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As a culture, we are confronted with parables. Whether they are plain, or short and simple, enigmatic fables or allegorical morality tales, most readers are conscious of a parable's function, its subtext. That is to say, we know that parables are stories from which we are to draw a moral, stories about life from which we are to take a lesson. They are stories that offer us instruction; they serve as examples we are expected to heed. Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower (1993) builds upon this cultural base and draws a futuristic story from which readers can derive lessons to guide their lives properly, in the present moment. While primarily descriptive, written to encourage those comfortable with a basis in Christianity to enter a somewhat different universe, this essay involves analysis of Parable of the Sower as a form of the trope of the slave as well as a parable/story that involves questioning typical gender roles with a physically strong heroine who kills and operates as a charismatic leader of a religion she creates with a message of change and love at the same time.
Coming from a Judeo-Christian context, we may be familiar with, or at least have heard, several biblical parables. These might include the various stories Jesus reportedly used to impress upon his followers particular points he wanted to make. One such story, the parable of the sower, was retold varying in emphasis from its first appearance in the book of St. Matthew 13:3-7, to its second version in Luke 8:5-8. The message remains essentially the same, although the circumstances surrounding the framing of the story in each book differ. In Luke, the Bible informs readers that Jesus and his disciples have been traveling through the cities and villages, preaching, healing and driving out evil spirits. When people come to hear Jesus, he speaks in parables. The kernel here as in Matthew is about the bountiful increase should the seed fall upon good ground -- should people hear the word, and be able to change their lives and live accordingly.
Jesus and his disciples wander, preaching the word and living it, and Butler dramatically adapts from this Scripture to create characters who do the same. Parable of the Sower, the...