Question: How does Butler’s portrayal of Earthseed in Parable of the Sower defy traditional religious narratives by redefining divinity as “change,” and how does this redefinition affect concepts of resilience and community within a dystopian context? 

Allen, Marlene D. “Octavia Butler’s ‘Parable’ Novels and the ‘Boomerang’ of African American History.” Callaloo, vol. 32, no. 4, 2009, pp. 1353–65, https://doi.org/10.1353/cal.0.0541.

Allen examines how Butler’s Parable novels reflect Afrocentric aesthetics and critique historical cycles of oppression, particularly for African Americans. She connects Lauren Olamina’s Earthseed to African American history, framing Earthseed as a “re-memory” that offers tools for survival amid environmental and societal crises. Allen explains Butler’s redefinition of divinity as “change” and engages it with historical narratives and resilience. It also opens a space to critique the degree to which Earthseed functions as a proactive rather than reactive philosophy.

Dubey, Madhu. “Folk and Urban Communities in African-American Women’s Fiction: Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower.” Studies in American Fiction, vol. 27, no. 1, 1999, pp. 103–28, https://doi.org/10.1353/saf.1999.0017.

Dubey examines how Butler critiques traditional notions of community and identity, framing Earthseed as a response to urban fragmentation. She highlights the challenges of creating inclusive, adaptable communities in dystopian settings. Dubey’s argument is pivotal for analyzing Earthseed’s emphasis on diversity and mutual care, though it opens questions about the scalability of such communities.

Melzer, Patricia. “‘All That You Touch You Change’: Utopian Desire and the Concept of Change in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents.” Femspec (Cleveland, Ohio), vol. 3, no. 2, 2002, pp. 31-.

Melzer highlights Earthseed’s feminist dimensions, focusing on its redefinition of community and parenthood. She frames Earthseed as rejecting patriarchal ideals, emphasizing mutual care and collective survival. Her perspective provides a lens for analyzing Earthseed’s social and gender dynamics, but provides emphasis on collective over individual agency offers a point of contention.

Nilges, Mathias. “‘We Need the Stars’: Change, Community, and the Absent Father in Octavia Butler’s ‘Parable of the Sower’ and ‘Parable of the Talents.’” Callaloo, vol. 32, no. 4, 2009, pp. 1332–52, https://doi.org/10.1353/cal.0.0553.

Nilges discusses Earthseed as a philosophical framework centered on adaptability and community, contrasting it with outdated societal and religious structures. He emphasizes Earthseed’s alignment with postmodern critiques of meta-narratives, framing its focus on change as a counterpoint to rigid ideologies. His argument allows me to understand better how Butler challenges traditional religious narratives, though it opens room to question whether Earthseed transcends or merely critiques postmodernity.

Phillips, Jerry. “The Intuition of the Future: Utopia and Catastrophe in Octavia Butler’s ‘Parable of the Sower.’” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, vol. 35, no. 2/3, 2002, pp. 299–311. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1346188. Accessed 18 Nov. 2024.

Phillips situates Parable of the Sower in debates about modernity and postmodernity, focusing on exploring utopian and dystopian impulses. He argues that Butler reimagines utopia by integrating catastrophe into her future vision. Phillips mainly discusses Earthseed’s tension between idealism and survivalism, primarily in its response to dystopian realities.

Ruffin, Kimberly T. “Parable of a 21st Century Religion: Octavia Butler’s Afrofuturistic Bridge between Science and Religion.” Obsidian III, vol. 6/7, 2005, pp. 87–104. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44511664. Accessed 18 Nov. 2024.

Ruffin situates Earthseed within an Afrofuturistic tradition, emphasizing its ability to critique and transcend traditional Western religious frameworks. She highlights Lauren’s theological innovation as a necessary response to environmental and societal collapse. This source discusses Earthseed’s theological aspects but makes it debatable whether or not its Afrofuturistic framing limits Earthseed’s universality.

