In the end the colonial mission to Athshe proves to be a failure and the Athshean way of life is transformed. Why do you think Le Guin chose to tell a story of failure rather than of success?
You might consider:
Is the conclusion triumphant for the Athsheans? Why or why not?
What might this ending suggest about Le Guin’s attitude towards violent conflict?
What do we learn about the Athsheans in the last few pages of the novel? Why do you think Le Guin chose to end on this note?
What hope are we left with at the end of the story? What role does Lyubov’s research and/or communication technology play in determining the future of the planet?
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Le Guin wrote a story not of triumph, but of a warning tale of the consequences of the dark side of humanity. In the end, Selver and the native Athsheans succeed in having the Terrans removed from their planet, but they are forever changed from their experiences with them. The Athsheans were pacifists before the Terrans came along, shown by Selver when he says to Davidson, “You gave me a gift, the killing of one’s kind, murder. Now, as well as I can, I give you my people’s gift, which is not killing. I think we each find each other’s gift heavy to carry.” This is a profound moment in the novel, it is the point in the novel where Selver comes to the realization that he needs to let go of his anger; he needs to honor his culture. Davidson is a huge threat to his people, Davidson is the reason why his wife is dead, and Davidson is also telling him that he will never surrender, but still Selver lets Davidson live. He remembers what his traditions are, he will not let Davidson sully his culture, not anymore. But Le Guin makes sure to emphasize the fact that violence cannot be washed away, the acts of violence will stay with the Athsheans forever. This is why she ends her novel with Lepennon telling Selver “But you must not pretend to have reasons to kill one another. Murder has no reason, We shall go. Within two days we shall be gone. All of us. Forever. Then the forests of Athshe will be as they were before.” and having Selver respond solemnly that, “Lyubov will be here, And Davidson will be here. Both of them. Maybe after I die people will be as they were before I was born, and before you came. But I do not think they will.” With this last interaction between a Terran and an Athshean, Le Guin reminds her readers that violence is final, it cannot be undone, and it stays with you forever.
“Your people left no trees there, so you can’t make a boat and sail from it. Nothing much grows there any more, so we shall have to bring you food and wood to burn. There’s nothing to kill on Rendlep. No trees, no people. There were trees and people, but now there are only the dreams of them.” This is the moment Selver tells captain Davidson that he has lost and that without the resources such as the trees and his people, the creechies, there is no life on this planet for them. Le Guin shows to tell a tale of a Pyrrhic victory because there are sometimes no winners when we fail a non-zero sum game. Whats at stake is ecological, it benefits everyone to preserve and respect nature. The price the Astheans paid was in their forfeit of the idyllic time.
Le Guin choses to tell the story as a failure instead of a success because the story serves as a warning for those who uses violence. Violence is something that can never be forgotten and Selver emphasizes that when he states “You cannot take things that exist in the world and try to drive them back into the dream, to hold them inside the dream with walls and pretenses. That is insanity. What is, is. There is no use pretending, now, that we do not know how to kill one another.” Selver predicted the destruction of Athshean culture through his dreams and once it became reality, it comes to the point where death and violence becomes hard to forget. Le Guin portrayed Athsheans as a peaceful race in the beginning and having them turn barbaric proves that in war, nobody wins and everyone loses.
While the story may be seen as a failure to colonize the Athsheans, I choose to view it as a victory for the Athsheans and for nature in general. With the promise of the Terrans leaving their planet and never returning, the Athseans no longer have to worry about being enslaved or their forests being destroyed by the loggers. Unfortunately, although the Athsheans were triumphant over the Terrans and their planet is now protected, they have introduced violence into their society. When one of the Terrans, Lepennon, asks Selven about murder amongst his people, Selven tells him “you cannot take things that exist in the world and drive them back into the dream”(168). Rebelling against the Terrans has taught the Athseans about murder and rape, transforming thier once peaceful culture and they cannot pretend they do know it exists.
