Note that the thorns aren’t bad. They are normal plants—cares, riches, pleasures. The parable warns that even good things (career ambitions, family duties, hobbies) can become thorns if they take priority over the main thing.
Yet Parable of the Sower offers no easy hope. Its sequel, Parable of the Talents , begins with Lauren’s community being shattered by a fascist president who promises to “Make America Great Again.” Butler refused to write a third installment because, as she once noted, she could not envision a realistic path forward that wasn’t devastating. This bleak honesty is the novel’s ultimate gift. It rejects the catharsis of heroic triumph and instead offers something rarer: a clear-eyed, unsentimental practice of perseverance. Parable of the sower
Other seeds fall among thorn bushes. The initial growth seems promising. But the thorns (weeds and brambles) grow faster and stronger. They choke the young plants, stealing nutrients, water, and light. The crop is unfruitful. Note that the thorns aren’t bad