[Pages Read: 55]
Of course life intervenes and throws off my posting schedule. Between going on a trip to visit friends in Dallas, packing for a move, and leaving in a week to work on a project in New York for 5 weeks – life is hectic and reading is something I do for like 5 minutes before I pass out. Now that the excuses have been dispensed, on to The Dispossessed. Beginning of the books shares a very familiar structure with its predecessor The Left Hand of Darkness, we’re given sweeping impressions of Anarres (best understood as the Moon) and introduced to Shevek. There’s some sweeping dialogue to open regarding walls and how we perceive and define them, which I found quite interesting – perhaps I have just never considered barriers in a more full and philosophical sense. The second chapter (much longer than the chapters seen in TLHoD) chronicles Shevek’s past and his life growing up on Anarres, particularly how that life is a pursuit of knowledge and exceptionality – which we can assume is why he is currently on Urras (best understood as Earth). Again we can feel the sweeping metaphors between utility/decadence, selflessness/selfishness, and the collective/individual. You can already tell these two worlds are perfectly balanced against one another, and yet they have no contact beyond Shevek finally making the trek to visit the forbidden land. I assume the story moving forward will show the Force, I mean, worlds finding balance.
The Galaxy Beyond Time 