In Parable of the Sower we follow the journey of a young woman, Lauren as she travels through a post apocalyptic United states, more specifically the west coast. Lauren is an anomaly in the human population, or so she thought, she has a disease called hyperempathy which allows her to share the pain and pleasures of others. Lauren is forced to embark on a journey to spread her “Earthseed”, a religion that she has developed, symbolizing change and the constant battle people face when expecting that change. Through her travels she’s forced to inflict that change she’s grown so comfortable with, meeting new faces and sharing their ups and downs.
Parable of the Sower reflects the financial crisis in a few different ways, not only by the terms we discuss in class, also showing what a glimpse into what could have been if things kept getting worse. The book is set in a time where common goods are scarce and have been inflated beyond proportion, like water for example some people not even being able to afford it in the book. Housing has become almost impossible with the amount of crime we see, constant robbing, burning of homes, and just murder. Expulsion, defined as the action of depriving someone of membership in an organization or forcing someone to leave a place. Expulsion is a term that is never really explicitly stated in any of the books we have read over the semester but it plays a prominent role in all of them, Parable of the sower isn’t an exception. The book begins with the community that Lauren and her family live in, a walled neighborhood that offers them the most protection they will get in the world they live in. We watch as that protection and little bit of humanity that those people have is taken away without remorse, you could almost say for fun. Lauren is thrown into the streets and has to fend for herself/the group she is with. I believe expulsion in the terms of the financial crisis and Laurens situation are more similar than anything we covered. We get to see through the eyes of Lauren what being expelled is like and the harsh reality of it. I think besides some very exaggerated details, heer experience is much different then what the actual people would have experienced during the financial crisis. The lack of regulation, crime, and the utter desperateness of people when put into a time of crisis all mirror each other in the book and reality. Laruen is very intelligent for her age and that is picked up on multiple times in the book, at her young age she had such a deep understanding of religion, helped by the fact her dad was a pastor. She developed a religion she followed strongly throughout the book, earthseed and the idea that, “God is Change.” pg 25. Change is exactly what I think of when seeing the term of expulsion, being expelled is defined as depriving someone of membership, changing where they once thought they were welcomed, changing things they thought they believed, and things they thought they knew. This is no different in Parable of the Sower Lauren brings up a lot of change in the book, this quote actually becomes one of her responses to certain situations. I see it as a way for Lauren to combat the change she’s facing, allowing her to accept it for what it is and then move forward. Another term I thought was worth mentioning is Trust, the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. Trust is a comforting feeling, trusting in your house to protect you from intruders, storms, etc. It helps you feel a sense of security with a partner or people, knowing that you can trust them. In Parable of the Sower trust plays a role in keeping Laurens community safe, all the families trusted each other to protect everyone. This also holds true in the small group that forms between Lauren and the fellow travelers she meets, they all need trust not just to form connections with each other but to survive as well. Trust has the same values across multiple situations and that stands true for the housing crisis. The trust that homeowners put into the hands of these companies is no different from the trust Lauren had in Bankole to protect her and keep her safe, or the gun she carried to shoot the bullets loaded in the chamber. As we know with both situations that trust fell through and they were both unprotected from the hard reality of the housing market and the post apocalyptic streets on california. I’d like to compare the differences between these two types of trust, in one case you have people acting in bad faith for personal gain and in the other hand you have good faith actors who really do trust and rely on each other for protection, and that protection works. These financers only cared for what would happen to them, pulling the rug out from under their clients feet and banking off that success. The homeowners who thought they could trust these people were shown the harsh reality of what trusting the wrong people can do and they lost everything. Now, Laurens situation is different but her trust in others is the same as the homeowners. Laurens ability to read others played a key role in her ability to so freely give her trust to others in certain situations. She trusted herself enough to trust in what she saw in others and that’s why her bonds with the group were so strong and why her trust in them was even stronger. Bankole says, “We all have to trust each other. We won’t make it otherwise” pg 188, and that’s true they won’t make it if their trust is lacking in each other, this isn’t just about the book. Trust is what keeps people together, it keeps us alive and that is what Bankole is stating in this quote. To form this community, to create earthseed, they need trust not only to live but to know that if something happens they will continue to grow and survive. Bankole was a character introduced late in the book, a love interest from Lauren, but a source of stability for everyone else in the group. Bankole was trusted by everyone because he told the truth, he did what he needed to survive and kept the group safe. Their trust in him and his trust in them helped the group run like a machine, fending off threats when needed. This is the type of relationship that the homeowners during the crisis had in their financiers but it was a two way system only one way and that lack of honesty and trust is what led to their downfall. Throughout the semester we were asked to connect certain ideas, concepts, and vocabulary to the texts we were reading. Expulsion is in the title of the course and plays such an important role in all the books and articles we read. All from expulsion we connect terms like trust, good/bad faith, and countless others to the things we deal with daily and it’s no different for the characters we read about. These words help us to connect not only the housing crisis but our thoughts and ideas too.
Why does reflection matter for us students, while it changes bad habits. Reflection is defined as serious thought or consideration. It is a time to deepen our understanding of not just our learning but ourselves as well, we can see our strengths and weaknesses, build confidence in our work, and it forces us to take ownership in our learning. Reflection not just on work but on yourself is beneficial for growth. Breaking the pattern of doing the same thing, creating another path. Geneseo’s emphasis on personal and intellectual growth lines up with the idea of reflecting on the ever changing state of curriculum in today’s world. This practice in reflection helps to prepare us for the future, encouraging us to grow and adapt a mindset essential for success. Reflection on personal growth enhances our appreciation for our work and perspectives of others. My biggest takeaway from this class was the importance of other perspectives. Hearing the thoughts and ideas of others was so beneficial for my growth in writing and reading this semester. I found myself stopping while reading all the time, trying to break down what I’m reading and sifting through the words to try and piece together an opinion and understanding of the texts. Not only did my understanding for the books and writing deepen but my enjoyment of reading and writing also grew. Reading became less of a chore and turned into something I looked forward to doing. Reflection allows you to see your work in another perspective, changing your thinking or strengthening it.