“Fantasy is true, of course. It isn’t factual, but it is
true. Children know that. Adults know it too, and that is precisely why many of
them are afraid of fantasy. They know its truth challenges, even threatens, all
that is false, all that is phony, unnecessary, and trivial in the life they
have let themselves be forced into living. They are afraid of dragons, because
they are afraid of freedom” (The Language of the Night 44).
The
starting point for discussing the original Earthsea trilogy must be the idea that
they are only a set of children’s books. The study of the literature of
childhood informs us that books have depth and levels that a book aimed at
children appeals to those children in one way and the adult readers in another
related way. But the above Ursula K. Le Guin quote reminds us that children are
much more astute than we generally give them credit for. Children feel the deep
meaning of literature even if they do not necessarily understand it just as
adults still revel in the wonder that fantastical fiction inspires in children.
But those of us who have made an effort to understand the theoretical aspects
of identity formation see that authors have always understood what Jung and
others have officially catalogued. In many ways Jung as a psychiatrist/philosopher
is simply doing the same work as an author- they are both trying to understand
people and explain that understanding. How else to explain that Le Guin says
that she had not read Jung until after writing the Earthsea books, which can
almost be considered field manuals for Jung’s theories on the shadow? The point
of all this is that literature of childhood is important because it is one of
the factors leading to identity formation in children. By providing children
with literature that challenges basic societal assumptions those children begin
to acquire a knowledge base of individualism and freedom.
Le Guin states in
the above quote “they are afraid of dragons, because they are afraid of
freedom” in response to why many male adult Americans believe fantasy to have
no adult value, this brings us to the second reason that literature of
childhood is so important, the meanings that can be derived by adult readers,
or more importantly the fact that by denying the basic truths found in these
fantastical tales adults are denying their childhood instincts and in many ways
denying half of themselves. They are, to use Jungian terms, denying their
shadow. Denying their shadow means here that many adults are simply living on
the conscious level, dealing with surface issues while allowing their other
halves to atrophy. The stereotype of the business man in his white shirt who
only reads the newspaper and claims fiction is a waste of time is also
generally linked to a lingering dissatisfaction with life or a need to relive
his high school football glory days. These dissatisfactions are really their
shadow trying to break into the conscious world, trying to allow the conscious
to realize that by buying into the idea of societal norms (often called the
parent world) and burying everything that does not fit those norms they are losing
their ability to choose their own path.
The idea of
freedom and choosing ones own path is the over arcing theme of the Earthsea trilogy
which follows the identity formation of three different individuals
:
Duny/Sparrowhawk/Ged in
A Wizard of
Earthsea (1968), Arha/Tenar in
Tombs
of Atuan (1970, Arren/Lebannen in
The
Farthest Shore (1972)
.
Each of these individuals goes through a transformation, a journey which could
be characterized as an example of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. The
unifying concept of each journey is the idea of balance which is a fundamental
notion in Le Guin’s Earthsea. Le Guin in her essay “The Child and the Shadow”
expresses that “Evil, then appears in the fairy tale not as something
diametrically opposed to good but, as inextricability involved with it, as in
the yang-yin symbol. Neither is greater than the other…” (66). Balance then
means that the traditional western idea of duality, that is the need for two
diametrically opposed forces, is irrelevant because they are not opposed but
complementary and necessary to each other. Therefore it is very important to
examine how each of these four journeys is simply an attempt to find their own
personal balance, but larger than that each of the individuals by finding their
own balance has a profound affect on the balance of the greater world around
them. In order to show these balance quests I will use Jung’s studies of the
psyche to show how the individuals are either being chased by or chasing their
shadow, their unconscious, and also how Jung says, “the psychological rule says
that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside as fate”
(Eigen). One of the key factors in this examination is how each book seems to
add complexity to the journey, hiding the signposts and making us as readers work
harder to see the manifestations of the shadow. Further the trilogy as a whole
forces us as readers to question the way that gender is presented. Because in books
one and three women are almost of no account and in Tomb’s the story of a woman
she is empowered by men and lives in a community without feminist principle or
perhaps any femininity at all. In
addition to the idea of balance and gender I believe that it is very important
to illustrate how these novels make an effort to show the power of knowledge
and the danger of acting without enough knowledge. Each of the novels has
moments where either the main characters or the characters acting as obstacles
act out of ignorance and with each of these moments there are direct and easily
observed punishments.
