The novel, The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, was published in 1993, and it reflects on the common types of problems faced in the community. Such issues include race, religion, violence, sexuality, and politics. Despite the fact that they were experienced in society during this novel’s time, they are also significant issues in contemporary society. Butler uses various instances in the novel to depict these problems and their effects on society. Butler has used the themes of growth and change in the novel to illustrate Interpersonal relationships and their significance in society. In the novel, interpersonal relationships are seen through the social affiliation or connection between different characters and other social links in their lives.
An interpersonal relationship is essential in anyone’s overall emotional and physical happiness. People with such connections will fight loneliness better and get a sense of their purpose in life when they are so close with their family members or friends that it makes a significant part of their social support. For instance, her father’s disappearance affected many people because she did not know what would happen to him. She had predicted the fall of the community, and it was attacked where people were killed, raped, and then they were killed. An interpersonal relationship is evident when Lauren goes back to ensure that she unites with Cory and her siblings. That is when she realizes that they got separated and were killed. After that, Lauren had a difficult life that she had to survive. She created an interpersonal relationship with two other individuals, Zahrah and Harry, for him to be able to survive.
From the reading, Lauren grew up in an environment that contradicts traditional awareness and Christianity awareness. That can be seen through the character of Lauren’s father, who does not believe that the Christianity Lord has the power to help him (Butler 16). Lauren will develop her concept about God because she wants to have an interpersonal relationship with him. She realizes that an interpersonal relationship with God will be the critical determinant of her future life. Lauren has never been in the situation because her denial can relate to traditional awareness. But the relationships she will make later in her life will play a significant role in transforming her into a girl in search of her independence. She is walled and does not get the chance to make relationships with other people, and that makes her want to escape into the neighborhood known as “outside where everything is therefore dangerous and crazy” (Butler 7). Even though the novel ends around this point, there is a sense of communalism which speeds up the concerns with everybody that had an interpersonal relationship with Lauren.
A poor society with extreme or moderate poverty in a community is mainly caused by social inequalities, which result in fertile reasons concerning interpersonal odds. The interpersonal class of Lauren possesses their freedom starving so much, especially according to the needed awareness that they may go through robberies and face attacks from the poor people who do not have much. Lauren says I think when there was only one person, or if these people couldn’t see our guns, they may attempt to pull all of us down and take our bikes, our clothes, and our own shoes, whatever. Then what…Rape…Murder” (Butler 10)? She is saying this to show what will happen if, by chance, they will not remain vigilant. That shows that having an interpersonal relationship is very important because it helps people understand what they should do and when they can do it. One does not have to wait until they do not have the chance to create an interpersonal relationship with their loved ones because they have passed away. They should ensure that they do so while they are alive because families are one of the most significant things in life.
The relationship Zahra and Harry created with Lauren will not easily change. The two were the only survivors in the village after the attack, and Lauren does not have anybody except the two to start a relationship. Lauren, therefore, is forced to adapt to the instincts of the survivors because she has to do all it takes to remain alive. Though it becomes hard for them to do what they need because they know her as a preacher’s kid, they tell her, “out here, you adapt to your surroundings, or you get killed” (Butler182). That makes her start thinking of how she can change and join them to live. But because she has a health condition, the group decides, and the group sympathizes with her. That shows the power of connection in an interpersonal relationship because it helps individuals create a stronger relationship.
From the creation of interpersonal relationships in the novel, it is evident that survival impacts relationships so much. For instance, Lauren had to find a way of remaining alive after discovering that her fathers had been killed and included everybody else. She is willing to do anything as long as she survives. Such decision shows that people can get into relationships that are not good only to regret later. Because somebody will want to stay alive, they will not find it a problem to create relationships that will even endanger their lives because they will not care about the consequences. Most people are separated by their difference during times of crisis. In the post-apocalyptic world, Lauren’s group, issues, and many other problems come together as a means of surviving. That shows that the need to survive can impact most people and bring many others together as long as they have the same agenda.
A social relationship should help better health by shielding individuals from having situations that might stress them or creating a routine of healthy behaviors. When they seek maple syrup, Harry does not seem like he wants to agree to what has happened and does not want to accept the reality. “But we don’t have to turn into animals, for godsake” (182). He believes that nobody should be accused guilty if there is no evidence to prove it. The idea of making sweet love between Harry and Lauren is a good one because it also helps to create an interpersonal relationship. When they proceeded to the North, they made new relationships in the form of Douglas’, Bankole and there are also other two who run away from prostitution, known as Jill and Allie. The more they kept on with the journey, the more they could find people and make friends, even though the situations they run from are not much desirable.
Survival impacts relationships because when people with the same problem are brought together, they tend to come together to find a way of surviving. Such people will tend to do anything despite their differences to ensure that their quest for survival is successful. Butler, in the novel, suggests that people should practice pleasure despite their situation. Those people who might be in a challenging situation can practice pleasure to avoid stress. For instance, Lauren was dysfunctional, but she wanted her physical body needs to be satisfied. Intimacy and affection had a great significance in her because she did not want to stay so held by her problems. One time she met with Bankole and bought condoms because she felt there was a mutual attraction between them, and she wanted to try it so much (Butler). That shows how much survival impacts relationships because they do not care about their situation since they are poor, starving, exhausted. But despite all this, Lauren understands that she needs to make love and make her body feel great. That is why she encourages Zahra and Harr to enjoy each other and tells them that she will keep watch whenever they are enjoying.
Lauren does not have any family members to show her care, love, or support. That must have made her manage to survive on the outside dramatically without needing much help. But from chapter fourteen and on, there is a re-enactment of Oregon Trails in the current age and trust, which is regarded as one of the most significant needs for survival in the novel. The journey of Harry, Zahra, and Lauren to Canada to search for a good life is reflected by Oregon, the family members’ journey. “But think what a stab wound or a broken bone would mean out here: Disablement, slow death from infection or starvation, no medical care, nothing” (Butler 180). Zahra was speaking to Harry, and this statement depicts that there is no second chance for them if they have agreed that they are taking the journey to Canada. Lauren believed that if having to go through such hardships, one understands that this relationship is significant, and they add up the values of the situation. Harry also seems to be the weakest group because he is too good for the strangers. He wants to be open to strangers, and Lauren feels this will not be a good idea. That made her write the scripture. Chapter 11 “Any Change may bear seeds of benefit. Seek them out. Any Change may bear seeds of harm. Beware. God is infinitely malleable. God is Change” (116). Therefore, there is much as relationships impact the lives of those who are not genuine. One time Lauren decides to tell them the difference that she was anticipated for by killing one of them. Survival impacts relationships because those bonds that are created are significant because they are challenging as they were giving hope. Laren also was prepared for any possibility of whether to survive on her own or she could stay with her gospel significance.
In brief, the meaning of the events this year are made to lower the security even though they are not clearly stated. The message is not intended to show that while looking for survival, salve tactics. The main point that one should learn from the novel is that the preserve the presence of many people and the presence of a subtext suggesting in what kind should a person behave and what shall h do. At the end of the novel, Lauren summarizes the novel by giving significant insight into the memory problem. The moral lesson that one can learn from this novel is that parables are substantial in daily life, and they can help accomplish goals in giving teaching or a warning lesson.
Work Cited
Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower. Vol. 1. Open Road Media, 2012.
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