Concepts explored in The Fifth Season

We learn more about this apocalyptic world throughout the character's warped narratives.
And we see how rigid, restrictive it can be, little by little. We also see how group initiatives
can be powerful motivators, and how much damage can be done by fear and misguided anger. This concept is most evident in the superhumans who can control everyone else’s life, the Earth's powers, and amplify anything into an earthquake or a volcano. These are the Orogenes. They are referred to as “roggas” in a derogatory manner, much like the n-word is used to degrade African Americans. They are ostracized as children and have every aspect of their lives controlled under the Fulcrum’s, or government’s watch. The control even spans as far as moderating who they can and cannot have sex with.

Imperialism and history are two other concepts discussed in the novel. In a historical context, whichever country colonized first is always the one that writes the history of the country it took over.  The center of this however lies with the characters – who are all from various "castes" – and their stories in three unique courses of events. One – Essun's – is a lady whose family is surviving a catastrophe in the present. Approximately thirty years prior, Damaya is seen as an Orogene and brought to live in the Fulcrum, to find out about her capacities and to be molded as a weapon to be utilized and mishandled by the domain. She realizes that she is an Orogene once she is there. A couple of years from that point onward, Syen is given a "coach", Alabaster. They are to visit an alternate town to fix an issue. They begin to make an attempt to make a child – as two Orogenes, they should arrange to breed. Their youngster can possibly be one of the most dominant Orogenes that the domain has ever known. They go along against their very own desires, as that is what the characters pride themselves on.