Parable of the Sower

Lauren, the main character, is an African-American teenage girl living in a bleak, dystopian environment. At the time the story begins, she is 15 years old. When it ends, she is 18. She has one unusual trait, which is that of hyperempathy; she can feel the same thing others feel, and if the pain is bad enough, it can incapacitate her for a time, weakening her in a very physical way. She grew up a minister’s child but has developed her own view of the world and a personal philosophy that helps her survive. Her personal mantra is “God is Change” (13), and she believes for the first part of the book that she will leave her safe community and set forth to find her own path. She has prepared for it, as much as possible. However, the way that happens is not as she would have intended. As she finally sets out on her own, with allies she hopes will become part of her new community, she becomes a leader both of thought and action. In a world so devastated and desperate, there’s not much hope available—but she offers it because she believes in herself and her Earthseed.