The Parable of the Sower: gender issues in the dystopic work of Octavia Butler

Abstract

This article seeks to investigate in the dystopian novel The Parable of the Sower, by the African-American author Octavia Butler, questions concerning gender observed in the book, that is, considerations about the space that the study of gender finds in the literature. It is noteworthy that this was the first book of the Earthseed duology, having its first publication in 1993, although it began to be translated in Brazil many years later. In this way, through the exposition of selected excerpts in the aforementioned work, studies on gender inequality will also be seen. Therefore, we will discuss, here, on the following subjects: the different visions of the roles to be played by men and women in society and power and dominance relationships between the first and the second, as well as reflections on masculinities, female protagonism and gender violence. For this, the concepts proposed by authors such as Butler (2003), Oliveira (1998), Gomes (2016), among other researchers who deal with gender studies in the literature, will be considered.