Embedded Files
Chap. 1
Chap. 1
The book and each chapter starts with an epigraph from Earthseed: The Books of the Living by Lauren Olamina. This is a fictitious book written by the narrator of POTS. We also get a date. The year 2024 is thirty-one years after the original publication of the book.
Definition of epigraph: a short quotation or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter, intended to suggest its theme.
The first two epigraphs focus on "adaptability" and "change." What does this tell you about the theme and plot of this book?
Note that each chapter is dated and it is written in first person like a journal or diary.
Octavia Butler (author) starts with dream imagery of flying and fire. Fire will definitely play a role later in the book. What do flying and fire represent?
In the next part of the dream the narrator is talking to her Spanish speaking step-mother who says, "We couldn't see so many stars when I was little." What does this tell you about how the world has changed since she was little? This would have been about the time the book was written.
In most science fiction books authors not only have to introduce characters, they also have to build the world (setting) because it is different than ours. In this first chapter what have you learned about the world of the narrator and her step-mother?
"We couldn't see so many stars when I was little." (5) ~Cory (Corazon)
The light pollution is no longer there. We often complain about light pollution, but it is also a sign of progress.
Chap. 2
Chap. 2
"None of us goes out to school any more. Adults get nervous about kids going outside" (7) What does this quote tell you about the world Lauren lives in? Octavia Butler has said that she just looked around at the world and wondered what would happen if we did nothing to fix it. How does this connect to our world or the world in 1993?
Religion is still important enough to take the risk. On page 15 Lauren starts discussing God. What do you think think Octavia Butler's (the author) feeling are about religion?
Fire Motif - The church is burned
Metaphor - maggots (9) Who or what is being compared to maggots? What does that tell you about them?
Hyperempathy syndrome - How does hyperempathy syndrome work? Do you think it is a good thing or a bad thing? Would you want it?
Vocabulary
Potable(13), anteroom (14), Deists (15),
Chap. 3
Chap. 3
epigraph - "And God Is Change"
Introduction of the astronauts. Exploration of space is a waste when the money could be spent on Earth.
This song was recorded in 1970 and was contemporaneous with the moon landings.
POTS was written in 1993. The 90s were dominated by shuttle missions and the ISS
What does the water shortage tell us about the the climate?
Fire makes an appearance again on page 18. There is not enough water to put them out.
The police "collected their fee." Police is no longer supported by tax dollars. They are basically a private security force for those that can afford them.
Christopher Morpeth Donner (running for president) Morpeth is an English town. Butler my be trying to tie characters to their country of origin. The Donner name is actually best known for a pioneer party that was stranded and forced to resort to cannibalism. The roots of the name Christopher is Christ.
Lauren dreams of escaping Earth.
Despite the world going down the toilet. Mrs. Sims is still racist. (22) Many of the marriages are inter-racial and inter-cultural. Mrs. Sims purposely mispronounces Corazon.
(23) Fire again. This time she mentions a new drug that makes people want to set fires.
"Then we go on to create super-people - super-parents, super-kings and queens, super-cops - to be our gods and to look after us -"(26).
Privatization of space has happened. (27) SpaceX and Elon Musk
Getting rid of regulations to create jobs, sounds like Trump
Vocab
idolaters (22)
inexorable (25)
pliable (25)
Chap. 4
Year 2025
epigram: The danger of misdirected intelligence.
epigram: make sure to read God as Change
Fire Motif: "We had a fire today. People worry so much about fire, but the little kids will play with it if they can."
"The island in our street" (32)
Break down of society. Amy the product of incestuous rape. Payne and Parrish move in. (Pain and Perish) The Moss's with multiple wives.
The community goes out for gun practice in the canyons. With no police, the people are left to fend for themselves.
Birds - Flying symbolism. Flying equals freedom.
Killing the dog foreshadows future killings. Lauren's hyperempathy becomes stronger with certain animals. Birds, not so much. Rodents some. Dogs stronger.
Chap. 5
There has not been rain in six years. Climate change.
pg. 50 Amy Dunn (of a dull grayish-brown color) Her hair is described as colorless. The family is uncaring. Compare her death to the numerous shootings of children in St. Louis.
Simile and Foreshadowing "It's like an island surrounded by sharks -- except that sharks don't bother you unless you go in the water. But our land sharks are on their way in. It's just a matter of how long it take for them to get hungry enough." (50)
Amy was cremated = FIRE
"'Those people are half dead already," I told her. 'They've come through the winter cold, hungry, already sick with other diseases. And, no, of course they can't afford immunizations. We're lucky our parents found the money to pay for all our immunizations.'" (54)
How does this compare to what is happening in the current pandemic.
President Donner = Donald Trump. The name Donner also brings to mind the Donner party.
from Wikipedia "The Donner Party (sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party) was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Some of the migrants resorted to cannibalism to survive, eating the bodies of those who had succumbed to starvation, sickness and extreme cold. "
"bringing back to the real fire" (54) Fire is a metaphor for change.
pg. 58-59 The importance of books. "Do you take notes when you read?"
Chap. 6
Epigraph "Drowning people sometimes die fighting their rescuer"
Who is drowning? Who is the rescuer?
Joanne outs Lauren and her survival plan.
"He shook his head. 'These things frighten people. It's best not to talk about them.'" (63)
This is eerily similar to Trump's policy concerning Covid-19. Video
Acorn Bread Recipe
Simile: "as in a rattlesnake's warning sound" (65)
The ABYSS, what is it?(66)
‘He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby becomes a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee” – Nietzsche
Allusion is when the author makes a reference to another work of art or moment in history. She is assuming that the intended audience is familiar with that work. Most authors assume that their audience has a passing familiarity with the Bible. Literacy is the ability to understand the message being delivered. In order to understand this and many other books you have to know stories from the Bible. Part of literacy is reading other books.
The very title of this book is a Biblical allusion. There is another one on pg 67. Interpretation of Noah. Most people just focus on the wickedness of man, but Lauren's dad also pointed out the amount of work and preparation required to survive. God did not just magically keep Noah alive. He made him work.
pg 70-71 How do you know when violence is necessary?
Chap. 7
Now it is time to discuss the title of the book. The Chap. 7 epigraph speaks of God Seed and Earth Seed. God seed is change. Earth seed is us. In the title the word "Sower" means someone who plants seeds. The word parable refers to a simple allegorical story meant to teach a moral lesson. More specifically it is referring to Jesus' teachings.
This is a link to the Biblical parable found in the Book of Mathew (New International Version)
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