In-Yer-Face

Parable of the Sower, with its pervasive violence and degradation of a futuristic world, reminds me of a movement in the 1990s called In-yer-face theatre. While Parable of the Sower is in fact a novel, it still contains similarities with this kind of drama. In-yer-face theatre is

“the kind of theatre which is blatantly aggressive or provocative, impossible to ignore or avoid… shocks audiences by the extremism of its language and images; unsettles them by its emotional frankness and disturbs them by its acute questioning of moral norms… they want audiences to feel the extreme emotions that are being shown on stage.” http://www.inyerface-theatre.com/what.html

It may not have been Butler’s intent, but I think the novel certainly shocks its readers into feeling a certain way. In Lauren Olamina’s world, society is poverty stricken and the governments are collapsing mostly because of the greediness of humanity. Important items such as water are hard to find. I think that the novel shocks readers into feeling emotions like horror, disgust, and even anger through its graphic depictions. As early as the second chapter, we the readers come across scenes of headless corpses, rape victims, and abused children. Upon leaving for the Baptism, Lauren writes that “I saw at least three people who weren’t going to wake up again, ever. One of them was headless” (9). In this way, Butler shocks her audience into feeling extreme emotions through “extremism of language and images.” Interestingly, not only does the reader feel these emotions but Lauren also does as a result of her hyperempathy. She specifically experiences others’ pain and pleasure. Perhaps Parable of the Sower has this kind of experiential nature because Butler wants to tell important truths about the human condition- that people are violent and cruel or that our government will eventually collapse. Overall, the novel reminds me of In-yer-face theatre because it has a similar kind of shock value associated with it.