Earth Abides

Ish struggles to educate the restless children—except for Joey, who thrives in the makeshift academic setting. Finding practical applications for their education is difficult since they have never known the world as it was. During one class session, Ish asks one of the children to bring him his hammer, but they seem afraid to touch it. Later, he realizes that they associate the hammer with the past, as though the tool were a mystical relic they are not allowed to touch. Pondering this idea, Ish wonders how their small, uneducated society could expect the children to distinguish superstition from truth. Ish realizes he has an opportunity to instill in the children a sense of tradition from the Old Times (religious, cosmological, cultural) so they don’t fall victim to new superstitions. He even considers destroying the hammer as a symbolic gesture, to show the children that it has no mystical power.

His thoughts return to Joey, who, in spite of his natural intelligence and problem-solving skills, has also grown conceited. Regardless, Ish still believes Joey to be best suited for the role of leader; but he is suddenly overcome by fear of Joey’s physical fragility.