Finally, a book that I can’t stop reading in this class. The Parable of the Sower has endless conflicts which include Lauren and her family, the families within the cul-de-sac, the outside environment beyond the cul-de-sac and list goes on. There also so many characters in the story that I can barely remember all their names and the sad part is, the minute you start to get attach to one of the characters it’s a huge possibility they will be killed off in the following chapters. The one thing I notice from Octavia Butler writing style, she gave Lauren Hyper Empathy condition and was able to connect the reader empathy for particular character with just a few paragraphs before painfully taken them away from you. I believe she wanted the reader to feel Lauren pain.

One of the different issues that I found interesting is when Keith decided to adventure beyond the cul-de-sac wall for the second time, and Reverend Olamina (Lauren Dad) was looking all over the world for him, but Cory believes he was not trying hard enough for her. “Dad tried to go to her, but she backed away, still shouting: “If it were your precious Lauren out there alone, you would have found her by now! You don’t care about Keith.” (96). I knew Cory showed a lot a favoritism to Keith but never expected it to be this bad to express this much anger. In this seen I believe Cory real feeling for Lauren was revealed to the family which started the instability within the household.

The amount of character to remember is painful, but Amy Dunn grew on me pretty quick after she almost burns down her family garage. She was the little sister Lauren never had, and daughter Tracy Dunn never wanted. As small as the community it was a young child was slipping through the cracks because of her mother and family members but Lauren saved her life for a brief moment. “I saw Tracy take Amy into the house and shut the door. Yet somehow Amy wound up outside again, wound up near the front gate, just opposite the Garfield/Balter/Dory house. Jay Garfield found her there when he came out to investigate what he thought was another bundle that someone had thrown over the gate. People toss us things sometimes– gifts of envy and hate: A maggoty, dead animal, a bag of shit, even an occasional severed human limb or a dead child.” (49). This is where this book got real for me. This happens a few time a year in reality and like the fact that Octavia Butler tries to make this close to real life as possible.