Post-apocalyptic Spirituality in Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower” - Meriem Chebel

Octavia E. Butler stresses the importance of spirituality in rebuilding the connection between humans and the world they live in. In the post-apocalyptic setting of Parable of the Sower, she portrays characters of different religious backgrounds. These characters share the willingness to hope even against common sense because religion is necessary in reconnecting the human with Earth and its ecosystems in a constructive rather than a destructive way. Unreligious characters are more destructive towards nature; the reason does not lie in the writer’s belief that religious people are superior in understanding. Religion simply helps overcome the climate trauma experienced after the “cultural war” that destroys America. Overcoming climate trauma and having a sense of spiritual fulfilment that comes from the belief that there is an afterlife select religious believers as better survivors in the community. However, the religion that is celebrated in the novel by the main protagonist is called Earthseed, and it is different from other established religions. Earthseed shares with other religions the belief that humans change and thrive through adversity, yet the change does not affect humans only; God also changes in the same way nature does, which explains the name given to the new religion.