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How Could This Really Happen? Climate Change.

I think that the ecological disaster that sparked the Parable dystopian world is much more likely than the previous two books. Especially in America because there is a fear of the government being too powerful that a lot of people have. We have an entire political party that has a focus on lessening government control so I don’t think we are likely to end up in a dystopian world with a strict, overly powerful government and no freedoms. Whereas an ecological crisis and economic crisis that occurs because people aren't prepared is much more likely. We have known about the consequences of climate change for a very long time and we have been watching natural disasters get worse and worse. Last year had the most recorded hurricanes ever and there were huge fires across the world. I don’t think that there is likely to be one big event that leads to the downfall of civilization but  a lot of little things that get ignored but continue to build on top of one another could. If climate chan...
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Main Difference with 1984 and BNW

 BNW and 1984 both have oppressive governments that control everything or try to control everything the citizens do. Parable seems to have the opposite issue. There is no order to life. Whatever power people have they misuse which is true in the other books as well but in this book it’s on a slightly smaller scale. The most similar power structure to 1984 and BNW that I can see is towns like Olivar that create a very strict hierarchical society. It’s interesting how different this book is. They’re basically opposites, the other two are strict built up societies whereas Parable everything is crumbling and yet they all fit under the same genre of book. Do you think the differences between these books means that they fit in different genres or maybe that the genre of dystopian is too broad?
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How will the book end?

I have no idea how the book is going to end. I have a feeling it’s not going to be a very satisfying ending, I think we will be left with a lot of questions as to what is going to happen with the characters after the end of the book. I don’t think the book will end with them finding a better life in the north, though they may make it to the north, I’m just not convinced farther up north is actually going to be any better. I think it is more likely to end with Lauren having built a solid religion/community around her religion than them finding a new home. Although it is possible that both could be accomplished, I just think that would be a weirdly happy ending for such a dark book. What do you think? Will there be a happy ending of sorts or not at all? Could the story end with them all dying?
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The Future of Lauren's Religion

 Lauren has shown people her book. She’s no longer the only one who’s aware of what she’s created. I think on their trip north Lauren will end up amassing a following. People she runs into on the same path as her. Looking for the same new beginning. This is how her religion grows. Due to the lack of paper and other resources I think the Earthseed verses are going to travel mostly by word of mouth. Also we know that a lot of people are probably illiterate so written text wouldn’t mean much to them. I think spreading the religion through speech could cause a few things to happen. One, it will get much further, the more people talk about it the more people know of it and spread it even further. Two, it will change. If there’s only one written version or even only a few written versions, the spoken version, the version that will spread further and faster, will change as it moves away from Lauren. I think this is really interesting because Lauren’s idea of “God is Change” fits perfectly...
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Olivar

 I think that Olivar is a bad idea. It gives too much power to the people who own the town who will likely abuse that power. It reminds me of the company towns that used to exist in America such as the Pullman company town. The Pullman company had complete control over everything that happened in the town. They could raise the rent and store prices whenever they wanted, they controlled what books were put in the library and could evict people without notice or reason. They also had complete control over wages as everyone in the town worked for Pullman. The town of Olivar sounds exactly like the Pullman town, meaning that the residents will end up with the short side of the stick, they won’t have any power and they will be abused by the system. Add in the armed guards that patrol Olivar and the even higher stakes and nobody will have a way to escape the town when things get bad. There is no way that this town will go well for the residents. What do you guys think? Is there any way t...
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Should Lauren Scare People?

 I think the idea of teaching people rather than scaring them is a common idea in our world as well and while I realize the issues with scaring people I don’t think that Lauren was out of place with what she said. I understand that scaring people may not be the best way to go about it but that future that Lauren was talking about  and that life is their reality and if that reality is as bad as it is it should scare people. Lauren didn’t make up a fantastical story meant to scare people into fleeing, she shared what seems to me, to be a very possible future for the people in the neighborhood. I think if she had made something up with the intent on scaring people it would be very different but when people ignore reality because it’s scary, that’s not helping anyone.  Lauren isn’t scaring people, the reality of the future is. Maybe it’s enough to educate people on ways to survive that future without telling them that’s what’s happening but I think in the long run that could ...
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Thoughts on Lauren and the first ~65 pages

  I think that Lauren is a very refreshing protagonist. She’s very different from the other characters we’ve seen so far in 1984 and BNW. She wants change but she also is aware of the state of the world and how difficult it will be to survive. I think the difference between her and Winston comes down to the fact that Winston wanted change because he had nothing to lose whereas Lauren wants change because she knows that it’s needed and that it's going to happen one way or another so you should be prepared for it,  and because she believes there’s a chance at a different future. While Lauren’s life isn’t perfect, she’s not rich, her community does struggle, she still has a community, she has family and friends who all care about each other, at least to some extent. I think the humanity that remains in this book is integral to the difference between this story and the previous ones. In this story humanity is struggling but it’s foundations still exist, people can love which was s...
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