STILLMAN, PETER G. “Dystopian Critiques, Utopian Possibilities, and Human Purposes in Octavia Butler’s Parables.” Utopian Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, 2003, pp. 15–35. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20718544. Accessed 18 Nov. 2024.

Stillman explains how Butler uses dystopian settings to critique societal issues and propose utopian possibilities through Earthseed. He analyzes the philosophy’s capacity to address global crises and foster resilience. The key for this source is to examine how Earthseed functions as both a critique and a solution. However, Stillman’s classification of Earthseed as “utopian” can be contested in light of its survivalist pragmatism.

Question: How does Butler’s portrayal of Earthseed in Parable of the Sower defy traditional religious narratives by redefining divinity as “change,” and how does this redefinition affect concepts of resilience and community within a dystopian context?

As I searched for sources, I looked at the Jstor database and the Hunter Onesearch library database. I typed in keywords like “Parable,” “Sower,” and “Parable of the Sower,” along with religion and dystopia. I typed part of my question into the search option and got some results. However, that did not work too well for the MLA database because my options there were quite limited, and either I didn’t use the right keywords, or the database didn’t have what I was specifically looking for. I found it helpful to type keywords that I could use to describe my main thesis/argument because I had more articles to work with that way. I also tried to search under the names of critics we read about in class (i.e, Canavan).  

Govan, Sandra Y. “Homage to Tradition: Octavia Butler Renovates the Historical Novel.” Contemporary Literary Criticism, vol. 230, 2007, pp. 1–131.

Melzer, Patricia. “‘All That You Touch You Change’: Utopian Desire and the Concept of Change in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents.” Femspec (Cleveland, Ohio), vol. 3, no. 2, 2002, pp. 31-.

Yaszek, Lisa. “Afrofuturism, Science Fiction, and the History of the Future.” Socialism and Democracy, vol. 20, no. 3, 2006, pp. 41–60, https://doi.org/10.1080/08854300600950236.

Phillips, Jerry. “The Intuition of the Future: Utopia and Catastrophe in Octavia Butler’s ‘Parable of the Sower.’” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, vol. 35, no. 2/3, 2002, pp. 299–311. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1346188. Accessed 18 Nov. 2024.

STILLMAN, PETER G. “Dystopian Critiques, Utopian Possibilities, and Human Purposes in Octavia Butler’s Parables.” Utopian Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, 2003, pp. 15–35. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20718544. Accessed 18 Nov. 2024.

Dubey, Madhu. “Folk and Urban Communities in African-American Women’s Fiction: Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower.” Studies in American Fiction, vol. 27, no. 1, 1999, pp. 103–28, https://doi.org/10.1353/saf.1999.0017.

Andreolle, Donna Spalding. “Utopias of Old, Solutions for the New Millennium: A Comparative Study of Christian Fundamentalism in M.K. Wren’s A Gift Upon the Shore and Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower.” Utopian Studies, vol. 12, no. 2, 2001, pp. 114–23.

Allen, Marlene D. “Octavia Butler’s ‘Parable’ Novels and the ‘Boomerang’ of African American History.” Callaloo, vol. 32, no. 4, 2009, pp. 1353–65, https://doi.org/10.1353/cal.0.0541.

Agusti, CE. “The Relationship Between Community and Subjectivity in Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower.” Extrapolation, vol. 46, no. 3, 2005, pp. 351–59, https://doi.org/10.3828/extr.2005.46.3.7.

Ruffin, Kimberly T. “Parable of a 21st Century Religion: Octavia Butler’s Afrofuturistic Bridge between Science and Religion.” Obsidian III, vol. 6/7, 2005, pp. 87–104. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44511664. Accessed 18 Nov. 2024.

