakes it and destroys a country. When Jarrett’s followers invade Acorn to establish Christian America, the reader sees two communities fail under the influence of religion. Lauren’s community, based on the religion of Earthseed, is overtaken with little effort by Jarrett’s followers. Acorn falls with one swift takeover by another religious movement. Here, Butler seems to say that religious movements are all the same. They are masked by different beliefs, but all cause the same outcome. Religions also fail to create successful communities and, although religions preach good ideals in the name of religion itself or perhaps in the name of God, religions are almost always controlled by people who make poor decisions in the name of religion.

Jarrett seems to be the strongest case of Butler’s argument that people have used religion as a means to obtain power over a community. He uses religion to justify his abuse of a nation’s people. He advertises religion as a means to bring back a community without poverty and crime by creating poverty and crime. By using religious reasoning, Jarrett is able to become the president of America and use his power to “convert” sinners and criminals into good Christians while he is actually creating reeducation camps that are, in true form, extremely similar concentration camps. He is also starting wars with bordering nations. Butler appears to compare Jarrett’s power to that of a totalitarian that is using religion as a means to justify his corrupt and hypocritical rule. Through Jarrett, Butler shows that religion has again failed its people.

Through the circularity of the outcomes of religion in Butler’s novels, the reader can see that Butler is commenting on the effects of religion on society. Communities led by religious rule always seem to fail. Also, once on religion is destroyed, it is replaced by a very similar religion that also fails to produce much good in a community. Butler seems to feel that the effects of religion are always the same. They create strong communities that eventually fall because of the religious leadership itself. It is also clear that Butler feels that religious leadership is directly proportional to power. In Butler’s eyes, religion has yet to find a way to resist collapsing in on itself.

As any mother would say, “I would do anything for my family.” Any good mother/wife would do what was possible to protect their family. That is apparently not the case with Lauren. First, she refused Bankole’s persistent suggestions to move to other towns. Then she refused to convert to Christianity to aid in her search for her only daughter.
Knowing that there is continuous danger with living in Acorn, Lauren still insisted on living there. Rather than move to the many other communities, including Saylorville, Halstead, Coy, that Bankole suggested, she persistently refused. When he first suggested it, Lauren just said that she was content with where they were. She said that if they continued to live there, a good thing will arise, meaning more Earthseed followers. Before the birth of baby Larkin, Bankole again brings it up, saying that the town of Halstead wants him to become their full-time doctor. Bankole said that “he’s an old man” and “he’s got to think of the future, and [Lauren]’s got to think of the baby” (144). She believed that all Bankole saw was “was he called [her] immaturity, [her] irrational, unrealistic faith in Earthseed, [her] selfishness, [her] shortsightedness” (145). A week after the birth of Larkin, Bankole mentioned moving away from Earthseed to Halstead. And just like all the other times, Lauren said that Acorn is her home and that she cannot leave. But this time Bankole wanted to know what her plans were for Acorn. Lauren told him her plans: to continue to grow as a community, to prepare for the Destiny, and to spread Earthseed to other communities. She believed that without her, Acorn would crumble.
Even after the attack on Dovetree by the radical group, Jarret’s Crusaders, she refused to leave. She heard the accounts of what happened by the Dovetree attack survivors, with the men in “belted black tunics” and the “big white crosses on chains around their necks” (19). Even if the Dovetrees weren’t attacked because of their religion, Lauren must have known that the attackers where in connection with the new Christian America movement. She must have been aware that Acorn was a possible target, especially since they did not practice Christianity but Earthseed. When Bankole presents the possible danger of the newly elected President Jarret, she said that “[Acorn is] nothing to him, so small, so insignificant” (194).
When she took back her freedom from Camp Christian, Lauren was determined to find Larkin. She went to Eureka-Arcata, hoping to work and to hear any rumors about adoptions or foster children. During her stay, she sat through a sermon by her brother Marc, who was now a minister of the Christian Church of America. She contacted him after wards, hoping for some help in finding her child. He left her with no advice or helping words. She tried to contact him again but he had already left for Portland, Oregon. One of Marc’s friends gave Lauren a letter, saying that he was sorry and that if she really wanted to find her daughter, she should join Christian America. It would have been the best, safest way to find her only daughter yet she rejected his advice. If Lauren truly did want to find Larkin, she should have joined CA, like her brother suggested, despite her different beliefs. She should’ve become a Christian, for the time being, and put Earthseed to the side.

