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.
