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Summary 4-20
English 220: Introduction to Writing about Literature
Nature and the Modern World
Post your summary here.
This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
Teuta Berisha and Leora Kimmel
The concepts of light and dark are divided into characters seen with the humans and Athsheans in order to show the duality of the creatures. Key characters such as Davidson possess a burning affinity towards lighting the fire that kills others, especially Creechies which in turn creates an imbalance. This also brings up the importance of the holistic duality of the Athsheans as humans can not comprehend how dream time and world time are balanced. Therefore, they fear the darkness of the forest and cause the Athsheans to resort to violence due to their knowledge of both sanity and insanity. The Athsheans are able to understand the complexity of both dark and light, therefore, they can live in both dreams and world times. An example of this is through the forest imagery as it consists of both dark and light. The Athsheans are comfortable in accepting that the “Truth is complex, dark and light at once, and the various images attached to the forest, that place of no revelation, “no certainty,” all contribute to our understanding of this.” The Athsheans are comfortable knowing both sides of the spectrum even if it seems complicated, as they find the importance of the balance between dream-time and world-time.
Le Guin focuses on who is attacking and who is affected. Unlike what most expect, Lathom notices that “rather than the victims of biotic invasion, earth people are the invaders”. Le Guin takes a different approach to show how colonization is not a thing of its past. Even bringing up the “guerilla tactics” that Athsheans adopted, similar to what happened in Vietnam. Lathom also makes note of how the destruction of land and murderous intent happened around the Earth and not only in one set location or space.
In the text, Latham talks about the emphasis of military and imperialism in the real world as it connects to her story. Latham discusses Le Guin’s character Davidson as someone who does not respect boundaries and rules and who often did whatever he wanted. “The colonists on Athshe behave like classic imperialists, renaming the planet ‘New Tahiti'” (Lathom, 114). Upon landing on the planet which originally does not even belong to them, Davidson and his crew takes over all the resources, prompted to killing the native population, as well as to attempt to call the land their own. Similar to the writing by Douglas Barbour “Wholeness and Balance”, Davidson can be described as someone who is unbalanced as he “contemptuous of the natives as lazy ‘creechies’, yet lusting after their women” (Latham 115). Davidson is a bit hypocritical as he doesn’t accept all of the people and the land, as well as honor and accept their culture but is able to fantasize about their women.
Eve and Doris
Umar Ali & Raihanul Bhuiyan
The excerpt on pages 169 – 170 from the essay titled “Wholeness and Balance” by Douglas Barbour focuses on how lightness and darkness are agents of wholeness and balance throughout the novel. On page 169, Barbour gives an overview of the initial statuses of the novel. At first the Athsheans are sane and balanced as they are closely in-tune with the forest, their home. The Athsheans ability to live in dream and in real world contributes to their balance. The concept of living in both dream-time and world-time reflects this wholeness” which is also represented by “lightness” and “darkness” as well. Unlike the terrans, the Athsheans are Davidson’s and the terrans’ insanity are derived from fear that they gained after they wiped the Earth of its own trees forcing them to set out to the stars to resupply. On page 170, Barbour talks about how throughout the story, the Athsheans balance and wholeness becomes disrupted with the terrans’ growing abusive power. As Selver became a god, his responsibility as a god to influence his people taught his people how to kill. Davidson’s fear contributes to his own imbalance and darkness causing him to be the antagonist that he is. The evil/killing dream has taken over the natives. In their pursuit to preserve their own race, they lost their sanity.
Madison Estrella & Kevin Lin
In pages 169 and 170 of “Wholeness and Balance”, Douglas Barbour compares the different natures of the Terrans and Athsheans. Barbour describes Terrans as mostly unbalanced, either emotionally or mentally, whereas Athsheans are able to find balance within their culture. This is evident in the characters Davidson, Lyubov, and Selver. Davidson is consumed by the paranoia of an Athshean rebellion, causing him to preemptively attack and cause the very thing he was trying to prevent. Lyubov was too idealistic and believed that everything could be solved without violence, thus Barbour describes him as “mild, humane, liberal, and finally weak”. Selver is able to reconcile his Athshean culture with the necessity to retaliate to protect his people. Moreover Barbour explains that the forest ecology heavily inspires and is closely intertwined with the Athshean culture and their awareness of “the whole of which living things are a part.” Being so immersed and appreciative to the forest, the Athsheans recognize the importance of interconnectedness. In fact, their entire civilization is proven to be built on the very foundation of the forest as they admire and use the forest to inspire the nomenclature and practices of their civilization. Their ability to exist in both the “dream time” and “world time” in particular shows their mastery of self and worldly awareness. Thus, the Athshean’s faith in the forest and overall acknowledgement of the unity of life is what gives them the sanity and balance that the Terrans lack.
Biotic Invasions, 114-116
Rachel Ng, Donnai Peters
In the excerpt on Latham claims that The Word for World is Forest is an inverse of a novel discussed earlier in the paper, The Genocides, and claims that the earth people are invaders who lay waste to the planet Athshe. Latham highlights the parallels Le Guin draws between the exploration of space and Western colonialism. Latham points out that ecological protocols designed to protect alien worlds from becoming a “desert of cement” like Earth are ignored in favor of the colonists on Athshe behaving like classic imperialists (Latham 114). Latham points out that the colonists rename the planet and enslave the humanoid population while systematically exploiting the environment of its resources.