Canavan, G., 6, J., Hairston, A., 17, J., Kadue, K., 12, N., Kemp, S., 14, N., Maginity, J., Jacobs, G., & 3, N. (2014, June 9). “there’s nothing new / under the Sun, / but there are new suns”: Recovering octavia E. butler’s lost parables. Los Angeles Review of Books. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/theres-nothing-new-sun-new-suns-recovering-octavia-e-butlers-lost-parables/

In Part Two, Offill explores the pervasive anxiety that comes with modern-day changes. Through Lizzie, Offill deepens the balance between personal responsibilities and global concerns, capturing Lizzie’s unease as she lives in a time when everything from the mundane to the catastrophic feels overwhelming, but then becomes normalized. Offill contrasts Lizzie’s personal worries with society’s looming crises and highlighting how we navigate—or attempt to ignore—the chaotic uncertainties of our world. Lizzie’s daily interactions with others unsheath her internal fears about societal collapse. For instance, her interaction with her family and neighbors subtly unveils her awareness of a world unraveling. When she observes her son, Eli, engrossed in videos about robots, she notes, “All Eli wants to do is watch videos about robots. But they are always a disappointment” ​(Offill 44.) Her sentiment echoes the failure of technological advancement to provide real solutions for the underlying fears about the future—a future in which humanity increasingly relies on technology but finds it emotionally lacking.

Offill frequently juxtaposes scenes of quiet domesticity with instances that underscore the helplessness many feel in the face of global crises. Lizzie’s relationship with her friend Sylvia, who has a podcast called Hell and High Water, where she provides a humorous yet bleak commentary on societal inaction. Sylvia often embarks on “going, going, gone” trips to see disappearing natural wonders. She, too, experiences this societal anxiety, asking, “How did we end up here?” (Offill 51.) as though in disbelief at the current state of the world​. Sylvia repeatedly attempts to experience these “last” glimpses of nature, hinting at the overwhelming and perhaps futile desire to connect with a world that seems to be slipping away. Offill’s narrative explores how we attempt to prepare for an uncertain future in small, often futile ways. We can see how Lizzie is fixated on survival tips— “Get organized or die” (Offil 45) is one such mantra she recalls—is both absurd and deeply relatable. It’s comforts hers enough, as these instructions only accentuate Lizzie’s awareness of her inability to control the future. She then decides to dole out advice on techniques for calming a fearful mind, showing how limited control anyone has in preparing for societal upheaval. It seems as if anything that she tries to plan or prepare goes to waste because it simply isn’t enough. 

Offill continues to use dark humor as a coping mechanism for Lizzie’s anxiety because humor often acts as a survival tool when things get complicated. When she gets home and walks in with a stack of bills, she places them down on the kitchen table once again and leaves them there, a thick stack just waiting for her to go through them, “What do you think will happen if you don’t open the bills? Do you think someone will come and take them away?” (Offill 45) The dialogue between Lizzie and Ben shows Lizzie’s approach to avoiding unpleasant tasks like handling bills – escaping and simply not doing them –. Her husband, Ben, sarcastically calls out the futility of her inaction, reflecting the theme of helplessness in the face of life’s unavoidable responsibilities. This humorous line also subtly emphasizes Lizzie’s immense existential dread—ignoring bills or climate change won’t make the problem disappear, but pretending otherwise provides a temporary sense of relief. A standout aspect of Offill’s prose in Weather is her use of fragmented narrative to mirror Lizzie’s overwhelming thoughts, which makes it easier to understand what she is thinking and how her anxiety works and builds up. Her internal dialogue rushes between mundane tasks and existential concerns, encapsulating the fragmented attention span of modern life, where we are bombarded with information from all directions. Lizzie reflects on these fragments of advice, trivia, and news snippets, to which Offill provides a window into how contemporary individuals must juggle personal lives with broader societal fears. This disjointed structure effectively conveys Lizzie’s struggle to reconcile her daily worries with the more significant crises she feels powerless to address, but it will be interesting to see how Lizzie’s fears and discomfort unfold as the story continues following the incoming environmental change. 

