Science Fiction and American Culture » November 15: The Dispossessed (Part II)

November 15: The Dispossessed (Part II)

Remember Essay #2 is DUE Friday, 11/17, 11:00pm on Canvas.

Plan for the Day

I recently came across a very interesting biological studies discussion calling into question gender as binary: “Is sex still binary?”

It’s Just a Song…

In case some of you were worried that I though all country music was problematic, I’ve found a song that demonstrates a high level of critical thinking and disrupts my discussion from Monday: “Rich Men North of Richmond.” Of course, my point is to get you to think deeply and critically, and, sometimes, that requires me to provoke your thinking. https://youtu.be/l4EK_XrSkMU?t=66

Back to the Past-Present-Future in The Dispossessed

Let’s pause for a second (did someone say “paws”?).
Consider this: You have a past before you read the novel and a future after reading the novel. The Anarresti phrase “the means are the ends” comes up a lot in the novel. What could she be trying to tell us about the events we witness, take part in, or ignore?

Book Cover Fun

Take a look at the following book covers that come from “An ode to the glorious ’70s cover art of the books of Ursula K. Le Guin”:

Of course, you can’t always judge a book by it’s cover, but sometimes you can…

A Note on Liberalism

You read about the “libertarians” in the novel, and it might help to clear up some confusion on that term. If you watch a lot of Faux News, you probably hear “liberal” as a pejorative. You might even hear about the Libertarian Party, which has an interesting platform. Another term you’ve probably heard is neoliberalism: the idea of a total (or nearly total) market-driven economy with little or no government regulations.

  • In America, we often label people who promote this philosophy conservatives, neoconservatives, libertarians, or Republicans. In American popular media, the term “neoliberal” would be confusing because a “liberal” is considered (these are generalizations, of course) having the opposite view of the term “neoliberal.” This term is more a European one and rarely heard outside of academic discussions in America. As a fun side note, check out the history of the usage of liberalism.

Also, why does the idea that suffering is a bond come up over and over in the novel? It appears essential to Shevek’s personal philosophy and Odonianism.

Education

  • pp. 127-8: Shevek is appalled by the “Banking Concept” approach to education.
    • p. 127: “Their society maintained them in complete freedom from want, distractions, and cares.”
    • p. 127: “It appeared to Shevek that their freedom from obligation was in exact proportion to their lack of freedom of initiative.”
    • p. 128: “They wanted [Shevek] to set the problems, to ask the right questions; they did not want to think about questions, but to write down the answers they had learned.”
  • p. 128: “[Shevek] liked his polite, intelligent students, but he felt no great warmth towards any of them. They were planning careers as academic or industrial scientists, and what they learned from him was to them a means to that end, success in their careers. They either had, or denied the importance of, anything else he might have offered them.”
  • p. 108: “Gvarab saw a much larger universe than most people were capable of seeing, and it made them blink….What she offered, what she had offered for a whole lifetime, what no one had ever shared with her, [Shevek] took, he shared He was her brother across the gulf of fifty years, and her redemption.”

The State

Two worlds that seem drastically different, yet we learn that there are hierarchal power structures on Urras and Anarres.

  • p. 247: “It is useless work that darkens the heart. The delight of the nursing mother, of the scholar, of the successful hunter…of anyone doing needed work and doing it well–this durable joy is perhaps the deepest source of human affection, and sociality as a whole.”
    • Reflect on the job/work you do.
  • p. 272: Serving the State of Urras as a Physicist:
    • p. 272: “To be a physicist in A-Io was to serve not society, not mankind, not the truth, but the State.”
    • p. 272: “The individual cannot bargain with the State. The State recognizes no coinage but power: and it issues the coins itself.
  • Where does a State’s power come from?

Family

Interesting…this is a novel that presents a radical vision of how children are raised, yet it concludes with a heteronormative view of family:

  • Throughtout the novel, readers note that children aren’t raised by their parents, the community “raises” them.
  • Shevek’s father, Palat, maintained contact with Shevek until he died; however, Shevek’s mother, Rulag, left to pursue her career early in Shevek’s life.
  • He sees her years later when he’s sick but has no warm feelings towards her (pp. 120-125).
    “there is no comfort in the bad hour, in the dark at the foot of the wall” (p. 125)
  • p. 358: “He means violence,” Rulag said. “And if there is violence, you will have deserved it.”
    • Knowing Rulag is Shevek’s mother, why is this a surprising stance of hers?
    • p. 365: Bedap notices a peculiar resemblance between Rulag and Shevek when he looks at his face:
      “It was an intensely individual face, and yet the features were not unlike Rulag’s but like many others among the Anarresti, a people selected by a vision of freedom, and adapted to a barren world, a world of distances, silences, desolations.”
  • p. 370: Bedap regrets not being a parent and feels, at close to 40, he might miss his chance.

Wait a minute! This novel full of radical ideas is privileging a familial relationship pattern that’s not very radical. Why? Maybe we should look to Ursula LeGuin’s life for an answer.

Next Week

We’re not meeting as a class next week or the Monday after Thanksgiving, but you do have things to watch. On Monday, 11/20, I’ll have notes up for the following TV shows—Paramount+ {start free trial}:

  • Star Trek: The Next Generation “The Measure of a Man” (1989) Season 2, Episode 9
  • The Twilight Zone “Eye of the Beholder” (1960) Season 2, Episode 6

For the Monday after Thanksgiving (11/27), watch Wall⋅E (2008). We’ll discuss that film and the articles on Canvas about Wall⋅E when we return face to face, Wednesday, 11/29.