A Wizard of Earthsea
In A Wizard of Earthsea the individual or
hero is Ged, Ged being his true name. “A
Wizard of Earthsea is, of the three novels, the most complete account of
coming of age as a journey into the self” (Cummins 30). The reason for this is
partly because Le Guin seems to make an effort to document in clear terms each
and every step which Ged takes in his journey. But it is also partly because in
terms of time this story shows a long maturation process of Ged from small
child all the way to accomplished mage. Ged’s childhood is quite familiar to
the readers of literature of childhood, he grows up with a disinterested father
and no mother. Therefore like many of the protagonists in children’s books he
is a blank slate waiting for experience to etch its message on him. Of course
fate steps in and does just that (or is it authorial intent?) by having Ged
simply copy the words of his Aunt the village witch Through the words Ged is
able to bewitch the goats but the actual meaning is much greater because this
action shows the witch his potential and he takes his first steps in magery.
But even with his new found status as apprentice to his aunt Ged is still a
village boy with some power and less knowledge this is when fate truly steps in
by sending invaders, kargs, into his village. Ged in this instance achieves
several different milestones because for the first time does meaningful magic
of his own devising by creating the fog that defeats the Kargs. Through that
magic he shows his worth to his father who before the battle confronted him
“’be still, fool! Keep your blattering mouth shut, and hide if you can’t
fight’” (Earthsea 21)! Thus showing his lack of respect or understanding for
what is truly the essence of Ged, language and magic. Even though Ged wins the
day for the villagers it is not entirely a positive experience because this is
the first, in a long sequence, of times where Ged acts without contemplating
the consequences of his actions. Ged in this case is using magic in a way he
has never contemplated or seen and the result is that the Kargs are defeated
and he is left “standing by himself, bearing no hurt, but speechless and stupid
like one stunned” (23). Ged abuses his power by acting without the knowledge to
understand what he is doing or what his use of power will do to him. This abuse
of power is one of the key points in the quartet because it amplifies the need
for education and restraint. Ogion is wise because he only uses his power when
he has to and because he continues to expand his knowledge in order to
understand those situations when power must be expended. Ogion is also the only
one who can bring Ged back from the stupor his overuse of power has left him
in. In addition later in the novel Ged abuses his shape changing ability, again
out of necessity, and Ogion is the only one to coax him back to his human form.
Ged’s
use of magic to defeat the Kargs is the first instance where he works outside
the balance but it is not the last. It is interesting that while many of Ged’s
flaws are internal ones such as pride and jealousy the impetus for his
miss-steps tend to provoked by external stimuli. But external stimuli cannot
provoke unless as in Ged’s case the flaw is already there. With Ged we see
early in his training what one of his largest flaws will be, impatience. “’You
want to work spells,’ ogion sid presently, striding along. ‘You’ve drawn too
much water from that well. Wait. Manhood is patience. Mastery is nine times
patience” (28). That impatience is again invoked when Ged is confronted by a
girl in the woods, her questioning mirrors his impatience with Ogion’s training
because she questions his ability to do magic. This girl acts as the first of
many representations of Ged’s unconscious and is in Jungian terms a projection which
is a “natural and given thing for unconscious contents to be projected” but
according to Jung it is also normal for individuals to “never see through our projections
but must always succumb to them” (Jung Lexicon, 104). Therefore Ged’s inability
to discern if the girl is taunting him ort merely just curious is his inability
to determine how much of what he is seeing is simply his own frustration
projected onto the girl. Whatever the reason the girl’s questions and
challenges lead to Ged to his second abuse of power because he attempts to
change his shape by reading in Ogion’s lore books. “He looked for a spell of
self-transformation, but being slow to read the runes and understanding little
of what he read, he could not find what he sought” (Earthsea 33-34). I tis
obvious that Ged is venturing far past his knowledge level and as such must be
punished, and that is exactly what happens. Ged had unwittingly been trapped
into reading a spell of summoning the spirits of the dead. Here Le Guin uses
classic imagery to show the positive and negative by having Ogion dispel the
shadow, which was blacker than the darkness around it, through the use of his
bright white mages fire. But more than simply being representatives of good and
