Bringing us back from the focus on the cold war, this blog post talks about The Dispossessed. It is a mix on historical isolationism and recent utopian theory while wrapping it together with the contrasting sides of communist and capitalist ideology. The novel was a great way to connect the real world context that was recently focused on with science fiction texts.
The idea of walls is a constant in the planet of Urras and its society. The singular walled of spaceport encapsulates the isolationist policy of the planet and the close-minded ideologies of its people. Dr. Shevek notes that Dr. Kimoe’s opinions “had to walk around this and avoid that, and then they ended up smack against a wall” (16). Shevek thinks that Kimoe has “walls around his thoughts, and he seemed utterly unaware of them, though he was perpetually hiding behind them” (16). Shevek’s description comes during their conversation about gender equality, religion, and xenophobia in Urras. Kimoe, and Anarres as a whole, is focused on the idea of superiority in society. Men are superior, Urrasti are superior, and their personal religion is better. Kimoe’s opinions are limited by his need to adhere to the Urrasti ideals while trying to explore possibilities beyond them. This is shown when Kimoe speaks about how he has “known highly intelligent women, women who could think just like a man” right after saying “You can’t pretend, surely, in your work, that women are your equals” (17). Shevek describes him to be “pounding his hands against the locked door and shouting” to leave the walls of his mind (17). It seems the sexist comments are a regurgitation of common Urrasti ideas of women, while the intelligent women he speaks about are his real thoughts. The walls that the Urrasti place on their citizens are firmly entrenched in their minds as well as their spaceport.
Another instance of walls in The Dispossessed is Shevek’s discovery of the idea of prison in his childhood. The Life of Odo is his entry to the idea of people being locked away against their will and being forced to do things through the power of others (34). The walls of the prison and the locked door in the learning center were a lesson for the five boys. It was their first taste of imprisonment and having power over someone else. Shevek was uncomfortable and shaken by the feeling of power over Kadagv. The segment demonstrates how much free will is emphasized in Anarres. The very concept of taking someone else’s free will away from them is unheard of and abhorrent. Walls, as a whole, had no place in their society.