Parable of the Talents

Lauren earns some money in the settlement by teaching people how to read and write and making sketches of their loved ones for them. Going by the name of Cory Duran, she integrates into the community, even though many people there are loyal to Jarret. By chance, she meets Justin, a young boy who had been part of the Acorn community. Like the other children, Justin was taken away and adopted, but after being abused by his adoptive parents, he ran away. He ended up at Georgetown trying to make his way back to Acorn. Justin cannot tell them where the other children were taken, but he explains that their names were always changed. Lauren is more afraid than ever because Larkin was only a tiny infant when she was taken. An older child like Justin would remember his original name and family, but Larkin will not. She will also have grown and changed, and Lauren confronts the fact that she might not even recognize her daughter if she did encounter her. Over time in Georgetown, the members of the Acorn community move on, severing Lauren’s last ties to her past. 

Larkin reflects bitterly that while she believes her mother looked for her and would have taken her back if she could have found her, she also thinks that Lauren always cared more about Earthseed than about her child. The narrative shifts back to Lauren’s story. In April 2035, she leaves Georgetown and sets off with two goals: finding Larkin and spreading the teachings of Earthseed to as many people as possible. Because Lauren is traveling alone, she disguises herself as a man for safety. She plans to travel around, earning room and board through teaching and manual labor.

Lauren’s plan initially goes well. Because she does not have a permanent place to stay, several people suggest she go to the Christian America community center, where they offer food and shelter to people in need. Lauren is terrified of someone there recognizing her but realizes that she might learn useful information about what happened to her daughter in such a place. She begins to go there for meals, even though “it was like making myself step into a big nest of rattlesnakes” (299).

On Lauren’s third visit to the community center, she is astonished to see her brother Marc preaching a sermon. Lauren has not seen Marc since he rejected the teachings of Earthseed and angrily left Acorn. She sends him a coded note asking him to meet with her without revealing who she is.

The narrative includes a short excerpt of writing by Marcus, explaining that he has always had a passion for religion and preaching. Marcus saw that religion was very vulnerable unless allied with and protected by the government, so he respected and admired Jarret for bringing together church and state. The narrative shifts to Larkin’s perspective, and she shares that she loved her uncle because he was very handsome and charismatic.

The narrative switches back to Lauren’s story. Marcus comes to the meeting and is astonished to see Lauren. She immediately tells him that she needs his help getting her daughter back and tells him about all the atrocities at Camp Christian. Marcus is stunned and confused and denies that any of this could occur. He has heard about reeducation camps but thinks that they are only for criminals to help them turn their lives around. Lauren insists that she was enslaved, and when she tells Marcus that she killed people to escape, he hits her and walks off.

A few days later, Lauren returns to the Center, and when she asks about Marcus, she is told that he had abruptly left to go and preach in Portland, Oregon. As Lauren leaves the Center, another staff member slips her a note that Marcus has left for her. Marcus apologizes for hitting her and says that he has figured out what she was talking about: a violent and fanatical splinter group known as “Jarret’s Crusaders” takes part in these activities, but Christian America does not condone them. Marcus explains that he has no way to help Lauren find her daughter, but he suggests that she join Christian America to have a chance to locate her. Marcus argues that “your cult has failed. Your god of change couldn’t save you” (320-21), thereby continuing his pattern of undermining Earthseed.

On her way back to where she is staying, Lauren is attacked by two men and kills them in self-defense. Worried about being caught for this act and still hoping that Marcus can somehow help her reunite with her daughter, Lauren decides to head to Portland. 

Larkin recollects how, when she was bored as a child, she imagined different scenarios for Dreamasks and wrote them down. As she grows older, Larkin hears whispers and rumors about her birth mother and feels more and more ostracized from the Christian American community. Combined with her unhappy homelife, she becomes angry and volatile, and when she is 15, she gets in a fight with a classmate. Meanwhile, her adopted father continues to abuse her sexually.

The narrative shifts to Lauren. Back in Georgetown, to prepare for her journey to Oregon, a friend warns Lauren that she might never find Larkin and that she should try to accept this possibility. Lauren will be accompanied on her journey by a woman named Len. Len came from a wealthy family but had a difficult relationship with them, and they refused to help her after she was kidnapped. Len was eventually able to get free and learned that her family had moved to Alaska. She is now headed there to join them. Lauren realizes that Len also has hyperempathy syndrome.

Lauren gives Len her Earthseed writings to read during their travels, and Len becomes curious and eager to discuss the teachings. Len also tells Lauren about her unhappy past life, and Lauren tries to console her. Lauren explains that “normal people wouldn’t have survived what we’ve survived. If we were normal, we’d be dead” (344). Lauren reframes both intelligence and hyperempathy syndrome as strengths rather than weaknesses and encourages Len to have hope for the future.