Blog #22, Fiction Blog #4

Lauren is the narrator to Parable of the Sower. We follow her throughout her experience trying to survive in the horrible world she lives in. I think it is a good thing that we are getting the story right from her. We are able to get all of her thoughts and everything she is feeling right from her. I think what is more important in this book are her thoughts rather than the actions going on around her. The actions going on around her are happening just so we can get more of an idea of who she is as a person. In the book there is a situation where she saved a family's water supply from being taken by robbers. She said she did it mostly because they had a baby. Later, after she saw that family following them around and she offered the family to stay with them as they all went up north. This really showed how she felt toward other people. She tries to see the good in other people.

Blog #23, Discussion Questions Week 4

I feel I learned more about emotions and the feelings of others in this book. Lauren had hyperempathy so she could feel what other people were feeling physically but on the inside she felt a certain way about life and religion that no one else really could share with her. At points she also had a hard time understanding why other people thought the way that they did. She spent a lot of time thinking about the way people think about things. She even went against her dad's way of thinking and came up with her own religion. She was trying to understand why other people did what they did. So a big part of this book to me was about being able to understand other people's way of thinking. Just because someone may think a little differently does not mean their way of thinking is wrong. I think you need to be able to open your mind first and know your way of thinking is not the only way.

What kind of meaning do you think the author is trying to show through the book?

What did you get away from what Lauren was talking about in her journal?

Blog #23, Discussion Questions Week 4

The title Parable of the Sower was a mystery to me at first as to what it meant or what it had to do with the book itself at all. I was wondering why they did not name the book earthseed because that was the title of her journal or her religion. I thought earthseed was what we were reading directly until i had gotten more into the book. I went into some research about what the title could mean and I found that saying was linked with religion and the bible. However I did not think that was a strong enough connection to the book, just relating to religion. So I looked up synonyms of the words and what they really meant in simpler terms. It turned out that it meant the story of the person who plants seeds and I thought that fit much better than earthseed would have. Parable means the story of and this book is the story of Lauren on her journey. Sower means a person who plants seeds which is a good description of Lauren in a way. Lauren is the person who plants seeds but the seeds in this case are ideas she has and she is planting them in other people.

Blog #23, Discussion Questions Week 4

If I was able to bring Lauren to school or to my home for a day she may feel very relieved, but at the same time she would be on edge the whole time. Lauren is living a very stressed life because she has next to nothing in comparison to what I live with and take for granted every day. In my world there is crime that happens similar to what happens around Lauren. It does not however happen at such an extreme rate. Unlike Lauren it is not happening all around me and I do not have to be worried about it all of the time. Also people do not have to pay the police upfront for solving a crime so there are less criminals here. So I think if I brought her to school or my home she would always feel a little on edge. She may wonder why there is not a wall around where I live protecting me at all times or she may think I'm a little crazy for going where ever I feel like without fear of being killed or robbed. She would be happy though that I am able to go to school everyday to get a real education instead of learning martial arts or how to use a gun.

Book Discussion Prep: Week #3

I think the epigrams opening each of the chapters is a great idea for this kind of book. The epigrams let us a little bit into what Lauren is thinking about just before the chapter by giving us small clues. They are very short sentences, sometimes one word or two words. The are very vague by themselves, but when they are in with the story they are specific to what she is talking about. For example, if something is going to dramatically change she will usually end the epigrams with "God is Change" because that is how she copes with all of the consent change. Most of the time she is stuck with her own thoughts and her only way to express herself and get her thoughts out is writing. I think writing is a good exercise for organizing your thoughts.  It helps to put them down so you can kind of see what direction they are going in.  I think for this story they help Lauren to just express what she is feeling. She doesn’t have anyone she can really talk to or trust and it helps her so that she doesn’t need to keep it bottled inside.  She is also starting her own religion so I think for documentation purposes it’s important that she writes down her thoughts and feelings. That is why she is writing Earthseed. She says that's the only thing she can do.

How do you feel about Keith when it comes to what he did to his family?

Why do the boys need to prove themselves to be men?

Do you think Lauren will make it by herself?

Blog #20 - Fiction Journal: Week #3

It has been hard to tell what is going to happen because just as I think one thing is going to happen the story has a new twist or turn and takes a whole new path. Some characters have been leaving and others have been dying. One character, Keith started to come around then he died. The father just disappeared without a trace. One family left to live somewhere else in the hopes of making more money so they wouldn't be homeless and poor. The community Lauren once lived in is changing very fast. She thought that the community or her world she lived in was going to come down all at once but it is coming apart very slowly. I think this is going to cause internal problems for Lauren. She already wants to leave the community to find some place better and I think these little things will hit her all at once and push her over the edge to leave. She is ready to go and I think she has the mind set to leave. I don't know is she will have a plan for when she leaves. This seems to frighten her the most and is what is holding her back and keeping her from leaving. I know she will leave at some point i'm just not sure what will push her. After she gets out I'm not sure if she'll be with other people or by herself but she will be scared at first it will be hard but she will find some way to survive. Once she begins to get on her feet she will start to teach other people. While she is doing that she will be telling people about what she believes in. Teaching them about Earthseed.