In both Children of Men and Parable of the Sower, the character with the potential to save the world is a young black woman. Both Lauren Olamina and Kee live in worlds where overt racism is ubiquitious and they would not be valued as much because of their gender and race. However, the way the two works treat these characters varies drastically.
Lauren is a leader. Through the course of the novel, she attracts followers to her and spreads her religious beliefs. Even her religion is reflective of her power. Her God is change, but she believes that, rather than submitting meekly to change, people should "Become a shaper of God" (PoS 31). Her character is one of action and could not flourish until she could act freely.
In contrast, Kee is an incredibly passive character. While she has the potential to solve the world's infertility, it is not due to her actions, but rather her body. She acts only to save herself and her baby; Kee does not choose her actions, but rather reacts. The result of these differing treatments is that Lauren seems to rise above the chaos around her while Kee is tossed by the tempest and survives by chance.
Even though racism, segregation, and slavery are on the rise in Lauren's world, the reader is led to hope that through her teachings, the world might eventually improve and perhaps even become a utopia. However, because Kee is so passive, the audience has little hope that all will end well. All those who helped her along have died, leaving one of the weakest characters to save the world. How can one hope for the rampant prejudice against and unjust treatment of immigrants to end when the savior figure is alone and at the mercy of an organization of which little to nothing is known? At the end of Parable of the Sower Lauren is just beginning her mission of spreading Earthseed. However, the end of Children of Men is also the end of Kee's foreseeable independence as she becomes a subject for research rather than a person.
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