Earthseed plays a pivotal part in Laurens development as a heroine and helps to show that she is a leader in many ways. While explaining what the religion is, she described it as being more realistic in that it does not deal with any supernatural figures, for example, the idea of God (Butler p. 219). Lauren wanted her religion to be seen as a symbol of change that was found within oneself and not just an idea or image of hope. Additionally, faith without work is dead she wanted to focus on getting people out of the idea that only prayer is the answer to your troubles. Laurens father, a pastor, whom she takes after a lot, had a very negative impact on her religious views as a Christian. Reverend Olamina was not the perfect man in any sense he possessed a number of flaws, and even fell short of actually being a father when it came to Lauren and her siblings. With Laurens father being a pastor she was raised in a religion in which she noticed a lot of flaws and inconsistency, for example Mrs. Sims hypocrisy. Lauren did not believe that the word in which was being preached to her followed through with her everyday life. Her Earthseed religion became a symbol of her heroism because it displayed just how much of a leader she was becoming in her community which would lead her to be a hero. The name was created one day as she was weeding, …show more content…
The land they arrive at it is not fully developed, but it is far from what they have come from. Lauren mentions her Earthseed ideal, “We can build a community here. It is dangerous here everywhere, the more people there are packed together…” (Butler p. 357). At this point in the novel Lauren is not seen as insane anymore although her religion and hyper-empathy syndrome would deem her to be. Her character development has finally peaked and she can truly be seen for the leader she is. The fear of leaving home according to MayoClinic.com is agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder in which an individual is fearful and avoids places that cause them panic, make them feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed. This is what most of Laurens friends seems to have although it is not stated in the novel. They grew up in a very close community that sheltered them away from California and even the rest of the world. Her father’s perceived death and her brother running away helped her step up and become the leader that her father was. By this point in the novel Lauren should be clearly seen as a hero as she continues to remain hopeful, and help her and her friends move on from their past