In light of recent events, I tried to think of a way I could reflect and listen to the plight of the black men and women of the United States. One way to listen is to read because you can’t interrupt the author of a book to provide a counterpoint. I decided to look up a classic in science fiction or fantasy by a black author and ended up buying and reading the science fiction classic Earthseed: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler.
I don’t know if I chose a representative novel to reflect racial injustice, but I certainly chose a powerful book. Instead of black versus white, Sower’s conflict is mostly about poor versus rich. Accurately depicted in the novel, most of the poor are black characters although all races are represented. Published in 1993 with one sequel that won the Nebula Award, the novel starts on July 20, 2024, not too far in the future at all, in the small walled community in Robledo which is 20 miles from L.A. Unlike many dystopian novels, anarchy, not a dictatorship, has overrun the United States. Crime, poverty, drugs run rampant while governments fail. Cops are at best useless and at worst just as bad as the thugs killing people. Imagine the worst part of the worst city in the U.S. and then extend that across the country.
The world Butler creates is frighteningly and (quite frankly) embarrassingly true to modern life. Yes, this is science fiction but much of this novel feels all too real. Good sci-fi novels reflect present times, great sci-fi novels reflect all times. While crime ebbs and flows, Sower reminds us we live on the edge of a knife where one day it could flow too far.
The main character, Lauren Oya Olamina, is fifteen, oldest daughter of a Baptist minister, living with her stepmother and four brothers, and is losing her father’s faith. Much of the novel explores the idea of the nature of God and Lauren starts to form a new religion named Earthseed. Her ideas are big and goals quite impressive. She knows she can’t stay safe in her walled community so she prepares for a journey and to live in an outside world of chaos.
After establishing Lauren’s family and community, events occur that set Lauren on her journey. As she travels, she meets a number of interesting people who join her. Her trek north is a modern-day odyssey of survival where she gains (and sometimes loses) more and more followers. This book is not for the squeamish, especially the sequences outside the walls. All society structures that make one feel “safe” are demolished. No traditional families exist, money exists for survival and no one has enough of it, law enforcement is corrupt, criminals have no boundaries, children are victimized, the list goes on. The novel won’t let you look away from the automobile accident happening before your eyes.
And yet, even though all prospects look grim, the building of a community and the (sometimes forced) heroics of the characters give hope to the reader that the ending will be worth it. When the end comes, it’s satisfying and provides a lasting image.
What does this tell us about life in the United States in 2020? Ms. Butler died in 2006. We’re edging ever closer to the year her novel starts. While it may be fun to compare the years depicted in 1984 or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (2019) to the real year, the year’s not as significant as the ideas the novel portends: what makes a community, what is the nature of God in a cruel world, what is humankind’s real destiny? Surprisingly, a lot of racial harmony exists in Sower, but Butler is interested in getting the reader to feel the plight of the oppressed. The feeling you cannot escape crime and poverty is shared by many young black men today. Lauren’s brother Keith is lured to this dangerous life. There’s no science fiction here, this is the tale of a poor, young man succumbing to the siren call of gangs.
On this level, Sower succeeds exceedingly well. Do you want to understand why people are protesting around this country? Read this book. This is the world they inherited, but it’s the not the world they want to continue. They want to plant different seeds for a better United States.
They’re the modern-day Lauren Oya Olamina.