How does Butler’s portrayal of Earthseed in Parable of the Sower defy traditional religious narratives by redefining divinity as “change,” and how does this redefinition affect concepts of resilience and community within a dystopian context?

So far, in Weather by Jenny Offill, the small, fragmented observations of everyday life reflect a deeper sense of existential unease and uncertainty. Through Lizzie, a librarian in New York, Offill captures the moments of banality and tension that shape daily existence in a world grappling with looming crises, showing the contrast between the mundane and the apocalyptic—blending everyday life with subtle, pervasive reminders of potential collapse. The chapter opens with Lizzie’s interactions in her job at the library, where she engages with a range of patrons, each carrying their peculiar concerns. An adjunct professor struggles with academic demands; a woman takes toilet paper for unknown reasons, and a man is happy to pay library fines. These small but poignant details describe Lizzie’s work environment— examples of people barely coping with life. While ordinary, this setting is imbued with a hint of absurdity and resilience, making it a subtle reflection of societal fragility. “The man in the shabby suit does not want his fines lowered. He is pleased to contribute to our institution” (Offill 9). Lizzie quite literally watches this man while at work and internally judges his behavior with disbelief and humor, which captures her everyday absurdities, hinting at life’s oddities. 

Lizzie’s family dynamics also shows signs of a subtle apocalypse. Her anxiety about the future affects her relationship with her son Eli, evident in her rushing him to school and wondering if she should have had more children. She also shows love and worry when she is with her brother as he struggles with his emotional issues and drug addiction recovery. Her personal unrest matches with some of the societal anxieties threaded throughout the chapter, where the tension between maintaining everyday life and preparing for an uncertain future shows more constantly. “The window in our bedroom is open. You can see the moon if you lean out and crane your neck… The moon will be fine, I think. No one is worrying about the moon” (Offill 10), Lizzie muses, linking the celestial to the terrestrial uncertainties she feels yet cannot articulate fully. It shows weathering in the literal sense of enduring daily life and the figurative meaning of withstanding growing dread. Lizzie’s life is a constant negotiation between the mundane and the apocalyptic, revealing a core tension that resonates with contemporary anxieties about climate change, social fragmentation, and personal survival. Offill uses these subtle observations to question the resilience of people and society, probing how we might continue to function in a world that grows increasingly uncertain.

But perhaps life has gone downhill, and that sense of dread mixed with dark humor is a coping mechanism. Offill humorously captures Lizzie’s skepticism toward religious explanations for natural phenomena through a mock catechism-style: Q: “How is the goodness of God manifested even in the clothing of birds and beasts? A: Small birds, which are the most delicate, have more feathers than those that are hardier. Beasts that live in the icy regions have thicker, coarser coats than those that dwell in the tropical heat” (Offill 22). The humor arises from Lizzie’s ironic use of a traditional religious format to explain scientifically straightforward animal adaptations. By framing these evolutionary traits as evidence of “the goodness of God,” she subtly mocks the tendency to assign divine intent to aspects of nature that biology easily explains. She compares science with a theological question, which adds wit and irony and shows Lizzie’s critical perspective and her tendency to find absurdity in the clash between spiritual beliefs and empirical understanding. Humor does not negate the existential themes but amplifies them, which shows how it can be a coping mechanism in a world where reality feels increasingly surreal at the same time.

 Offill subtly critiques how people try to rationalize or distract themselves from potential collapse, whether by obsessing over minor details or leaning into dark humor. Weather mediates human fragility in the face of more extensive, unmanageable forces. By interweaving Lizzie’s everyday encounters with existential concerns, Offill talks about the often-overlooked emotional labor of living in an era where the ordinary and the catastrophic coexist, where we are all, in some way, learning to live focusing one eye on our daily routines and the other on the unpredictable future.

(Note: I am referencing pages from the epub version of the text, so they might be different from the physical copy of the book)