By Riley Coffman
In Octavia Butler’s 1993 novel Parable of the Sower, the world has devolved into chaos characterized by uncontrollable homelessness, a dire and destructive drug crisis, and both economic and environmental disintegration. At the center of the story is Lauren Olamina, who journals her experiences in this collapsing world. In the journals, she describes her struggles to survive and documents the founding of her new religion– Earthseed.
The fundamental basis of Earthseed is –as Lauren repeats throughout her journals– “God is Change.” With this recurring phrase in mind, change and transition are major aspects not only of Earthseed, but of Lauren’s story in Parable of the Sower as a whole. Throughout the novel, Lauren experiences many drastic and life-altering events, such as the loss of her father, the horrific death of her half-brother, Keith, and even more affecting than the others, the destruction of her hometown, Robledo. Along with the change that characterizes many events within Parable of the Sower, another significant ideal that persists in the story is that of freedom and liberation. When Robledo is attacked and Lauren’s family is killed in the ensuing destruction, Parable of the Sower first begins to plant the seeds of Lauren’s liberation and the freedom that she gains from it. Although this freedom seems entirely positive at first glance because it allows her to indulge in and spread Earthseed, Parable of the Sower also explores the more negative sides of freedom and independence: not just through the loss of her entire family and other loved ones, but also because of her isolation and inability to fully trust those around her.
When living in Robledo before his death during its destruction, Lauren’s father was a Baptist preacher and served almost as if he were a figurehead leader for the entire community. Meanwhile, as Lauren attended her father’s sermons and was being baptized like the other teenagers in her town, she was simultaneously developing her own religion, Earthseed. However, since she is between the young ages of fifteen and eighteen, her ideas are not taken seriously and are disrespected by the adults around her. As she prepares for life on the outside of the walls, understanding the fact that one day those walls will fall, she tries to convince others that preparations must be made, but no one listens to her out of denial and fear. The others in the community are held back by tradition and its false promise of safety; meanwhile, Lauren is focused on the reality of change, both as it exists in her religion, but also in how it relates to her real life experience. It is clear that when she is living within the walls of her Robledo community, she is extremely stifled, both physically and mentally. Her inability to leave the walls on her own and without fear, combined with the isolation of being ridiculed and cast aside by the adults who think they know better than her, is a clear indication of the pressure she feels when inside the walls. It is only when the walls of Robledo are knocked down that she can truly begin indulging in the freedom to believe in her own religion and to live in the way that she views as “right.”
One of the key aspects of Lauren’s liberation is its stemming from a moment of true despair, pain, and loss in her life. The raid of Robledo not only destroys her home, it also results in the deaths of her entire family, which had already been facing recent hardships through numerous thefts and mourning for loved ones who were lost earlier in the novel. Along with her family, Lauren loses her boyfriend Curtis, who she clearly loves and was planning to run away with when the time was right for her to leave. That the foundation of Lauren’s initial liberation rests on all of this loss and desolation already mars her plans and actions from that point on. In Lauren’s journal entry for July 31st, 2027, the day that Robledo was destroyed, there is an Earthseed: The Books of the Living quote that reads, “In order to rise from its own ashes a phoenix must first burn.” (Butler 153). It is clear from this mention of the phoenix that in the same way that change is a pivotal aspect of Earthseed, liberation, even when it is gained through immense loss, is also pivotal to Lauren’s journey. Monumental change is often the foundation of liberation, and this is absolutely the case with Lauren’s experience with Robledo. Although, from what the reader can gather in her journals, she does not seem to look back on this destruction to a debilitating extent, it still exists nonetheless and is never forgotten by her, even as she moves forward and gains traction in her new, changed world.
Another frequently dismissed aspect of freedom that becomes evident in Lauren’s story is the feeling of isolation that comes after liberation. Throughout the novel, Lauren is characterized as an extremely independent young woman who often charges forward in making her own decisions, even if they might be in contention with what those around her want from her. An example of this is in early 2025, when Lauren pushes forward in convincing her friend Joanne about creating grab-and-go packs in case of an emergency. When Joanne is unable to keep the secret, Lauren’s father then reprimands her for inciting fear when he finds out, even though that was not her original intention. After this debacle, she decides that she cannot trust Joanne as much as she thought she could, and in a way, mourns the loss of her as a friend. In her March 9th, 2025 journal entry Lauren writes of the situation with Joanne, “I still feel inclined to trust her. But I can’t. I don’t. She has no idea how much she could have hurt me if I had given her just a few more words to use against me. I don’t think I’ll ever trust her again, and I hate that. She was my best friend. Now she isn’t” (Butler 68). Despite Lauren’s independence and self-reliance, it is clear from the situation with Joanne and her feelings about it that she does cherish strong friendships and relationships and is hurt and angry when she discovers that she cannot trust those she loves. Not only is this true with Joanne, but it is also seen with her love for her boyfriend, Curtis, in the couple of scenes that they have together, and her appreciation for and love of her father throughout the first half of the novel before he disappears. Lauren is not entirely immune to feelings of community, love, and the longing to have others on which she can truly rely.