evil these two are also knowledge and ignorance because Ogion is able to dispel
the shadow through his knowledge and power much like Ged is able to create the
shadow through his ignorance. Indeed we
find out that the entire affair came about because of Ged’s ignorance “’You do
not remember what I told you, that that girl’s mother, the Lord’s wife is an
enchantress’” (Earthsea 35)? Of course Ged does not remember the lesson and
this lack of understanding is the chink that allows his unconscious fears and
doubts to leak out leading to mischief. Ogion then tries again to teach Ged, “’It
may be she who opened the book to the page you read. The powers she serves are
not the powers I serve: I do not know her will, but I know she does not wish me
well. Ged listen to me now. Have you never thought how danger must surround
power as shadow does light? This sorcery is not a game we play for pleasure or
praise. Think of this: that every word, every act of our Art is said and done
either for good, or for evil. Before you speak you must know the price that is
to pay’” (Earthsea 35)! Ged still does not understand his youth and impatience
make it impossible for him to learn from mere words, he needs actions and thus
consequences for him to learn the truth of the balance. The speech by Ogion
could be used as a definition for what the balance in the Earthsea quartet
means. The balance is all about informed decisions, understanding that by using
your power in any way it is affecting the world and therefore tipping the
balance.
The
girl in the clearing is daughter to an enchantress, she follows powers which
are in conflict with Ogion’s. She is evil. But Ogion, does not make it that
simple because as he said their can be no shadow without light and thus the
reverse is true. In order to have balance you must two sides. The difference
between balance and the western duality is that in balance the two sides rely
on each other and both sides in order to survive must acknowledge that they
have aspects of the other inside or they will be unable to survive. However one
aspect of balance seems to have been corrupted, in the first three novels, by
the patriarchal nature of both Earthsea and wizardry in particular. Women in these
novels seem to be almost universally presented as wicked and/or ignorant, the
girl in the clearing is an example of this. Also the presentation of Ged’s aunt,
the witch, who has no concept of balance and believes in using whatever power
she can in any way possible in order to better her life. When seen through the
mantra of the wizards these actions are chaotic and in many ways negative.
Therefore if the books are successful at instilling their dogma of balance then
the books are also presenting the women in a negative light. These are of
course ideas which will be dealt with throughout the analysis of the four
books.
Ged’s
journey at this point in the story is still mired in immaturity, he has
achieved great actions but he still has not found even a path leading to his
own personal balance. As Ogion seems to recognize Ged must learn the hard way,
through experience. That experience occurs at the school of Roke
where Ged goes to continue his education. Ged from the beginning finds his
nemesis in the person of Jasper. Jasper is an interesting example of a shadow
projection because in many ways he is a hybrid. While it is true that Ged from
the first projects his insecurities about being a Gontish goatherd anong the
almost royalty of the Roke wizards on to Jasper. But it is not that simple
because it seems that Jasper is using Ged also as a projection of his
insecurities about others being more naturally talented then him. Regardless
the two are like oil and water and their animosity overshadows the fact that Ged
is the rising star who “within a month was bettering lads who had been a year
at Roke before him” (Earthsea 55). In the end Ged must be true to his impatient
self and no matter the praise and status must jump at Jasper’s challenge to
again try and raise a dead soul. This is a deliberate signpost because of the recurring
theme of death as a black art as well as Ged’s inability to remember the
lessons he has learned. The summoning of course goes astray and this time the
shadow which Ogion had banished can not be contained and grievously injures Ged
before escaping. Like the first instance of the shadow Ged acts without true
understanding of the powers he is invoking and again he is acting because of
the stimuli of his shadow. Jasper is simply acting out but Ged perceives all of
Jasper’s actions through his own projections and therefore Ged cannot refuse
the challenge. Also because Ged has enhanced Jasper’s position as a threat
through those projections Ged even makes the challenge more serious than it really
was by claiming to be able to raise the ancient dead. This is the turning point
of the novel because Ged finally understands that power has consequences, even
though again he had used power without truly understanding what he was doing.
