50 pages • 1 hour read
Octavia E. ButlerParable of the Talents
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Lauren Oya Olamina
Lauren Olamina is the novel’s protagonist and narrates significant text sections via her journals and writings. Lauren’s actions propel much of the plot, as she develops the community of Acorn, helps her followers survive imprisonment and enslavement, and then spreads the teachings of Earthseed and ultimately achieves the goal of sending community members to space. Lauren is Black, and during the main plot narrative spanning the period between 2032 and 2035, she is a young woman. Her race, gender, and age make her vulnerable, but Lauren also has several advantages that help her to succeed and thrive as not only an individual but also the leader of a community.
She is extremely intelligent and articulate and is also charismatic and good at influencing and persuading people; Len observes that “You’re good at talking to people […]. They like you. Hell, they trust you” (358). Lauren is pragmatic, goal-oriented, and calm during moments of crisis, all of which are extremely valuable traits for someone living in the context of violence and upheaval. Physically, it is noted several times that Lauren is tall and strong, which allows her to physically defend herself when necessary, perform manual labor, and also disguise herself as a man at times when assuming a different gender can help her to stay safe: “I’m big and plain. That’s good camouflage, at least” (295).
Lauren experiences hyperempathy syndrome, which means that she feels the physical pain and pleasure experienced by other individuals around her. This character trait leads Lauren to be community-oriented and disinclined towards violence because she literally shares in the experiences of other people around her: “We suffer no matter who gets hurt” (25). Individuals sometimes commit atrocities because they dehumanize the victims of their actions, and Lauren never has the option to do so, as she feels the pain of others as if it were her own. Lauren’s experience with hyperempathy syndrome, as well as the many traumas she endures, lead her to train herself to conceal her inner suffering and maintain a calm and even cold façade. This characterization helps Lauren to care for her community of Earthseed followers and to emerge as a strong and competent leader, but it damages her ability to maintain personal relationships. Characters such as Marcus and especially Larkin misread Lauren as cold and uncaring, leading them to turn their backs on her. As Larkin states, “she never really needed us, so we didn’t let ourselves need her” (403).
Throughout the novel, Lauren experiences a gendered conflict between her roles as a partner and mother and her role as a thinker and leader. Lauren’s portrayal creates an ambiguous impression of a woman whose conviction and ambition allowed her to achieve audacious goals but who also paid a tremendous price for her accomplishments. Bankole supports and admires Lauren, but he believes that she should put him and their child ahead of her plans for Earthseed. Larkin is also extremely critical of her mother because she believes that Lauren was a bad parent who did not prioritize taking care of her child or finding her. Readers do not get a full portrait of Lauren’s development as a character because the narrative cuts off in 2035 and does not describe her feelings and experiences as Earthseed grows and as she grapples with not finding her daughter. At some point, Lauren does seem to accept the loss of her child and channels all of her focus into developing her religion. At the end of the novel, Lauren experiences a sense of peace and fulfillment because she sees her ultimate goal achieved before the end of her lifetime: “I have not given them heaven, but I’ve helped them to give themselves the heavens” (403).
Larkin Olamina/Asha Vere Alexander
Larkin is a secondary protagonist who also narrates significant portions of the novel. Larkin is parallel to the reader because she learns about her mother mostly by reading her mother’s writings and does not have much first-hand knowledge of interacting with Lauren. Larkin is a biased and unreliable narrator because she has strong emotions of abandonment and resentment towards her mother, complaining that “she sacrificed us for an idea” (136). Larkin’s professions as a scholar of history and a writer of Dreamask scenarios are important aspects of her character because they show that she is intelligent, creative, and interested in storytelling, imagination, and preserving a connection to the past. These traits reflect many values important to Lauren and to Earthseed, suggesting that a genetic component may have been passed to Larkin, even though she never knew her biological parents.
As a child, Larkin often feels lonely and disconnected because she does not have a good relationship with her adoptive family and feels like an outsider. This loneliness makes her vulnerable because when she meets Marcus, she latches onto him without thinking critically about the beliefs he holds, just grateful that “all of a sudden, I had a family” (352). Larkin has a strong physical resemblance to her mother and, like her mother, is tall and striking with a powerful voice. These physical traits symbolically reinforce a bond and similarity between the two women even though they may feel disconnected and heighten Larkin’s experience of feeling like an outsider within her adopted community and wanting to “hide, vanish, make myself invisible” (263). During the story, Larkin experiences a kind of reverse development, going from a curious and free-thinking child and adolescent to a rigid and cold woman who is not open to perspectives different from her own.
Taylor Franklin Bankole
Bankole is an important secondary character and the romantic interest for Lauren. Bankole is a tall, handsome Black man who is significantly older than Lauren; he frequently thinks about and comments on this age difference, commenting that “I’m an old man, girl. I don’t kid myself about that” (40). Bankole’s profession as a doctor is very important to both the plot and his characterization. Because he is a doctor, Bankole can keep the Acorn community safe and healthy, and he also receives several job offers to move to nearby towns. His profession also reveals that Bankole is intelligent, caring, and interested in helping others, which shows why he is a good match for Lauren. Despite their age difference, the two share common values and goals. Bankole is also very happy to become a father and loves his daughter very much; after Larkin is born, Lauren comments, “I’m not sure he even realizes how much of the time over the past couple of days that he’s been smiling” (171). Because Bankole dies suddenly in the middle of the novel, he experiences limited development as a character and remains largely static.
Marcus “Marc” Duran
Marcus functions as a foil character to highlight contrasts between himself and his sister, Lauren Olamina. The contrast works particularly well because Marcus and Lauren grew up in the same household, were exposed to the same influences, and then have parallel experiences when they both spend time enslaved and tortured. The two characters respond extremely differently; Marcus becomes obsessed with systems, discipline, and structure. Larkin explains, “His gods were order, stability, safety, and control” (109). These values leave Marcus eager to embrace the teachings of Jarret and Christian America. Additionally, unlike Lauren, Marcus has a strong ego and need for recognition, power, and authority: “to have his own turf where he was the one who said yes or no, and where everyone respected him” (150). These character traits lead him to establish a style of leadership that is very different from Lauren’s. Finally, Marcus is characterized as extremely handsome, which makes him a persuasive and compelling individual, and impacts his ability to succeed and become influential: “He was so good-looking, and a beautiful person, male or female, can get away with saying and doing things that would destroy a plainer one” (307).
Related Titles
By Octavia E. Butler
