Throughout the movie Powder, there exists a certain tension between the main character, Jeremy or "Powder-, and the society around him. This tension is made up of fear, intolerance, prejudice, ignorance and plain stupidity. The society sees Jeremy as a hermit, someone not worthy to live in their world. Jeremy, on the other hand, sees society as something not worth his time or fondness. Since the society has forgotten him, Jeremy is forced to find intelligent life somewhere else. He discovers this in books. All through his childhood Jeremy's world consists of his grandparents and of his books. Since simple life such as that pleases him, Jeremy doesn't mind being alone, living like that. However, when Jeremy's grandfather dies, he is forced to face the real world.
Throughout the film Jeremy is depicted as an oddity or a freak of some sort. From the moment he was born, when his father screamed "That's not my son!- upon seeing Jeremy for the first time until the very end of the movie when Jeremy vanishes into the skies like a streak of pure energy, he's an outcast. .
Even from a young age Jeremy does not try to fit in with the society. His superior intelligence has allowed him to see things other people wouldn't dare to dream of, and he's realized that a society that does not care for unconventional people isn't a society worth living in.
Jeremy's high I.Q. has also allowed him to realize that the key to humanity is compassion towards all other living beings. In the film, there were two occasions on which Jeremy attempted to spread his message of the importance of compassion and consideration. On the first occasion, Jeremy shows a hunter the pain a deer that he shot felt, and on the second one Jeremy used telepathy to communicate the sheriff's dying wife's last thoughts to the sheriff.
However, when Jeremy's grandfather dies and the sheriff makes him to go to school, Jeremy is forced to break out of his shell and make an attempt at communicating with people.