According to Elizabeth Cummins in her book Understanding
Ursula K. Le Guin ‘Ged misuses his power in the duel with Jasper because he
is more interested in demonstrating his personal power than he is in respecting
the interrelationship of light and dark” (34). In many ways this misuse is much
worse because Ged has some understanding of magic and also knows that Ogion had
proclaimed the spell to be of unclean power.
The new Archmage
tells Ged in an echo of Ogion’s speech “You have great power inborn in you, and
you used that power wrongly, to work a spell over which you had no control, not
knowing how that spell affects the balance of light and dark, life and death,
good and evil. And you were moved to do this by pride and by hate. Is it any
wonder that the result is ruin” (Earthsea 81)? Further the Archmage defines the
shadow as “it is the shadow of your arrogance, the shadow of your ignorance,
the shadow you cast” (ibid). Jung says of the shadow, “The shadow is a moral
problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can be conscious
of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To be conscious of it involves
recognizing the dark aspects of the personality to as present and real”
(Lexicon 123). But even though Ged is being told by the Archmage that the shadow
is a construct built of his flaws he does not yet understand and must complete
his journey in order to recognize that. Cummins says, “Ged allowed his
conscious mind to call up Elfarren while his unconscious mind simultaneously
attracted the shadow” (34). For Ged Jung’s idea of a moral effort occurs while
being chased by and chasing the shadow.
After the incident
with the shadow Ged loses many of the characteristics which the Archmage had
associated with the shadow unfortunately without those traits he also loses his
ability to be great. Therefore many of the trials that Ged goes through are
simply him trying to recapture his own confidence and ability while still
maintaining a balancing attribute. For Ged this of course means that he needs
to learn patience and humility. For the purposes of this paper we will only
examine a few key incidents in the remaining journey. The first incident is
soon after Ged leaves Roke and is in the small port city of Low Torning. Ged here begins to relive the
moments of humanity through his relationship with Pechvarry the boat maker. Ged
balances his own self by learning true sailing to augment his knowledge of
mage-sailing. But the true importance is Ged using his power in a reckless
manner once again. This time he is not using it for personal gain but rather to
save the boatmaker’s son. Ged ignores the knowledge he has amassed in Roke and
“summoning his power all at once and with no thought for himself, he sent his
spirit after the child” (Earthsea 96). This selfless action sends him down the
slope towards the land of death but he is unable to save the child and almost
dies himself. Like he other two major uses of power Ged is again incapacitated,
a sure sign of reckless power use, also like those other two examples Ged is
suffering because he attempted to use power he did not understand. There are
many similarities between this action and the summoning of the fog because in
both cases Ged uses questionable methods in order to achieve pure goals.
Further as Cummins says “When he gives in to the temptation to bring
Pechvarry’s son back from the land of the dead…Ged learns that neither death or
evil can be eliminated” (36). Death is a certainty and to defy death is
unnatural, in opposition to the natural balance of the world.
The next major
step in Ged’s journey is his encounter with the dragon Yevaud also know as the
old dragon of Pendor. This is a major event because here Ged learns from his
experience with Pechvarry and ignores temptation while taking responsibility
for the people by denying the dragon’s offer of the shadow’s name. Instead Ged
insists that the dragon never again attack the Archipelago. Ged is finally
making the change from as Rebeca Eigen says, in her article The Shadow Dance- Understanding Repetitive
Patterns in Relationships, “Changing our attitude from blame to
responsibility will change what happens next in our world” (handout). Basically
Ged is taking responsibility which means that he is taking steps to fix the
problems rather than simply blaming someone for them.
After leaving the
dragons Ged we see still has not realized the true meaning of taking
responsibilities because he still flees from the shadow and this act of fleeing
leads him directly to his next hurdle. Ged’s fear is used against him and he is
tricked into going to the court of Terrenon. At the court Ged is again offered
power to defeat the shadow, this time from a dark artifact. The artifact which
had enslaved the people to its power wanted Ged to be its new master so that it
could use his wizardry. This dark artifact is of the same material as the
shadow, a darkness that allows no light and thus is upsetting to the balance.
