Graduation Date

Fall 2024

Document Type

Project

Program

Master of Arts degree with a major in English, emphasis in Applied English Studies

Committee Chair Name

Renée Byrd

Committee Chair Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Second Committee Member Name

Andrea Delgado

Second Committee Member Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Keywords

Parable of the Sower, Speculative Fiction, Digital Humanities, Mapping, Climate Change, Environment, Octavia Butler, Geography, Movement, Change

Subject Categories

English

Abstract

In this project I take a digital mapping approach to reading and analyzing Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. A lot has been said about this novel’s relevance to our own world, and the ways it forces us to think about possible futures. To contribute to the conversations surrounding this novel, I add a digital humanities element to the conversation in order to see what digital mapping has to offer in the way of literary analysis and connecting this novel to our own world. Since the novel is so focused on movement and change, I mapped out the movement of the characters from Southern California to Northern California, environmental and health crises in the rest of the country, the wildfires that the characters encounter as they move north, and Lauren’s disability hyperempathy. This project explores how creating digital elements of a novel, like mapping, helps with our understanding and interpretation of a text and how carving out space and place in a physical way can help add a layer of analysis. My goal for these maps is to build a connection between the novel and our real world, proposing a dire need for change in our own world as it starts to look more and more similar to the novel.

Citation Style

MLA

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