Past Morality (Ch. 5-8)

 After the thieves come into Laura's community, her father begins a neighborhood watch. Corey is uncomfortable with the idea - she doesn't want anybody to be shot, even thieves, and argues that "thou shalt not kill" means that the watch is sinful because they may have to kill invaders. Laura's father responds to this by citing a bible verse that discusses fighting to protect your homes and families. I thought this scene was somewhat strange - isn't their society a little beyond morally justifying your actions? I think the world of Sower, as far as we can tell, is so anarchic that there's a kill-or-be-killed feeling that permeates the book. Since the dawn of living things, trees or wolves or people all have had to fight others for scarce resources, and the more powerful one wins the right to survive. It's a testament to human society (and I suppose to other society-forming animals as well) that this isn't ok anymore, and that we've been able to create moral codes to live by, but in Parable of the Sower I think that Laura's society has fallen apart to the point where it's so dangerous that they have to return to the eat-or-be-eaten lifestyles of every other animal, moral codes or no.