Truth vs. Denial Theme Analysis

Throughout the novel Lauren presents herself as someone who seeks truth while those around her remain in a state of denial. Indeed, this is part of what marks her out as different from those around her, allowing her to survive the horror of her conditions and work to build a better future.

Ideas about truth and denial are introduced right at the beginning of the book, when Lauren is preparing to be baptized. Lauren is reluctant for the baptism to take place for multiple reasons, all of which stem from commitment to (what she believes to be) the truth. She admits that she no longer believes in the Christian God, saying: “My God has another name.” She is also reluctant to attend her father’s friend’s church for the baptism, pointing out that it would be safer to simply be baptized in her own bathtub. However, she notes that journeying to the church—which is the only actual church building left in the area—reminds the adults of “the good old days when there were churches all over the place and too many lights and gasoline was for fueling cars and trucks instead of for torching things.” She adds that “they never miss a chance to relive the good old days or to tell kids how great it's going to be when the country gets back on its feet and good times come back.” Clearly, the adults are in a state of denial about the world in which they live and the possibility of this world returning to its former state. As a young person who never properly experienced “the good old days” for herself, Lauren is not susceptible to this kind of nostalgia; furthermore, she is less wedded to existing religious tradition, and as a result has come up with her own ideas about God, which differ significantly from the Christian view. In this sense, Lauren’s youth enables her to access the truth in a way that older people cannot—a reversal of the conventional idea that wisdom comes with age.

On the other hand, the book also features young people who are in a similar state of denial to the adults around them, thus indicating that youth does not inherently encourage people to see the truth. This idea is most clearly conveyed during Lauren’s conversation with her friend Joanne. The two girls are the same age, and share suspicions about certain elements of the adults’ tendency for denial, such as the notion that President Donner will make the country go back to “normal.” However, when Lauren argues that they should act on their understanding of the truth and make preparations to leave the gated community, Joanne is resistant and rejects their discussion entirely, asking Lauren: “Why do you want to talk about this stuff?”

For the novel’s adults and teenagers alike, the truth of their reality is so painful and frightening that they cannot help but embrace denial. After Joanne tells her mother about her conversation with Lauren, Lauren’s father scolds his daughter, saying: “These things frighten people. It’s best not to talk about them.” When Joanne eventually decides to move with her family to the corporate-owned city of Olivar, Lauren accuses her of giving into her denial by saying: “I see what’s out there. You see it too. You just deny it.” Unlike Joanne, Lauren’s decisions about her future are grounded in a firm rejection of fantasy and an embrace of truth, no matter how frightening this truth might be.

The question of truth and denial is also important in relation to Lauren’s observations about God and her development of Earthseed. When characters such as Travis suggest that Earthseed is simply something Lauren has invented, she compares the process of conceptualizing Earthseed to a scientific discovery: “I reached down, picked up a small stone, and put it on the table between us. ‘If I could analyze this and tell you all that it was made of, would that mean I’d made up its contents?’” Throughout the book, Lauren asserts that Earthseed consists of true observations about the world; indeed, this is what makes it different from other religions.

Under one of the passages of Earthseed scripture Lauren quotes in her diary, she writes: “This is the literal truth.” Her use of the word “literal” draws an important contrast between Earthseed scripture and other religious texts such as the Bible. There is much within the Bible that is difficult to accept as the literal truth, due to the fact that it contradicts other parts of the Bible, common sense, and scientific observations about the world. Interpreting the Bible as literally true thus requires a denial of scientific facts, and as a result, Lauren is disdainful of people (such as Mrs. Sims) who subscribe to Biblical literalism. Earthseed scripture, on the other hand, emerges from observations about the world, and as such there is no contradiction. For this reason, Lauren is able to assert that Earthseed is “literally true” even though it is the product of her own mind; indeed, she presents Earthseed as not only true but a powerful barrier against the forces of fear, fantasy, and denial.