Parables of the Sorow by Octavia Butler

Please answer each question in 1-2 complete sentences.
Each Question is worth 1 point, for a total of 25 points.
Number your answers 1-25 and post to the Assignment in Canvas.

In Chapter One, Lauren discusses a recurring dream that shes had about flying. Afterward, she and Cory also talk about the stars, and how they are different from the city lights of the old world. What is the significance of these dreams, and Laurens connection to the stars?
In Chapter Two, we learn the occupation of Laurens father? What does he do? How does it affect his family and community?
Chapter Two includes a description of Lauren agreeing to be baptized, despite the fact that she no longer believes in the same God concept that her father does. Why does Lauren agree to this?
In Chapter 3, we learn that one particular commodity is in especially short supply in this world, so much so a whole industry has sprung up of people selling it for very high prices, while criminals are willing to kill for it. What is this commodity? How is possessing it used to show wealth and status?
The dead Mars astronaut, Alicia Catalina Godinez Leal, emerges as a role model for Lauren in Chapter 3. Yet, the new President Christopher Morpeth Donner, wants to end the space program. What do Mars and space travel symbolize for Lauren? What does President Donner symbolize in contrast?
Chapter Four introduces two minor characters in the book that are both important to Laurens psychological development: Amy Dunn. How does Lauren feel about her? What are her concerns for Amys future, given her family situation?
Chapter Four also includes an anecdote about a feral dog that Lauren shoots in the canyon to put it out of its misery. What effect does encountering this animal have on Lauren? How does it shape her worldview?
In the dystopic future world of the novel, it has not rained in six years. Yet, in Chapter 5, it rains for several days. What is the significance of this rain? How is it related to real-life concerns about water in our world?
Also in Chapter 5, we begin to hear the characters discuss President Donner. What are their thoughts about him? Is his name symbolic in any way? (Hint: Google Donner Party and think about the implications that Butler was suggesting here.)
Chapter 6 includes a betrayal of Lauren by her best friend Joanne, after Lauren attempts to win her over to the idea of gaining enough knowledge to prepare for an escape to a potentially better future outside. What does Lauren try to convince Joanne to do? Why does Joanne resist and then tell? What is Laurens fathers response to the entire incident?
Also in Chapter 6, Lauren discusses a sermon that her father preaches about Noahs Ark. How is the story of Noah similar to Laurens plans for Earthseed? How do they differ?
Some of the most iconic quotes in the novel, which form the core of Laurens new philosophies about Earthseed, are contained in Chapter 7. What is meant by the following series of quotes: Why is the universe? To shape God. Why is God? To shape the universe. All that you touch, you change. All that you Change, Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change. God is Change. A tree cannot grow in its parents shadows. The Destiny of Earthseed is to take root among the stars.
Early in Chapter 8, we hear Lauren weighing her thoughts about Curtis Talcott. How does she feel about him? About the idea of a future with him?
Also, for the first time in Chapter 8, Laurens brother Keith sneaks out of the house. He is beaten up outside of the gated communitys walls, causing their father to force him to confess his disobedience and his theft of the house key in front of the Church congregation, and then be lectured about the Commandment of honoring thy father and mother. What effect does this punishment have on Keith? What is his response?
As Keith continues to sneak out of the house, Reverend Olamina and Corys normally sound judgment in parenting is shaken. They allow him to have a BB gun, and Reverend Olamina loses his patience with Keiths disobedience and beats his son. At the end of Chapter 9, Keith returns with a roll of money for his mother, dressed in new clothes, but wont say how he obtained them. What fate is Butler attempting to foreshadow for Keith in this passage? What message is the author sending about desperate young men?
In Chapter 10, how does Keith find a place to live outside? What skill is valued? How does he make money?
Later in Chapter 10, we see that Keiths success on the outside is short-lived, and he ends up dead. When the family goes to identify his body, what has happened to him? Who do they think killed him? How do the police act toward Reverend Olamina?
Explain the purpose of the Olivar community in Chapter 11? Who runs it? Who lives there and why?
Toward the end of Chapter 11, Lauren discusses that when she is 18 she plans to go north and start the Earthseed community. She also decides on a name for her book of Earthseed verses. What is the name, and why is it significant?
Early in Chapter 12, Lauren and her friend Joanne discuss their concerns about the Olivar community. What are they worried about?
Also, in Chapter 12, Reverend Olamina doesnt come home from work as usual. What has happened to him?
In Chapter 13, the Payne-Parrish house is set on fire. As Lauren describes what happens next, we learn a bit more about why people set fires in this settlement, and also about the drug that causes people to become pyromaniacs. Why does Lauren say people are setting these fires? What happens as the house burns?
After Reverend Olamina goes missing, how does Cory provide for the family in Chapter 13?
Octavia Butler first published this novel in 1993, yet it was set in what was then the distant future 2024. Many scholars of Butlers writing point to the riots in Los Angeles after the beating of a black man, Rodney King, by LAPD officers as being a source of inspiration for the novel. Its interesting to think of that in light of the fact that America has only recently been through another period of protests and rioting against police brutality. Now that youve read half of the novel, do you think Butlers book would be different today? Or do the themes still resonate? Why?
At the beginning of each Chapter in Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler begins with a passage from her journal in which she is developing the philosophy of Earthseed. How might the new philosophy be summarized, at this point in the novel? What do you feel are the forces in Laurens life that are directing her to respond in the way that she does with her verses and teachings?