Parable of the Sower - Violence, Crime, the presence of morality PDF

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Violence, Crime, the presence of morality ...

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Violence, Crime, the presence of morality (drugs: pyro and parateco) In Octavia E. Butler’s novel, Parable of the Sower, the United States has been described in a chaotic society. The novel takes place in Robledo, California in 2024. The United States has fallen into profound decay and been nearly collapsing. There is the existence of presidency, but state lines are functioning more similar to international borders and everything seems to be distorted. There are very little jobs available in the country and paying jobs are often some myth. Gasoline is scarce, cars are rare, and water is expensive and costs more than gasoline. Society has crumbled and everyone is in danger since various criminal activities continuously occur such as drug trafficking and substance abuse, murder, and discrimination. However, punishments for committed crimes are never executed. In spite of the fact that humans living in tragedy of violence, morality and the right to value human life still remain. As portrayed in the novel, there are variety of violence taken in the United States. No solutions have been executed and the violent issues have become more seriously, to the point that the civilization has virtually declined. As we see in Parable of the Sower, Lauren’s family lived in Robledo where her neighborhood is basically a small community surrounded by a wall that keeps out dangerous strangers, rampant crime and gun violence that occurs in the open areas. Since the community being attacked several times and the rising of crime rates, selfdefense becomes more important. Lauren and her dad pay much attentions to guns because there are so many shootings going on in Robledo. It is not usual for citizens to always carry guns on a daily basis, but in order to protect themselves from being attacked and being killed, especially when they leave their neighborhood, they need guns with them. Lauren states, “Armed people do get killed – most often in crossfires or by snipers – but unarmed people get

killed a lot more often”. In other words, armed people still get killed but not as significantly more frequently as unarmed people. Although they do not expect to encounter any fierce strangers, owning a gun may help them avoid trouble. The theme of violence in this novel is seen in different perspective: it can be beneficial, harmful and a necessity for survival. Violence is beneficial for some individuals. It can be used to end pain. For instance, when Lauren and some others of Robledo go shooting practice one day with her dad, they come across some dogs that seem to be potentially dangerous. After her dad shoots one, the dog is not completely dead. As Lauren has got a hyper-empathy syndrome, which makes her share and feels of people or animals. Lauren can feel the dog’s pain, and she could not stand it no more, so she ends up shooting it. Lauren uses violence to end her suffering, as well as of that dog. Lauren’s neighborhood living in a restricted area from the outside world, they can only know what is happening in their community. Most of them living there seem to know simple creatures such as dogs and other animals. Lauren has acknowledged of dogs and also explains to Aura, “I’ve read books about them [dogs] being intelligent, loyal pets, but that’s all in the past, dogs now are wild animals who will eat a baby if they can.” This statement is terrifying. Dogs are human’s friends but they are portrayed Gun violence can harm anyone, regardless of age or gender. As we see in the book, Tracy Dunn, a character in the novel, lost her three-year-old daughter named Amy due to an act of violence. Amy accidentally gets shot when she is wandering outside after she set a fire in her family garage. Since little Amy is the product of incestuous rape, she is neglected heavily by her

family and Tracy Dunn has a hard time to express her love toward Amy. However, after Amy’s death, Tracy became heartbroken and disappear....