After the destruction of Robledo, Lauren’s inherently independent nature is highlighted because of her new forced solitude. Although she is now free to make her own decisions, spread her own beliefs, and be her own leader due to her liberation from Robledo and new freedom as she moves northward, she is also forced to deal with the idea that the only person that she can fully trust is herself. Even though she had similar issues with trust in Robledo, such as with Joanne and her father, this lack of trust was eased by the love that she had for them, even when she was unable to fully trust them. With no longer anyone to love, and still nobody to trust, she grapples with her trust issues throughout the entire second half of the novel as a byproduct of her new freedom; this is particularly clear in the beginning of her wanderings after the destruction of Robledo, when she first establishes a group with Zahra and Harry. Despite knowing Harry well because of their similar age and the fact that they grew up together within the same friendship circles, Lauren fears that she cannot trust him entirely because of their conflicting morals. With Zahra, Lauren is essentially meeting her for the first time, seeing as they did not interact often when they were living together in Robledo. Even as Lauren gets to know both Harry and Zahra better, she is still wary of putting all of her trust in them, and because of that, is still stuck in a feeling of isolation.
However, as the story progresses and Lauren meets many new people on the road northward (such as Travis, Natividad, and Bankole), her opinions and feelings of trust change and grow along with the numbers of her group. Although the loss of her family and her community is what spawned those initial feelings of isolation that come hand-in-hand with independence, on the other side of the coin, this gives Lauren the opportunity to change her perspectives on the world around her and grow emotionally as a person through the experiences she has with the new people she meets. If this unexpected and drastic change in her life had not occurred the way that it did, and if Lauren had more time to prepare and possibly left the community with Curtis by her side, it is likely that she would not have been as willing to group up with the people that she encountered during her travels. Additionally, it is clear that despite her hesitation to trust new people, her dreams of spreading Earthseed also play a factor in the creation of her new community. Perhaps she would have still spread Earthseed if she had left Robledo with Curtis; however, it seems clear that her new mental isolation, her wariness of traveling in a small pack of only three (the other two being people she only barely trusts), and her desire to establish a stronger and larger group to travel with makes her more willing to introduce herself to others and spread her ideas. In the Earthseed: The Books of the Living verse that is attached to Lauren’s August 8th, 2027 entry (just after she decides to team up with Travis, Natividad, and their baby), Lauren writes, “Once or twice each week a Gathering of Earthseed is a good and necessary thing. It vents emotion, then quiets the mind. It focuses attention, strengthens purpose, and unifies people” (Butler 214). Because her isolation and independence forces her to do so, Lauren begins to be more open to the world around her and less pessimistic and uncertain about not only her future, but the future of Earthseed, as well. This new unification and openness that marks her coming together with other outsiders she meets on the road is a tangible indicator of the growth she has undergone as an effect of her liberation from Robledo.
In addition to the more personal and protective reasons behind Lauren’s establishment of a larger group after the destruction of Robledo, her break from her community and her subsequent freedom is also what allows Earthseed to finally manifest itself and take root in the world outside of her journals. Although the process is slow and it takes her a while to open up to her companions about Earthseed, eventually she begins to establish a true community of people who believe in her vision of the world and its future. They, too, believe in the possibility that “the Destiny of Earthseed is to take root in the stars” (Butler 222). Even the recurring motif of the freedom of outer space, from the first journal entry of the novel to the ultimate goal of Earthseed, contributes to the ideal of liberation and freedom that persists throughout the narrative. In order to truly flourish, one has to shed the obligations of the past. That is what Lauren did after the destruction of Robledo, and that is what the followers of Earthseed must do when they eventually leave Earth – give in to change and experience both the positive and negative byproducts of freedom.
Liberation is change, and freedom is opportunity in Parable of the Sower. Just as Lauren explains when she says “God is Change” in the verses of Earthseed: The Books of the Living, the lives of everybody within Parable of the Sower are susceptible to and fundamentally shaped through the process of change. Change marks every vital element of the novel, both for the characters, and for the plot. The question of whether that change and opportunity is positive or negative, however, is never definitively answered because Lauren’s world, like the world of the reader, exists beyond the boundaries of black and white. Parable of the Sower is a commentary on the objective notions and ideals of liberation and its ensuing freedom just as much as it is a commentary on their existence in the real world. And just like in the real world, these notions, too, are constantly changing. Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower is a reflection of these changes, as well as a nuanced representation of change itself, as evidenced through the foundations of the religion of Earthseed and Lauren’s personal physical and mental progression and experiences with liberation throughout the novel itself.
Works Cited
Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower. Grand Central Publishing, 2019.
