The Word for World Is Forest

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Ursula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon. The plot is pretty basic, though I do like the details with which LeGuin fills out her indigenous culture, and in particular, its dreaming state. It's a short book, but it features three different perspectives: that of Davidson (human alpha male), Lyubov (human translator), and Selver (Athshean). Although they are more mouthpieces than characters, their perspectives shed light on all sides of the conflict. The tone is muted, and the last chapters are particularly somber and reflective: regardless of what happens to the humans, the innocence of the Athsheans is over - "There is no use pretending, now, that we do not know how to kill one another." The writing is good, utilitarian for the humans, rhythmic and a little outré for the Athsheans. The Word for World is Forest also challenges the idea of colonialism; the Terran colonists are depicted as being blind to the culture of the Athsheans, and convinced that they represent a higher form of civilization. [15] Le Guin also challenges the metaphorical preference in Western cultures for pure light, in contrast to deeper and more complex shadows. [15] Ecological sensitivity [ edit ] Reviewer Ian Watson states that the Athshean forest itself is a metaphor for consciousness in the novel. The Terrans, distanced from their own tangled subconscious, are afraid of the forest, and seek to tear it down. [61] The Athsheans, in contrast, are integrated with it at a subconscious level. The entire forest is also seen as a collective Athshean consciousness. [61] Although the forest in The Word for World is Forest is not actually sentient, Le Guin explores the idea of a sentient forest further in the short story " Vaster than Empires and More Slow", which shares many thematic parallels with the former. [61] Colonialism and anti-war themes [ edit ] However, Selver and Lyubov’s communication also has demonstrable consequences for Selver and the Athsheans, no matter how necessary that communication is. For instance, Selver’s sense of self is fundamentally altered by his knowledge of human society and humans’ violence, and he’s no longer able to dream in the same way other Athsheans do. Eventually, Selver tells Lyubov that he wishes they’d never known each other, demonstrating the impact Selver’s friendship with Lyubov had on Selver’s selfhood. More broadly, Athshean society is also impacted by Selver’s connection with Lyubov. Selver’s decision to retaliate against the humans (which Lyubov’s information partly prompted) transforms the Athsheans into a violent people. Lyubov later worries that Selver has translated the worst parts of human society for his people and has learned to speak the humans’ figurative “language” of violence rather than his own.

You could say that Le Guin even goes a step further because she paints us humans from Earth as someone who shows utter disregard to alien life despite being made aware of its intelligence. Watson, Ian (November 1975). "The Forest as Metaphor for Mind: "The Word for World is Forest" and "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" ". Science Fiction Studies. 2 (3): 231–237.Like most of Ms. Le Guin's works this is a thought provoking story. What happen when we introduce evil into a hitherto innocent and passive culture? The Athsheans are very vivid creations, the story of their enslavement and exploitation by humans is heartfelt and all too believable. Real life examples of man's inhumanity to man is plentiful, what would we do (or not do) if we encounter a less advanced and weaker alien race? I shudder to think of it. I suspect the movie Avatar is inspired by this book because of the similarities in the main theme. Le Guin's story is much more sophisticated of course. Similar to future history works by other authors such as Isaac Asimov, Le Guin's fictional works set in the Hainish universe explore the idea of human society expanding across the galaxy. [12] Books like The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness, and The Word for World is Forest also explore the effects of various social and political systems. [8] Le Guin's later Hainish novels also challenge contemporary ideas about gender, ethnic differences, the value of ownership, and human beings' relationship to the natural world. [57] Me ha parecido una historia fascinante, que va de menos a más y que te absorve completamente conforme va creciendo y haciéndose grande. Me ha emocionado mucho la historia, confirmarme de parte contraria a los humanos una vez más, ante la violencia con la que este trata siempre al mundo que le rodea, como si todo lo que hay en él le perteneciera exclusivamente. El libro refleja esta naturaleza horrible del ser humano como pocos, y te remueve ese sentimiento que todos deberíamos tener de respeto a la naturaleza. Behind abbreviations these peaceful non-industrious people are used as slaves to facilitate the exploitation of the planet by the 2.000 odd settlers. The casual cruelties, like ignoring their natural sleep rhythm are especially poignant, as is the coercive manner how non-humanisation makes it so easy to use the natives. We follow Davidson, a psychopath like military man, Lyubov the anthropologist send to document the indigenous population and Selver who after being abused by Davidson turns into a rallying point for resistance against the humans.

Le Guin, Ursula K. (2017). Hainish novels & Stories. New York, New York: The Library of America. ISBN 9781598535396. You've got a forest planet, filled with furry little creatures about a meter tall. They’re described as looking quite a bit like teddy bears. They live in the forest city named Endtor. Some of them were being used as slaves. They eventually rise up and decide to take on their occupiers, and reclaim their planet. All of their names are exactly 2 syllables long. Hmm… sounds a little familiar. Westfahl, Gary (20 December 2009). "All Energy Is Borrowed: A Review of Avatar". Locus Online . Retrieved 30 July 2015.The humans in The Word for World for Forrest have already destroyed their planet’s natural world, so they look outward and attempt to colonise other worlds to harvest their natural resources (namely wood.) Again, these humans have not a thought of consequences and by extension care little for the indigenous populations of their colonies. Selver is still emotionally unstable. He takes five days to leave the camp and find another Athshean settlement. He tells the inhabitants about what has happened at Smith camp, and also about his former home town of Eshreth, which was demolished by the Terrans so that they could build their headquarters in its place. He tells them that Athsheans are being held against their will and used as slaves by the Terrans. There is a discussion about what they should do next, They decide to send emissaries to other towns so that Selver's story can be shared, and Selver elects to go to Terran Headquarters. As polarized as the characters' views are, Le Guin does a skillful job of getting inside the head of each. Still, though she fleshes them out well and makes them believable, they're not particularly engaging or likable. Lyubov, the lone Athshean sympathizer, is weak and ineffectual; he never comes up with a course of action more ambitious than bemoaning his own impotence. The Athshean Sleverin is too remote, too much of an exoticized native to be relatable. And Davidson, the human antagonist, is an abhorrent embodiment of arrogant machismo and genocidal hatred. They're effective characters for driving the plot forward, but none of them are particularly enjoyable to spend time with. And let's not forget the age-old and completely wrong paradigm of "If you're not with us, you're against us!" and the appalling idea of patriotism as hating the Other, so aptly summarized by quite caricaturish and terrifying in his self-righteous madness Davidson: "See, where we differ is that with you Earth doesn’t come first, actually. With me it does." Much as I'm in agreement with this book's message of environmentalism and nonviolence, I found its delivery of that message to be preachy, joyless, and heavy-handed. Its tale of colonist humans and their conflict with the native Athsheans transplants the worst atrocities of colonialism's past into the future, but loses any subtlety and nuance in the process.