The first chapter of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower is short yet fraught with emotion and conflicting ideas. It begans by suggesting that the main character is to be married or used in some other ritual the day after her birthday, then immediately tells us the ritual is a lie. Her recurring dream of herself learning to fly and flying towards a door but hitting a wall of fire instead seems to be a fairly obvious metaphor. As if in aiming for the truth she is inevitably destined to miss her intended mark, as if by fate, and suffer drastic and painful consequences.
If we aim for truth in our lives we often risk hurting people we care about or even hurting ourselves. Truly, how often are people honest with themselves about their appearance, or that of their spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend? Do people ever say, “Do I really need those shoes?”, or “I don’t know how to drive to Niagra Falls but I don’t need directions!” Do we not all burn ourselves many times throughout our lives? And after the burns heal and we have grafted metaphorical “new skin” onto our wounds in the form of learning and memory, do we not often forget the pain of those mistakes and repeat them? Pain is the only real thing. Period. If you remember pain, which is not outweighed by some other factor such as saving your own life, or bringing into existence another, most people will avoid the pain.
I am reminded in this book of Ayn Rand’s book Anthem. Anthem was not a long book, or a book of complicated plot and numerous and multifaceted characters. It was a book about two people, told from the perspective of one in a future time when there is no future. For Equality 7-2521, the protagonist, the past is far more mysterious and fascinating than the monotonous monochromatic future. Like the girl in Parable, Equality 7-2521 aims for the truth and his world comes crashing down around him. His “utopian” society is more aptly described as “dystopian”. These themes seem to spring to the forefront in the girl’s dream-as-exposition, and it makes me eager to see what other similarities between these two tales of suffering might arise.
Often through human history, sowing the seeds of hope in a time when that word has been forgotten can lead to the most magnificent transformations in the human condition and psyche. They even give out Nobel Peace Prizes for it.