The people of Urras, after all, justify everything exploitative and harmful about their system by what it makes, and dream furiously that someday it will make enough stuff that all the oppression will be paid for They make that case to Shevek as strongly as they can
-
-
And, like, he admits it in the story, when he tries to reason with Haber It's his own weakness, it's his own fault, blame him for it if you must But his mind is only a human mind, he's not an omnipotent God, he cannot make utterly new realities that work on different principles
-
So yeah there is what you'd call a kind of quietism there, what Dostoyevsky, the original source for the whole imagery with the child in the closet, would call Christian humility Although I think Le Guin herself is humble enough not to even call it universal human nature
- Show replies
New conversation -
-
-
And (this is a VERY Daoist theme) - society made Orr and shaped what he can dream
-
To come back around to my biggest issue with Noah's piece - Haber is NOT an "activist." Haber does not agitate for change in his society. Haber has dreams of heroism, sure. But only when a magic dude who can change reality falls in his lap does he go "I can make shit happen!"
- Show replies
New conversation -
-
-
Orr is also constantly mindful of the nuclear holocaust he dreamed out of existence. That trauma shapes how good a world he's capable of believing in, I think. (And it's so terrible that becoming aware of it is why Haber can't handle the power; he ends up living in that world).
-
The idea that our imagination is stunted by the society around us and poisons our actions and ideas - VERY Daoist, and even Orr, who is an unusually balanced individual through which the Dao can flow, is twisted, warped wood.
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.