Parable of the Sower

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    When looking at the main character, Lauren Olamina, she has remarkable qualities such as being a powerful, independent, and head-strong young woman. She doesn't fit the norm of a proper female character. For example, she was eager to go and learn how to shoot and run with her father. Under the circumstances, in the society that they live in, everyone should have those types of skill sets in mind in order to survive. But the point is that Lauren acted as if she wasn't phased when she saw a dead animal or a dead body. When in reality, with her condition of hyper-empathy, (which makes her experience the same gut-wrenching emotions that others around her experience), she is most definitely phased by what she sees. But she puts on the facade that it doesn't, because if others around her found out how vulnerable she really is, they may use that against her.

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    Lauren does not believe in a traditional socioeconomic hierarchical scale. Sure, her family is considered to be upper class because both of her parents have steady jobs. Her father is a college professor and a pastor. Her step-mother is a school teacher. But Lauren believes that no matter which class you come from, you can achieve anything. She has made up her own religious guidelines in a book she named "Earthseed". The main ideology of it is that "God is Change". (Butler 3). According to an article that analyzes Parable of the Sower, the author states “Lauren is a new Christ, the sower of the new seeds of Christianity, after the Armageddon which destroys the wicked civilization that has abandoned the founding beliefs of the nation.”(Andréolle 120). Even though Lauren didn’t come from the wealthiest family, she was still able to build up her confidence and credibility to become a “savior” by creating an entirely new religion and community to help others in need of clean slate.

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    Looking at Lauren through a post-colonial lens, her religious beliefs differ from her fathers. Her father is a Baptist. Lauren still values some parts of the Baptist religion, but not all. She conforms to her father’s beliefs because he is the head of the household and holds patriarchal power over her. She also respects her father and doesn’t want to disappoint him. She disguises her individual religious identity to comply with the cultural religious identity of her family and most of her village. An outside article discussed how Lauren’s concept of “God is Change” differs from her father’s view of God. The article states “In Lauren’s view, change or God has no necessary direction and is devoid of anthropomorphic qualities like good and evil.” (Phillips 302). Contrarily, Reverend Olamina believes that there is good and evil, and when Lauren commits a sin, (having intimate relations with a young boy when she was young) he is disappointed in her.