The New York Public Library’s “A Beginner’s Guide to Science Fiction” highlights the

important fact that “…science fiction is fiction that either explores mankind’s relationship with
technology/scientific advancements… or uses a science fiction framework to offer up social
commentary.” Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower can easily fit into either of these
categories, but for the purposes of this assignment, consider the latter: It’s not a big stretch to see
that Butler is “[offering] up social commentary” about the world she thought would exist in the
decades after this book was published. Your mission, though, is telling your audience how.

YOUR PROMPT:

Select one passage from the novel that you think offers up a salient point of
social/political commentary. Using well-curated and carefully selected research, craft an
argument about how Butler’s context of the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s influenced the inclusion of
a specific piece of social/political commentary, as well as the significance of the message to
audiences today.

THE SPECIFICS
Number of sources:
- At least three (3) reputable sources dealing with the context of the novel (~1980 to 1993).
o At least one (1) primary source.
o Items from before 1980 may be included at Mr. Nelson’s discretion (come ask me
about them before you dig too deep).
- At least one (1) dealing with today’s contexts and connections.

3 graded phases:

Individual Meeting (5pts)

- You will meet with me to discuss your plans for the process – this will be an important
opportunity for me to make sure that you’re on the right track. You will have a checklist
of things to bring to this meeting.

Proposal and Annotated Bibliography (25pts)

- The outline will look like outlines you’ve made before, and will require 1) clear, arguable
thesis statement
- We will go over how to make an Annotated Bibliography in class. To put it briefly, you
will list all of your sources in MLA format, and you will include a brief piece of writing
explaining what it says and how you will use it in your argument.

Final Draft (40pts)

 - Graded on content and writing, with points for standard compliance. Minimum 3 pages
(NOT including bibliography/works cited).

The overall spread of the essay should generally look like this:
~1 total page for intro and conclusion
~3 pages for explanation of research and how it connects text to context.

SOME THINGS TO GET YOU MOVING

You might already have the quote you want to use in mind, but no idea of how to dig
deeper into it. To help you narrow down your thinking and quote selection, here are some ideas.
This list is not prescriptive – just designed to get you moving in some direction. Each of these is
too broad on its own - in order to make a good paper topic, you’re going to need to get much
more specific!

- Climate change
- Pollution
- Economic crises
- Government de-regulation
- Distrust of gov’t. entities
- Collapse of centralized government - separation of states
- Privatization of public goods and services
- Racial divides/roles/stereotypes/conflict
- Gender divides/roles/stereotypes/conflict
- Global conflict
- Wealth inequality
- Drug abuse, drug epidemics
- Space exploration/colonization
- Corporate growth
- Labor laws
- Disease, death, modern medicine.