Captain Davidson is constructed by Le Guin as the epitome of the imperialist mindset: he despises the natives but seeks to exploit their women and environment, and sees no value in the environment as anything other than resources. Davidson scorns the attitudes of the ecologist and anthropologist, and sees himself as a “Conquistador”, and the Terrans as deserving of conquering Athshe and exploiting its resources. Davidson largely serves as a vehicle for Le Guin to portray a “scathing portrait of overweening racist machismo” as the root of imperialist intent, thus infusing what Latham calls a “strong ecofeminist consciousness” into the traditional invasion scenario.
Latham highlights the political origins of the novel: the military-ecological rape of Vietnam by US forces. This origin is clear through Davidson and the Terran’s decimation of Athshean villages and the Athshean’s adopted guerilla tactics similar to those of the natives of Vietnam. Latham notes that these historical connections have led to critiques that the story is overly moralizing, but also that it’s broadly allegorical and that there are numerous instances of ecological imperialism that it could symbolize. Deforestation was a large part of many New World colonization processes, and the culling of ecological habitats in order to systematically settle new land with little regard for the consequences like Captain Davidson and the Terrans was not uncommon.
Latham expresses that Le Guin uses parallelism to compare Western colonialism and space exploration. Captain Davidson is a great depiction of the two being that he claims to be disgusted by the natives and calling them derogatory terms yet rapes the women of the people he finds to be disgusting. The rape had been used as a tactic to establish dominance. With these barbaric acts against them, the Athsheans then turn to guerilla warfare, which gives them a bad name once again. While the story may not fully be true, it is greatly influenced by political history, often the wrong doing being carried out by the US. Captain Davidson presents himself as being like the US, in thinking the wrong he is doing is for the greater good.
Latham also highlights the political origin of the novel: the military-ecological rape of Vietnam by US forces. This origin is clear through Davidson and the Terran’s decimation of Athshean villages and the Athshean’s adopted guerilla tactics similar to those of the natives of Vietnam. Latham notes that these historical connections have led to critiques that the story is overly moralizing, but also that it’s broadly allegorical and that there are numerous instances of ecological imperialism that it could symbolize. Deforestation was a large part of many New World colonization processes, and the culling of ecological habitats in order to systematically settle new land with little regard for the consequences like Captain Davidson and the Terrans was not uncommon.
Donnai & Rachel
Liora Shalomayev
Jannatul Ashpia
4/20/20
Wholeness and Balance (pg: 169-170)
One of the main themes discussed in the WWF is the concept of darkness and light. The light imagery is taken from Davidson’s Perspective. He views that, “ the light shines on the barren ground” would provide them with the opportunity to gain access to resources and sees nature as a means of getting his goal of destroying it for his purpose. However, according to the Athsheans they are more dedicated to preserving the shadows of the forest. Furthermore, the essay points out that there is balance in the Athsheans society as opposed to the imbalance of the Terrans. Also, in the novel, Davidson and Lyubov perspective are shown from two opposite spectrums. “The brightness of Don Davidson’s mind, intense, paranoid, and in love with the fire that kills others, especially “creechies,” is frighteningly unbalanced” (170). Davidson views that the forest is a hindrance to gaining more resources. However, the forest is equally important for the Athshean since it allows them to “balance their sanity” (170).
Ricky Singh
Syeda Jannath
In pages 118 and 119, Latham describes Lyubov as “everything Captain Davidson is not” and how that difference of “noble-savage” bears the question on the ethicality of deforesting Athshe. Latham describes the distinction that Le Guin draws between different types of technology—those for military use and those for communication purposes. Latham describes Le Guin’s attitude as ambivalent towards technoscience and its role in society. Within the novel, the use of technology for communication purposes, is intended for the purposes of positive environmental impact, rather than that of the “noble-savage”, similar to Davidson who is more focused on military use.
Jessica Cen and Alicja Rolek
In the article, “Wholeness and Balance,” Barbour pulled up the differences between Davidson’s and the Athsheans’ thoughts.While in Davidson’s point of view, his actions were “light” and justifies, what he did to the Athshean’s land was actually considered “dark” to the Athsheans. Barbour mentioned, “These contrasts of character are partially exposed in light/dark imagery and partially translated into balance/imbalance imagery“(170). Which emphasizes on how the two cultures have very different ideals. To Davidson, the land is valuable due to the resources it provides. The “light” imagery for Davidson is that he is “saving” the people. The “darkness” of the article is the Athshean’s desire to protect their land from exploitation, which causes them to turn towards violence to chase away the colonists.
In Wholeness and Balance by Douglas Barbour, Barbour emphasizes this theme of balance, in which the Athsheans are balanced and the Terrans hold a lack of balance. The Athsheans live in a culture where they are able to utilize reason and dream in order to balance their sanity. However, the people in this “Earth-imperialist colonial culture” live in an emotional and mental imbalance. They are unable to understand the Athsheans, as they see themselves as superior and refer to them as “creechies.” They view them as animals and treat them with such little respect. They are also focused on power and the materialistic gain of the forest. On page 170, The author speaks about how the technique of balancing themes of darkness and lightness within the novel is combined. For example, we are given instances of how Captain Davidson was more in the side of darkness because he represented this imperialist stance that greatly destructed the Asthe lands and how he greatly enjoyed giving pain to the natives. Selver, on the other hand, was a figure that was more on the side of lightness because he favored his own people and even accepted the humans who were belittling him as one of his people. But the author notes how we are introduced to the problems of balancing the darkness and lightness themes through Selver. Selver converts the peaceful dreaming of his people into the violent for the sake of bringing the peace back but ends up forever altering their peaceful roots.