Utopia vs. Youtopia

     At this point in PotS, the it seems as if everything is going wrong. Thieves are breaking in, people are dying on a daily basis, and natural disasters are raging over the world. Lauren has coped with this be creating her very own religion: Earthseed. It's not exactly clear what she intends to do with this religion, but it seems like she wants to run away and start her own society, and somehow make it to space. However, this brings up a few questions.

    The entire community acts as one, and anytime something goes bad for one family, all the others deal with the consequences. However, those same ties mean that whenever something needs to happen, the entire town can deal with it. They have this very strong bond with each other, and it is shown time and time again that they are all in this together. In addition, Lauren herself appears to be a very important part of the community, being someone who has very radical and informative thoughts. And as the daughter of the head preacher, she is the one that needs to help lead. With her choice to leave the community, she'd be putting herself in danger, as well as everyone else she lives with. Her absence would directly impact everyone else in her area, which would make it a lot harder to survive.

    While the world they are living in is clearly not a friendly or enjoyable one, it's the only one they have, and I feel that having Lauren leave would only prove to be detrimental to the community.

Comments

  1. L. MoffittApril 12, 2021 at 7:18 AM

    Everything is going wrong -- yes! This book is SO grim at times (many times, actually). But your assessment of Lauren is spot-on as well -- interesting that she creates her own way to cope in the form of the Earthseed religion.

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