Parable of the Sower

In this lawless and cutthroat world, fire is a real danger. It is always in the background, waiting to destroy. The “pyros” in this world use a drug that makes setting fires feel more euphoric than sex, and these people wield fire as a weapon to hurt others, gain their belongings, and rape them. It is fire that upends Lauren’s world, killing her family and most of her community. As Lauren and her companions travel through northern California, they know that lighting campfires is dangerous because it’ll attract dangerous people. They also know that fires in the distance mean more destroyed communities. Some of their fellow travelers will head for those fires, to see what they can gain, but Lauren knows doing that may just get them into trouble: “One small fire was the weakness that gave scavengers permission to devastate the community—which they were no doubt doing now” (234).

At the end of the story, paints and pyros take revenge by setting fires along the highway, and the Earthseed group barely makes it through. When they finally make it to a destination, Bankole’s property, fire has destroyed his family as well. While fire often only means destruction, death, and uncontrolled wildness in this world, it does start Lauren on her journey, and it brings Lauren’s group together, as when they rescue Allie and Jill from a burned house.