“God is Change”: The Paths of Ethics and Religious Ideology in the Dystopias The Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler, and The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood

Abstract

The present paper aims to analyze the unfolding of ethics in the dystopian novels The Parable of the Sower (2018[1993]), by Octavia Butler, and The Year of the Flood (2011b[2009]), by Margaret Atwood, in order to understand the paths that lead subjects and society to face, in the dystopian universe, an ethical crisis due to the subjection of the individual in institutions aligned with State ideology. In the narratives, religion becomes a space of utopia for the characters of dystopia, and the respective religious institutions Earthseed and God’s Gardeners preach, through catechization, their moral ideology to embrace the faithful, taking a considerable ethical proportion in the lives of the subjects. In the novels, the organization of religions is similar to the systemic structuring of the State and its indirect administration, in which there is a central figure of divine character to be worshiped, holder of knowledge, morality, and for which every citizen works. Thus, ethics can be seen in the ideological path of institutions that aim to strengthen a status of dominance over individuals, affirming, through social dystopia, their moral foundations in the name of a utopian ideal of salvation and collective well-being, promoting the chaos of dystopia.