But Ged resists the temptation and is able to escape from the court, even
saving the lady of the court from her murderous husband. Ged has again made a
conscious decision to refuse benefit because that benefit is not beneficial to
the balance but only to himself. But also Ged continues to flee from his
troubles.
Here is another
example of how women are portrayed in the novel and interestingly it is
actually the same women, the girl who tempted him in the clearing has become
the woman who tempts him with the dark power. In this instance there is no
doubt to her being misunderstood, she has fully chosen the dark path which is
amply proven when during their escape she finds it necessary to run hot lead
through the servants who hope to detain her. This is before they make any
effort to harm her which makes it quite unnecessary. Gender in this book is so
seldom shown that these small examples become magnified in the lack of other
positive examples.
Ged finally finds
the route to freedom by consulting with Ogion. This scene is another reminder
that knowledge is the key to survival, “’The evil thing, the shadow that hunts
me, has no name’…’All things have a name,’ Ogion said” (Earthsea 145). Ged
simply must find the name for the shadow. Ogion again gives the answer, “you
must turn around…If you go ahead, if you keep running, wherever you run you
will meet danger and evil, for it drives you, it chooses the way you must go.
You must choose. You must seek what seeks you” (146). This is the moment of responsibility for Ged
he realizes that by confronting the shadow he can end the conflict. Also
Ogion’s words lead Ged to start at the beginning to “learn that the most
important knowledge is one’s being (’the source’) and one’s beginning (‘that
which lies before the source’), the realities of his own psyche. The shadow
acts out of the very power that Ged refused to recognize in himself, primarily
the desire to control” (Cummins 36-37).
Only two more
episodes of note are remaining the first is a small aloost insignificant event
when Ged shipwrecks onto a desert Island. Here
Ged shows his new found ability to be responsible and to think about his actions.
He finds two old survivors on the island to which he just tries to stay out of
their way. But in the course of his stay the old woman shows him kindness and
even gives him a gift (this seems to be the starting point for the Tombs of Atuan because the old lady gave
Ged half of the ring which he trying to complete in that novel), In return Ged
gives them a clean flowing spring, a great gift but also one that is carefully
safe in terms of the balance whereas in the past Ged would have attempted something
much more flamboyant in order to save the couple. This responsibility is also a
sign that Ged is ready for the final showdown with his shadow.
The climax of the
novel is really quite simple in that Ged finally allows himself to regain his
wholeness by naming the shadow as himself and acknowledging that the dark
traits of the shadow are really his own dark desires and fears. Cummins says,
“He (Ged) must act out of knowledge of the myriad powers and must act only when
there is a clear need to assist the Equilibrium or the human community. To
participate, not to change; to act appropriately, not to master- these become
Ged’s ethical principles” (38). Here the first step of Ged’s journey ends with
him understanding the fact of balance that there can be no light (himself)
without dark (his shadow). But the journey of Gd is actually one that continues
throughout the quartet as he becomes the guide in the next two novels and a
mere bit player in the fourth.
Tombs of Atuan
Tombs of Atuan is the story of a girl, a
girl who has been displaced and given power but not understanding. Like Ged
Arha/Tenar must learn in order to find her place. Her journey is one of
understanding that the role she has been placed in is a construct. She is a
slave to ideology, she makes no choices but simply follows the dogma that she
has been taught. Much like Ged the idea of the shadow is prevalent with
numerous characters fulfilling roles that show what Tenar is hiding, even from
herself. Unlike Ged’s journey in which we see him literally grow up and travel
in order to finally find that the truth has been inside of him the whole time.
Tenar’s journey is very private, she never leaves the tombs until she has made
the discovery that she does not really belong there. Cummins agrees with this
and says, “The Tombs of Atuan focuses
on the journey outward to knowledge of the relationship between self and
community” (39). Moreover the story
itself is very short in time because we are not shown Tenar growing up, we see
her being stolen as a baby and then going through her rite of womanhood. Soon
after this rite Tenar’s journey begins and is soon over, soon in terms of time
but long in terms of emotion.
The theme of
outside stimulus starting these “heroic” journeys is a theme that is constant
in the quartet. Here there are three key moments where outside forces change
Tenar’s life. The first is of course the moment when she is determined to be
the next incarnation of the one princess and sentenced to life as a priestess
at the Tombs. This moment comes very early in her life which is crucial to the
cause of indoctrination, she must be trained to believe that her role is both
important and an honor. She is being placed into a community who live in a
veritable prison, where men are forbidden and she must believe that it is honor
to live this way.
