Parable of the Sower
by Octavia Butler
Podcast Introduction
"These people, these Science Fiction writers - there’s a certain wizardry to them, to be able to envision the future so well. You may really think Octavia Butler was psychic, if you’ve read Parable of the Sower, which she wrote in the early 90s. This book has surged in popularity this year, since we’ve been living in PandemicTime, because it captures so much of the strange collapse of normal life that we are experiencing." ~
Kimberly Hatch Harrison
Socratica Reads Podcast
Parable of the Sower
by Octavia Butler
In Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler introduces us to a world that feels unsettlingly close to our own. The year is 2024, and society has unraveled under the weight of environmental disaster, economic collapse, and unchecked violence. Through the journal entries of Lauren Olamina, a young woman burdened with the ability to feel the pain of others, we experience the brutal realities of life in a walled community on the outskirts of Los Angeles. As her home is destroyed and her family torn apart, Lauren is forced to flee, leading her to confront the harshness of a world where every step is a fight for survival.
“You may think you can’t see your future, but you can. Maybe not with perfect clarity, but you can LEARN to speculate in a powerful way. You NEED to envision your future, to know what you have to do to get there. Unless you’re okay just living your life like you’re floating in a river, being carried helplessly to some unknown destination.”
Kimberly Hatch Harrison
Recommendation
Brave New World
In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley presents a society where comfort and stability are achieved at the cost of individuality and freedom. Humans are manufactured and conditioned, their desires easily met with the drug soma, ensuring conformity and suppressing dissent. Through the eyes of Bernard Marx, an outsider, the novel explores the unsettling price of a utopia built on the sacrifice of human autonomy.
