Cory is Lauren’s stepmother. She is Mexican-American, and runs the neighborhood school. Of all her children, Keith is Cory’s favorite, which Lauren finds surprising. Cory and Lauren get along well, but after Keith begins leaving the neighborhood their relationship becomes somewhat strained. Cory is kind, but more anxious and perhaps less intelligent than Lauren and her father. She likes the idea of moving to Olivar, even though Lauren’s father warns her about the danger of giving up one’s freedom to live in a corporate-owned city. Cory is killed along with her three youngest sons during the destruction of the neighborhood.
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Corazon (Cory) Olamina Character Timeline in Parable of the Sower
The timeline below shows where the character Corazon (Cory) Olamina appears in Parable of the Sower. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
On another night, while they are hanging out laundry, Lauren’s stepmother Cory tells her that due to light pollution, it didn’t use to be possible to see...
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Chapter 2
...religion (or anything else). He is the oldest of Lauren’s three brothers and the one Cory, their mother, loves best. He dreams of moving to Los Angeles one day. As the...
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Chapter 4
...they are known for being crazy. Amy mostly plays alone in the dirt. Lauren asks Cory if Amy could be allowed to start school early, offering to help look after her,...
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...she would also die. Her father always carries a gun when he leaves the neighborhood. Cory also has a gun, which she’s lent to Lauren that day. In the past people...
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Chapter 6
That night, Lauren overhears her father and Cory discussing what they will do if they catch a thief. Lauren’s father says he would...
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This causes another argument between Lauren’s father and Cory, who points out that the thieves could have easily killed someone. Lauren’s father focuses on...
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Chapter 8
...living in makeshift shacks beyond the neighborhood wall. Later, Lauren’s family discover that Keith stole Cory’s key and has left the neighborhood. Lauren’s father goes out to look for Keith, refusing...
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Chapter 9
...chapter states that “all struggles are essentially power struggles.” On Keith’s birthday, Lauren’s father and Cory give him a BB gun. Keith shoots birds, threatens to shoot Marcus, and then disappears,...
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The next day there is still no sign of Keith. Cory seems to believe that he is dead, and accuses Lauren’s father of not trying hard...
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...Lauren’s father immediately destroys the BB gun, before viciously beating Keith. Afterward, Keith cries while Cory holds him. Marcus, traumatized, asks to sleep in Lauren’s room that night. Keith disappears and...
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Chapter 10
Two days later, Cory and Lauren’s father have to go downtown to identify Keith’s body. Lauren is unable to...
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Lauren’s father asks his friend, another reverend, to handle the funeral. Cory can’t stop crying, but Lauren’s father doesn’t cry—he never has, although now Lauren wishes he...
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Chapter 11
...since Keith’s death, and Lauren notes the irony of the fact that her father and Cory have been giving money to the victims from the money Keith gave them—“stolen money to...
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Lauren’s father is dubious about the KSF scheme, but Cory says she wishes Robledo would be taken over, too. Lauren’s father points out that Robledo...
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Chapter 13
...neighborhood have never seen a working truck. One of the KSF workers is black, and Cory talks to him about Olivar. Without Reverend Olamina’s salary it is clear that the family...
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...telling each other. Lauren feels excited about this, but guilty about the prospect of leaving Cory and her brothers. She admits that she hadn’t mentioned her plan to leave because she...
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...they didn’t discover all of the money hidden in her house. However, they have taken Cory’s sewing machine, which will cause difficulty for the family. Curtis comes to the window and...
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A few days later, Lauren writes that Cory has pleaded her way into taking over part of Lauren’s father’s job at the college....
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Chapter 14
...of the night to the smell of burning; she grabs her pack and yells at Cory and the boys to run. Intruders have driven a truck through the neighborhood gate. Lauren...
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...bodies. Lauren peers at the body of a bald, green-faced woman, and another person wearing Cory’s shoes tells her to leave the body alone, saying: “She died for us.” Lauren wants...
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Outside, the garden that Cory so carefully tended has been destroyed. Lauren grabs the few vegetables she can and shakes...
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