FRQ 3

In the novel Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler employs Lauren’s decision to sacrifice the safety of her walled community and the comfort of her family in order to convey Lauren’s commitment to survival and the pursuit of Earthseed ultimately illustrating the depths people will go to pursue their beliefs.   

Butler is always using Lauren's action as a way to further build the story. Take for example, when Lauren is still in the walled community, she begins to gather supplies. She tries to grab all of the necessities, from food and water to things that would help her survive like maps and weapons. All of these items she took and placed in her room. Also, everyone in her community thought she was a little bit crazy because the community would “ never “ fall.  Because Lauren is willing to prepare for the “ what ifs,” it shows her willingness to not be comfortable and not live in an illusion of safety. Consequently, she poses a risk to herself because of the community thinking that she was bringing trouble forward. Even with these risks, she keeps on doing the same things she was doing before.  Therefore, Lauren is willing to risk the relationships with the people she loves the most in order to guarantee her survival and push Earthseed further, illustrating just how much someone is willing to sacrifice for their beliefs. Lauren’s earlier preparations become even more significant, when the community actually collapses. These ideas can be further exemplified by events that lead soon after she packed. When her community is destroyed, she does not wait for survivors, or try to defend off the Piro fiends. She immediately grabs her things that are all packed up and fleas to the north. Because Lauren did not wait at all for any survivors , it shows her sacrifice of her own emotional attachments to push on her beliefs. Since Lauren understands that staying behind would mean certain death and the death of Earthseed along with her, she  knew that she had to flee. She was looking out for her own future and not living in the past. Thus, proving how people are willing to give up the human's grandest subconscious need, the one who loves people the most,  to do what they believe is their ultimate purpose. 

Just like her secret preparations illustrate her willingness to sacrifice it all, Lauren’s later choice to expose her own hyperempathy shows that her commitment is cemented in Earthseed. Lauren shows how Earthseed extends beyond herself and is also important for the ones who are following it.Take for example, when Lauren uses her gun to protect her group from the people who were trying to attack and loot them. In doing so she reveals her hyperempathy and the fact that if she actually hit one of the attackers it could have possibly killed her. Because Lauren is quite literally willing to die to further her beliefs, it shows how she is willing to sacrifice herself for her own values and community. Consequently, her belief in collective survival of Earthseed is more important than her own life. That it should live on no matter what. Therefore illustrating how people are willingly to expose their greatest weakness, to ensure their beliefs will be upheld.Lauren’s willingness to show her hyperempathy for the sake of her followers will lead to her next sacrifices. When Lauren is making her travel north, she begins to recruit anyone that is willing to listen to Earthseed. Trusting strangers could be potentially extremely dangerous, in a post apocalyptic society that is already at absolute zero.  Lauren trusts strangers sacrificing security because she thinks it is well worth one bad egg within a dozen good ones, so that she can grow her religion. Since Lauren only believes Earthseed can thrive if it is shared to all around, she risks theft and violence because building a future is more important than safety at the moment. Thus, showing how people sacrifice their own survival and safety in an act to push their own destiny into fruition. 

Lauren’s sacrifices show her values because all of her choices she makes are rooted in the survival and future of Earthseed. This becomes complex as her sacrifices get larger and larger. Small acts of preparation move to true pain in order for her beliefs to succeed.

In the science fiction novel Dawn, Octavia Butler employs Earth as a central symbol that reveals both the destructive past and the hope for renewal in the human race in order to convey Lilith’s struggle between constant confinement  and new found freedom on a new Earth, ultimately illustrating that a broken beginning can serve as a hindrance  or as a catalyst for progress stimulus.

Often within society people are pushed into a position of powerlessness, and the humans in Dawn are no exception. As a survivor of a nuclear fallout , and now living under the control of the alien Oankali, Lilith faces oppression often because of her  biological differences and human stereotypes. From the beginning, Earth in its decrepit state, is a constant symbol of confinement and the challenge Lilith has to face. When Lilith learns that humans destroyed their home planet, she realizes Earth is no longer a land to be roamed freely, but a reminder of how much was lost. The Oankali always point to Earth as evidence that humanity cannot be trusted. Because Lilith associates Earth with the mistakes made on it and the life she once had there, she feels judged and exposed when the Oakanli use Earth as proof of human inferiority. Consequently,  she too begins to manifest the idea that the human species is fundamentally flawed and doesn’t deserve its own autonomy. Therefore, Earth becomes a constant symbol of shame haunted by an inescapable past. But even with the shame attached to Earth it is the only thing Lilith still hopes to return to. Lilith dreams of returning home, longing Earth may restore all of the dignity they lost aboard the ship. Yet the Oankali have this desire to reshape humanity prior to allowing them to return to Earth. When Lilith sees how intensely some people feel about Earth, she realizes that Earth is more than just a place of survival, but also an archive of self identity and memories. Because the Oankali treat Earth as something that is managed rather than cherished,humans feel like both their home and identity has completely slipped out of their control. Since Earth is the last remaining strand of connection to their past, losing autonomy to it felt like losing an essential part of themselves. Thus, Butler uses Earth to symbolize the elusive desire to reclaim a world that had been removed from their control.

As Lilith learns more, Earth symbolism shifts from representing something that humans lost to something they desperately wanted to gain back.This symbolic tension grows even more with how the Oankali treat Earth.For the Oankali earth is not just a habitat to return the humans to. It is a scientific playground - a playground used  purely for a biological opportunity. The Oankali have planned on repopulating Earth with a human hybrid species. While Lilith is just attempting to keep her faction of people united. Because the Oankali just believe Earth is a part of their biological “trade” , they do not understand the cultural or emotional significance of having a “home”, hence they reshape in the way they deem fit. Consequently, the Oankali believe that they have the humans best interest in mind , and disregard everything Lilith has to say. Motivating Lilith to push the humans into a new direction in order to succeed. Therefore the persistence within the journey back to Earth mirrors the attempt for progress that Lilith makes after every setback. This symbolic meaning becomes even more apparent in Lilith’s training of the other survivors. When Lilith begins to train the rest of the humans for earth, she realizes just how big of a toll the constant confinement had on the other humans. All of the constant bickering and fights just chip away at all of the progress she built. During the same time the Oankali continue to tell Lilith that the only way she is going to be returned to Earth, is if she maintains a coherent and suitable group of humans to populate it. Ultimately the Oankali transport the humans to earth.  Lilith’s efforts collapse in cycles  because of her faction’s inability to maintain peace amongst themselves. Since Lilith is always starting from square one, the Oankali’s goal is always right at the threshold of possibility. Until the Oankali just gave up defaming Lilith’s character as a leader. Thus, Butler uses earth as a symbol of surrender, demonstrating how a broken beginning can determine whether a society regresses under its past or propels it forward to renewal.

Ultimately, within Dawn, Octavia Butler uses Earth as a symbol by revealing how one place can hold the memory of destruction while still leaving plenty of room for progress. Earth is not just a setting but shows humanity’s inner conflict: the urge to continue habits of violence versus the increasingly difficult time to adapt to change. At its core showing how it is not about how one starts, but what they do with that start: push forward or fall back.