Parable of the Sower: Analysis

Parable of the Sower: Analysis

Literary work has proven to be an effective medium over information reaches the public about critical issues and their consequential effects if the current human habits are not altered. Octavia Butler, in her novel, the Parable of the Sower, highlights the development of a few of the most essential environmental issues that are currently affecting the world. There is no secret that the planet’s industrialization has adversely affected the climate of the earth over the previous century, with the issue compounding on itself and becoming worse every day. Thus, speculative literary work is particularly noble at presenting such leitmotifs across since the author can make a universe independent of the certainty in which kinds of stuff are as diverse as the writer wishes. In this dystopian world revealed by Butler, all human current fears have already been actualized, hence degradation of the world is evident to a point where turmoil is rampant and most of the American citizens are not safe in their respective homes. In Butler’s Parable of the Sower, disproportionate degradation of the natural environment and worsening of cities’ ecology provide a powerful note about the future projections if there are no practical interventions to protect the current world.

Throughout the Parable of the Sower’s entirety, natural environmental degradation is showcased by water scarcity. Butler describes water, one of the basic human resource as a luxurious commodity that should be preserved saved. The author points out that desalinization plants are indispensable in efforts to ensure that humans can access enough water for daily life activities. The author affirms that “It merely rains once after every six and or seven years” (Butler 61). Constructing an emphasis of Butler on the dangerous and neglected state of the current environment, there is no any assumption from the text since the shortage of rain is a consequence of years of environmental neglect and climate change. According to microeconomics principles, the split in demand and supply causes water price to rise inconceivably high. Butler supports this simple economic theory when she writes “water currently costs multiple times more than gasoline” (Butler 21). Thus, the approach that climate change has drastically affected the dystopian society is directly analogous to its water supply effects, since water signifies several greater environmental issues.

Natural environmental degradation is also evident in Butler’s literary work since resources conservation is a concerning issue brought up to a greater extent in the current world as well, while humans are constantly motivated to create changes in their lifestyle in attempting to conserve the natural resources. “Parts of it occasionally crumble into the ocean, undercut or rather deeply saturated by the saltwater” (Butler 141). Since the dystopian American citizens seem to neglect their natural environment, hence degradation worsens consequently from time to time. In Olivar, the small city that Butler recognizes, people are more or less enforced to trade themselves with a company to save themselves from the absolute poverty, while giving up their current residential homes to the overwhelmingly rising ocean levels resulting from the global warming. Due to this reason, pre-existing businesses and homes around the beach are swept away by floods caused by the rise in ocean water levels. Moreover, the economy is significantly crumbling, leaving helpless citizens only having the human abusing company as the only remaining option. Nevertheless, most of the story inclines on the side where humans are seen incredibly wasteful and neglectful. Therefore, it is evident that the concerning environmental issues in the Parable of the Sower are resulting from the humans themselves.

Further, in Butler’s text, California fires are destroying the landscape and depriving it of agriculturally productive land as well as other resources. In response to the scarcity of food, “the people are enforced to develop stingier, selfish and ignorant to others’ needs” (Butler 145). This situation, in turn, builds up a hostile social environment, filled with distrust and fear as the residents are afraid of others seizing their property that can consequently render them poor without any hope of living. The persistently changing environment compels people to change and adapt to the detrimental environmental dynamics. However, at some point, the same people in the Parable of the Sower world become exhausted by perpetual need to adapt. This is the reason behind the willing to work in low-paying jobs and bad working environments while surrendering their economic freedom, to maintain their homes and create a kind of routine.

Therefore, Butler in Parable of the Sower has logically and ethically proved that uneven degradation of natural environment and deteriorating of cities’ ecology in the current world of America is real. Hence to curb these projected issues described by the author, there is a need for the American government to review environmental laws and policies in efforts to provide a framework where practical interventions to protect the current world are actualized. Such efforts will cater to both existing and future environmental disasters. 

Work Cited

Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower. Vol.1. Open Road Media, (2012): pp. 1-373.