THE FALLING OF THE RACIAL, ECONOMIC, SEXIST-GENDERED SEGREGATING WALL IN OCTAVIA BUTLER’S PARABLES

Abstract

In this article I will apply Daphne Hampson’s Post-Biblical Perspective to investigate the metaphor of wall as the reflection of a humanist perspective in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower (2007a) and Parable of the Talents (2007b). This is done through focusing on the struggle of a black female reformer who, by introducing a religion called Earthseed, challenges the humanist understanding in the novels. This humanism is illustrated through focusing on the role of Christianity as a religious discourse that prioritizes certain sociocultural concepts and aspects. Introducing Earthseed, the protagonist develops a posthumanist perspective that is symbolized through the falling of the wall in the novels and offers new understanding of the sociocultural concepts and aspects away from the hierarchical order. Considering the novels as science fictions of neo-slavery, in this paper I discuss slavery as an encompassing concept of humanist understanding which gradual disappearance, along with the falling of the wall, signifies the emergence of posthumanist understanding in the novels. The aim of this paper is to explore Butler’s success in illustrating different aspects of this posthumanist understanding.