Le Guin explains how when violence is involved nobody ever wins. This story is used as a warning to enforce how violence should not be used. He says, “You cannot take things that exist in the world and try to drive them back into the dream, to hold them inside the dream with walls and pretenses. That is insanity. What is, is. There is no use pretending, now, that we do not know how to kill one another.” I don’t think the conclusion is triumphant for the Athseans because violence was involved.
The friendship between Lyubov and Selver helped him through studying each other’s language and culture they come to understand each other more. Lyubov sees the mistreatment of the Athsheans and wants to help them, but does not know how he would be able to. In the end of this novel, the dialogue between Selver and the Commander shows the readers that Lyubov’s research activity helps to release Athshean’s planet from colonizers “It’s largely because of that work of his that Athshe is now free of the Terran Colony. This freedom had become the direction of Lyubov’s life, I think. You, being his friend, will see that his death did not stop him from arriving at his goal, from finishing his journey.”
At the end of this novel, Le Guin leaves open the question of whether the Athsheans have been permanently altered due to their newly learned killing ability, Selver says “You cannot take things that exist in the world and try to drive them back into the dream, to hold them inside the dream with walls and pretenses. That is insanity. What is, is. There is no use pretending, now, that we do not know how to kill one another.” I think such violent behavior of the Athsheans is against their natural essence, but they proved that in the event of a threat to the life of their society, they can fight back.
Le Guin chose to tell a story of failure rather than of success because wanted to show the consequences of using violence with others. For instance Davidson sees no use of using tress and fills as though it is wasting space. Selver says” nothing to kill on Rendlep. No trees, no people. There were trees and people, but now there are only the dreams of them.” This shows that if Dvidson apricated them instead of cutting trees he would have some trees left. Also, if he was more like Asthean that really cared about nature he would have seen the importance of it.
I believe that the story is told as a failure because even though the taking over of the Athseans was not sucessesful, the ideals of the Terrans and their way of life has spread. What was once a peaceful society, the need for freedom required violent measures to take place. Although it was a necessary measure to free themselves, it is likely that the introduction of these violent concepts will forever shift how Athseans go by their day by day. With the option of violent actions now being on the table, it can be likely that solutions to future issues will be taken into their own hands instead of being guided by dream time like how it used to be.
VICTORIA
For some reason my response to today’s homework does not seem to be posting. Here is what I have written for it:
Le Guin writes the colonial mission of Ashthea to be a story of failure rather than success to highlight the terrible impact colonialism often has on the people being colonized. The Astheans, a peaceful and nature respecting people are colonized by the Terrans who take advantage of such kindness. The Terrans take over Asthea and enslave those who originally dwelled the land. They do not respect the land as the Ashteans did, especially Davidson, who saw no use in respecting nature. Though the Ashtheans are eventually able to overcome and overpower the Terrans, they are left with the impact of being colonized as their people are now forever changed. Once a people who did not believe in murder, they had to kill in order to escape the rule of the Terrans, and this results in Ashthean against Ashthean murder becoming a new aspect of Ashthean life long after becoming freed from the Terrans, which we discover at the end of the novel. This is a permanent altering of the way of the Ashthea, which is harming their own kind. Such horrible impact of colonialism is highlighted moreso in the last line of the novel when Selver says, “Maybe after I die people will be as they were before I was born, and before you came. But I do not think they will”. Selver is aware that his people will probably never be the same again as the result of the Terrans.
Le Guin decided to conclude the story by leading readers to a poignant end. There is a sense of relief as the Athsheans will now live free of the Terrans, however, as Lepennon asks Selver if there were any more killings, Selver reflects that the fate of the Athshean’s has been affected as they have now learned to kill.
“Sometimes a god comes. He brings a new way to do a thing, or a new thing to be done. A new kind of singing, or a new kind of death. He brings this across the bridge between the dream-time and the world-time. When he has done this, it is done. You cannot take things that exist in the world and try to drive them back into the dream, to hold them inside the dream with walls and pretenses. That is insanity. What is, is. There is no use pretending, now, that we do not know how to kill one another.”
Selver realizes this is not a triumphant ending for the Athshean’s. They sacrificed their own humanity as they fought to defend themselves against the Terrans.