I don't really think I have much to add; I do feel like I participated in discussions enough; if not speaking then definitely in the chats. This class has been great; I've enjoyed your teaching style in the past and it does get people actually excited about reading these books and writing about them.
Thanks for teaching us!
If you accept that change is constant, you should be ready to lose your family over change, because change is constant.
I don't get it. Do you accept that change is constant and move on? Can you grieve over lost souls, or is change constant so this is just part of a shifting cycle?
How constant is change, is it every day, or are we talking about only large changes, if I change my clothes is that change significant in any way? Or does this mean that when my village burns down then I just say "change is constant!" and move on with my life?
So anyway, if change is constant, what should we be expecting? How much should we be looking to the future, and how much do we think of the past?
I think Parable of the Sower has been one of the books I've thoroughly enjoyed reading in high school. To start off my tirade of posts, the theme of "new beginnings" is central to understanding the points that Octavia Butler wanted to get across.
The gated community is passed off basically as a bunch of neighbors trying to cling to old ideals and block out the new & crazy reality surrounding them. It's strange how it's almost obvious that the gate would one day be destroyed, but no one created any kits to survive in case of danger. Over time, however, reality starts sinking its teeth in, and the gated community slowly succumbs to the outside world. Old religion and the old way of life for Lauren is destroyed, so she and her companions have to create a new style of living. They had to face the hard truths of this new world if they were going to survive.
Perhaps Nick and I have already expressed our distaste that basically no one in the group died, but I think that adding 3-4 more chapters for some character deaths would have fit the "new beginnings" theme quite nicely, especially if the deaths had been crafted so that most if not all surviving members had no more attachments to their previous lives. Then, I think, People could really give Earthseed their all. Does that sound a bit cultish? Maybe. I'm thinking of those religions where you give everything to the church and the church gives you everything you need in return? Is it the Mormons who do this? I don't know enough about it to explicate this further. Anyway, the "new beginnings" theme kept popping up throughout the book, and change remains constant.
The party controls everything, but they put the bulk of their power into controlling their citizenry. Each house has a telescreen, the thought police lurk everywhere, and there's a whole underground system whose only goal is to take out dissenters of the party. It's not even just on the surface level; they've invaded the family unit, religion, and romantic feelings- all things that could possibly be held over the party. In doing so, the party becomes everything that people can look up to. Things like the daily hate only add to their power
People are actively working against their own self interest because they know no better, and this shows that the massive effort by the party seems to be working. They've internalized the surveillance, and expect it to be present even when it might not. When Winston meets up with Julia, he's scared of microphones in the bushes, which is a totally crazy thing to expect in the normal world. Still, they both knew that at some point they were going to be caught.
With the implementation of newspeak, all possibility of insurrection would be crushed, because the mere idea of rebellion isn't a word.Take away the ability of mass communication, and any adverse ideas can't spread.
They caught Parsons as well! The dialogue between them was pretty interesting. Parsons believes 100% in the system, concluding that he must be guilty because the party wouldn't lock up an innocent man. His own children had reported him, no less, which I really think shows the reach of the party's control on households. Parsons is even somewhat proud of his daughter for it!
In the next scenes there's this trip of extreme policing and fearfulness of room 101. They're constantly surveilled and we see kind of this "underground" of the party's police force. People who disappeared were sent here. I'm interested to hear about what's inside.
Winston and Julia have different outlooks on life that definitely shapes how their relationship works. Winston is that one friend who wants to run the XC workout and actually improve while Julia wants to grab some bread from Jimmy John's first.
Back to 1984, both agree that the party's regime is bad, but Julia is more about those small acts of rebellion than bringing the whole system down, and is bored by Winston's jabberings about the book. I'm not even sure she wants to actually instill change. Winston, though, is totally ready to just frick everything up, and perhaps understood his relation with Julia was something that would have to end.