Parable of the Talents
By: Octavia E. Butler
Dave McAndrew

I was really disappointed while reading Parable of the Talents. I thought it was just another Parable of the Sower. As a matter of fact I would say it is just like it. The passage I was assigned is just like the passage everyone else was assigned. It’s the circle the book has been driving down since we started Parable of the Sower. After being interested in the first book and then losing interest by the end, I was not so thrilled in reading Parable of the Talents. Octavia Butler tries hard to keep you interested in the book by putting shooting and rape into a passage after you have already lost interest.
I thought of the passage as a huge circle. Lauren is this girl that speaks of change, yet doesn’t want change. She knows that the building of Acorn could be a positive step to a new life, yet doesn’t allow anything but Earthseed to be taught. Therefore, no change was taking place. I related the passage I read to everyday life. There are some that think everything that is happening now is good, and some that think change is what makes things better. Lauren’s positive change came when she was reunited with Marcus, this would have been a great step to take to rebuild what she had before. Yet she doesn’t think so since Marcus wants to preach Christianity and doesn’t believe in her religion.
Lauren wasn’t taking any steps for a positive change. She was living with what she had, although things are going to change. She had a child named Larkin, no matter what she didn’t want to change, it was going to happen. Bankole was offering Lauren a better life in a new community, but she wouldn’t leave Acorn and Earthseed behind. She didn’t want to teach anyone another points of view or religion. She was “stuck” and she wasn’t going to do anything different. I didn’t like certain parts of the book because there was nothing really going on, nothing was happening.
The thing that caught my eye the most was this “Choose you leaders, with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward, is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool, is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.” Lauren didn’t want anyone to choose their own leaders, she was their leader and that was the end. I thought of Lauren as a coward throughout the whole book because she didn’t choose the better life with Bankole in Halstead over Acorn. I would consider her a fool because I thought Jarret was running her in some way or another. She kept people in Acorn just to soon be defeated.
I summed it up into a circle like I said in the beginning. I knew what was happening before I read this passage, while reading it I thought of what was next before it happened. In my opinion it’s not a great way to write a book. I don’t write books so I may not know.

In the first chapter of Parable of the Talents, by Ocatvia E. Butler, Lauren has a conversation with one the surviving members of the Dovetree family, Aubrey. They talk about the attack on the Dovetree’s house, killings, and the destruction. Aubrey started talking about the description of the attackers and the way they acted.

“…attackers were men, but they wore belted black tunics – black dresses, she called them – which hung to their thighs.”
“They all wore big white crosses on their chests – crosses like in church.”

These two phrases sound all too familiar. They sound like a description of cloths that Ku Klux Klan wear, however, it is not. The current Ku Klux Klan is white robes with a variation of red or black cross on the chest or back area. The people who Aubrey talks about were black tunics with red crosses. This illustrates to me that the whole country, nation, is back to where we were when the Ku Klux Klan could walk the streets and literally kill people who they thought were not fit in their society. However, this might be not be the case since these people wear black tunics, which might show that it is similar to what has happened in our history, it is not the same, but very closely related. I once heard someone say something similar to, “For every country to move forward, it needs a revolution once in a while.” Revolutions happen when something drastic happens where people do no like what is being done (in a simple way). “Desperate times call for drastic measures.” When there is a revolution the nation is pretty much is set to the beginning. New rulers need to be put in place, new laws have to created, and new ways of living have to be established. In Parable of the Talents, this isn’t the case. Even thou they don’t call the people who attacked Dovetrees Ku Klux Klan, they are. We are back at the begging and things are going to go bad again. This is another circle of life which repeats itself, different time same concept.

“Jarret insists on being a throwback to some earlier, ‘simpler’ time. Now does not suit him. Religious tolerance does not suit him. The current state of the country does not suit him. He wants to take us all back to some magical time when everyone believed in the same god, worshipped him in the same way, and understood that their safety in the universe depended on completing the same religious rituals and stomping anyone who was different. There was never such a time in this country.”

There was a time when all this was considered the right thing to do, however, it was never established as a law in a society we live in today. Taking this phrase and looking at the present state of the United States religion, there is no way US will ever be “taken back to that magic time of one religion.” US is one the religiously diverse nations and that cannot be taken away from a nation like the United States of America.

In the novel, Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, the characters and other inhabitants of the future United States face an all too familiar world of little access to essential resources. This world in which it is difficult to obtain an income, food, and adequate medical care is not all that foreign if compared to today’s society. Today, those who are not on the top of the social class hierarchy deal with limited access almost daily. They fight to obtain a job in which will pay enough for them to get out of debt, they struggle to obtain healthy foods (without having to travel long distances), and they attempt to gain adequate and affordable healthcare and justice. This is exactly the picture that Butler paints in her novel, except that instead of only affecting the poor, it sweeps the country on a large scale, making a full life even more difficult to obtain.

            One of the first and most obvious things that the characters in Butler’s world do not have is access to money. The only money they are able to obtain is by either stealing or by taking money from the dead. If any characters are able to hold a job, it usually does not pay enough for them to support a family or to buy necessities to live on. Butler writes, “Wages – surprise! Were never enough to pay the bills” (288). Even when people were able to earn some type of wages, they couldn’t afford water and food. These kinds of occurrences are strikingly familiar to today’s world. Jobs that pay a low salary never quite get people out of debt. They also leave people with a low amount of money to buy food. Another similarity between this fantasy world and our current one is the distance people are made to travel to obtain food. Butler’s characters cannot find adequate stores that sell food and clothing at affordable prices. This is not a far off idea if the poorer areas of cities today are closely examined. People must travel further distances in order to buy the things they need, much like the people in Butler’s world. This problem of access to resources is what sets classes apart from each other in today’s society, and unfortunately, in Butler’s world, this lack of access is what keeps Lauren and her followers on the streets.

