As I began reading “Parable of the Sower” I was blown away by the foreshadowing Octavia Butler did in her depiction of Los Angeles and Southern California. The novel was written a year before the LA riots broke out yet it depicts a landscape that could have truly happened had the pressure cooker known as LA had continued to boil. The descriptions of a failing economy companied by rampant drug use is precisely what was occurring at the time that the novel was written. The LA riots, although violent and tragic, were a way for African Americans to relieve the stress they had been living with for so long and also a means to cry for help from the rest of the world. However, had the riots not happened, that tension could have very well continued to build while new and more innovative drugs were created thus leading to a world very similar to Butlers.

thoughts on "Nova"

                A nova is a destructive explosion of an entire sun which in turn, while being extremely destructive, results in the creation of new elements or space. On page 24 Captain Lorq Von Ray says, “Where we’re going all law has broken down.” To which Katin asks, “Which law do you mean? Man’s or the natural laws of physics, psychic, and chemistry?” and Captain Lorq Von Ray answers with, “All of them.”  I believe the title, “Nova” symbolizes the destruction that the race for the nova creates while Captain Lorq Von Ray’s intent is in order to create something new. He wants to change the current order of things a make it better, or new. The word nova has a Latin origin in novum which happens to mean “something new”.

                Captain Von Ray wants to destroy the reign of Prince Red and his family along with the era of the earth-centered Draco’s control. Through his destruction he seeks to bring about a new era in which Pleiades is in economic control and new ideas can become reality. In this case, the nova serves as an source for new opportunities, hopefully better ones.

                Also in the process of becoming something new are the “Outer Colonies”. These, I think, are very much a metaphor for the “New World” of our own colonial era. While the Outer Colonies do already have inhabitants there is a desire to make them better and benefit from the resources they have to offer. The Outer Colonies are a chance to create a better more fruitful world.

                Another definition for nova that we discussed in class was that of its relation to the word “novel”. Novel can mean a new and interesting idea such as the idea to use illyriom as a fuel because of its power. However, one of the characters, Katin, has an intention of writing an actual novel. At the time that the story takes place the novel form is pretty much obsolete yet Katin wants very much to write one. Unfortunately he has no idea what the subject of his novel should be despite hundreds of thousands of words he has dictated into his recorder about what his novel should do and achieve.

                The title, “Nova” is more than a title. It represents the influx of new ideas and new changes encircling the world of the characters. The actual act of a nova, with its destructive explosion that turns into something new, represents the destruction that must occur in the novel in order for Captain Von Ray to achieve the goals he wants to achieve so badly.