World Building as Extrapolation in Parable of the Sower
Example Assignment: Grade 12 University English (ENG 4U)
Octavia E. Butler in Parable of the Sower tells the story of a near-future California devastated by political and economic turmoil. Told through journal entries by a 15-year-old girl named Lauren who lives in a walled community, the reader is given a first-person account of a dystopian world that has clear connections to the reader’s contemporaneous society. Lauren, through her journal entries, discusses various causes for the breakdown of her society but, although the novel takes place in the relatively near future, her version of North America seems superficially detached from many conceptions of daily life. This lesson involves looking at major issues presented in Parable of the Sower (i.e water shortages, rampant violence, economic inequality), and linking these issues with potential causes in contemporary life. While SF is not purely predictive, SF authors extrapolate from their contemporaneous moment to create their future worlds. This project would be an exercise both in understanding the way SF authors create their futures, and would also work to show students consequence of present action which is explicitly presented in dystopian works. Students world be asked to choose any issue that plagues Lauren’s society, and consider how contemporary issues could make the world Butler presents a reality. With an emphasis on discussion, the primary objective here would be to illustrate how SF texts can provide warnings for the reader. Read with a critical eye on the present, texts such as Parable of the Sower emotionally engage the reader, making the urgency of their messages that much more explicit.
Anticipated Time Requirement: While this activity involves discussing findings, which would require 3 class periods including informal research, an essay or presentation assignment could use the same approach. Students must be able to draw connections between the future in SF texts and their own worlds to fully appreciate the critical potential SF works have to promote political and social awareness. A summative assignment would allow students to work more closely on specific issues which reflect their own personal interests.
Expectations Addressed in this Lesson:
Reading and Literature Studies, Overall Expectations:
| 1. Reading For Meaning: read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of literary, informational, and graphic texts, using a range of strategies to construct meaning; 2. Understanding Form and Style: recognize a variety of text forms, text features, and stylistic elements and demonstrate understanding of how they help communicate meaning. |
Writing, Overall Expectations:
| 1. Developing and Organizing Content: generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience. |
Or
Oral Communication, Overall Expectations:
| 1. Listening to Understanding: listening in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes; 2. Speaking to Communicate: use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. |
Works Cited
Butler, O. E. (1993). Parable of the Sower. New York: Warner.
Ontario Ministry of Education. (2007). The Ontario Curriculum Grades 11 and 12: English.
Retrieved from https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/
english1112currb.pdf