            In addition to not having access to money and proper food, the characters in Butler’s world do not have access to medical care or to the criminal justice system. Doctors and hospitals are long gone and the people are left to either not receive medical care, or to simply make due with that they have. Along with no medical care, these people cannot depend on the police for assistance. Often the police charge outrageous prices for routine investigations or worse, they don’t respond to a call for days. Again, while these situations might seem shocking to think about, they are going on in the world today. In poor areas of the city, police many times are slow to respond; if they respond at all. With Bankole’s situation, Butler writes, “The deputies all but ignored Bankole’s story and his questions. They wrote nothing down, claimed to know nothing.” (316). In this instance, the police didn’t even give Bankole a chance – they had their minds made up that he was a criminal. In the end, the lack of available resources is the community’s downfall. Because of the unavailability of water, food, money, and medical needs, they are left fending for themselves. They steal and share, make their own food, and try the best they can to survive under the less than perfect conditions that now make up their lives, just like some people do in today’s world.

I just finished reading Parable of the Sower and I must say WOW! This book is amazing! At it’s crudest moments are when we see the true elements of human nature. As humans, we feel, we try to be compassionate, we try to help our fellow man. But that is today, not in the 2020’s when our book takes place. People have come to embody their worst forms. People are drug addicts, theifs and killers. Cops & politicians are in it for thier own gain, not the people they are supposed to serve, and there is no one strong enough to challenge them. People have only been left with thier animal instincts. We see these things when comeone notices a human skull lying on the ground & doesn’t flinch. They can only be thankful that “It’s not me.” Or when Lauren’s group comes across a corpse on the side of the road & nobody has a problem with Emery taking the woman’s clothes…”I need to survive”…

What has the world come to when a man will to try snatch a child from her mother’s grasp? It seems the only time purity & innocence come up in the novel is when the chidren are the focus. Doe makes her father take half the pomegranate because they should each have thier fair share. Allie takes in Justin like he is her own child. Natividad & Travis join the group because their child needs strong defenses around him. It is perhaps the children that are able to keep this group sane & together. Everytime Grayson wants to leave, he takes on look at his daughter & knows he must stay, at least for her sake. He needs to survive. Survival is the key to the future Parable of the Sower holds for the people of the United States.

God is change. This is a phrase that comes up so often in the book Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. It seems as in the book, the only hope of the ending chaos is religion. No matter what religion they believe in, religion seems to represent hope for the characters. People seek for a religion they believe is suitable for their life and the world. A religion they believe that can fix the future.

Lauren, the creator of Earthseed, illustrates a hope of the world when she invents a new source of religion for herself. She believes that religion needs to be changed throughout time, because the world changes, as well as people. Things are not as valuable as they were before such as cars and oil, and what may have been the source of life may not be so in the future. As Lauren continues the journey up North, she starts to build a community of believers for her new religion Earthseed. I believe this new religion represents hope for each of the new believers in the book. Religion is something you commit yourself to, and is something you believe. Faith brings hope for the future, and this is what the characters are hoping to find in their lives. Though faith is key to a religion, Earthseed embraces the idea of action in order for change to occur. When more than one individual join for a cause, there is greater power especially through their actions.

If we look at our lives today, many of us may believe in a God, a creator, or maybe nothing at all. People that believe in a God mostly believe there is a greater power than the world and people. In the book, I see religion as hope because people want to believe that there is something greater than the world they live in. They hope for a new world, and that hope represents God. As much as God is feared and misinterpreted in the book with all the chaos going on, Religions such as Earthseed gives Lauren a guide in living her life. She wants to live a better life, as well as help others improve their lives, hoping she can change the world into a better livable place. When Lauren was asked what community members of Earthseed have to do by her current love, Bankole, she responds with, “The essentials… are to learn to shape God with forethought, care, and world; to educate and benefit their community, their families, and themselves; and to contribute to the fulfillment of the Destiny.” She also describes Destiny by saying “A unifying, purposeful life here on Earth, and the hope of heaven for themselves and their children. A real heaven, not mythology or philosophy. A heaven that will be theirs to shape.” (263) Though this religion may seem simple and basic for some people, like Bankole, for Lauren, Earthseed is a new beginning to her life, a life that is meaningful, and a life that seeks for hope with actions. Earthseed embraces unity and a purposeful life on earth.

When the world is in destruction and chaos, we search for a greater power to look up to. A power that we believe may be able to save our world and power that we can trust and put our faith into, in order for a better life. Though it is a bit different than Lauren’s religion Earthseed, Lauren and her community members believe that they can be the start of change in their community.