Not surprising by
the time we rejoin her she has bought into the ideology, she believes that
because she is the one priestess that she is powerful. However this belief is
rocked by the arrival of three male prisoners for her to dispose of. At this
point we meet the most important shadow character in the form of Kossil who has
fully accepted her place and role as priestess to the God King. Ironically
Tenar realizes in the course of her journey that Kossil who s completely
invested in the system has no belief in the reality of the God King, she
worships the power that the system provides. Tenar in the beginning believes
but we see that when she is ordered to kill the prisoners, in the name of the
nameless ones, she begins to doubt. In the study of literature of childhood the
term parent world is quite important because it represents the false limits
placed onto individuals or perhaps it is better to say false realities in which
they live. Tenar as the One Priestess is living in this alternate reality, the
proof of this is obvious because after she kills the prisoners her unconscious
rebels, she begins to dream about how wrong her actions were. The unconscious
as we know is the meter for how true a life we are living, when self deception
is prevalent then the unconscious becomes restless. On the opposite side of the
shadow character is Penthe who represents free living and light. She has not
bought into the system and is simply living there because she must. At this point
in the story Tenar is so devoted to her reality that if given the choice she
would choose to stay whereas Penthe is the example of reason who sees the tombs
for what they are. a prison.
The third outside
stimulus is of course; Tenar finding and trapping Ged in the Labyrinth. Ged is
a symbol of everything her ideology loathes. He represents the sorcerers of
Earthsea whose ideology is freedom and whose symbol is the glowing wizard’s
staff. Whereas Tenar is of the earth, not the seas, and darkness is the symbol
of the Nameless Ones. These contradictions, along with the fact that Ged is a
man, make it very surprising that she not only allows him to live but actively
helps him by providing food and water. Returning
to the theme of the unconscious Tenar is torn from the first burst of brilliant
light; her conscious thoughts are “Forgive me that I have seen Your (nameless
ones) tombs violated. You will be avenged. O my Masters, death will deliver him
to you, and he will never be reborn! Yet even as she prayed, in her mind’s eye
she saw the quivering radiance of the lighted cavern, life in the place of
death; and instead of terror at the sacrilege and rage against the thief, she
thought how strange it was, how strange…” (Tombs 69). Her mind’s eye here is
representing her unconscious which is fighting to escape the shell which her
religious ideology has created and escape into a world where it is illogical to
kidnap children and execute people. This is the first but not the last time in
which Ged is the subject of conflict between her conscious and unconscious self.
She allows Ged to live constantly spouting how she is simply trying to make his
death linger in order to please the Nameless Ones, but in reality she has
doubts and those doubts are able to stop her from killing him until she is sure
it is the right thing to do. Her reality is being changed by her unconscious
which is making decisions for her so that she can avoid the horror that she
still remembers from killing the prisoners. The chances of Tenar killing Ged
becomes less and less likely as she continues to speak with him and observe
him. She is humanizing him, showing that he is not evil or even that much
different from her. However her conscious self continues to deny that she is
betraying her ideology and continues the fiction that she will kill him in the
end. Ged solves the rift through the simple solution of choosing between saving
him, her unconscious wish, and letting him die, her conscious duty. Tenar
clings to her duty and place claiming the Nameless Ones will kill her for
leaving but Ged responds, “To be reborn one must die, Tenar. It is not hard as
it looks from the other side” (Tombs 126). Ged is telling her that her true
spirit is not going to die only the Arha construct which her ideology created
will die. In the end Tenar frees herself by making the choice to go with Ged. Of
course that decision has other consequences of which she had no idea and the
hardest one of all is that by choosing to leave with Ged she allows Manan to
die in an effort to save her from the wizard who had beguiled her. This is the
death that hangs over Tenar because Manan is her responsibility and more than
that he was the one who loved her for being her not because she is the One
Priestess. So by accepting responsibility for Manan’s death on the boat ride to
Havnor Tenar is showing that she has, like Ged, matured to the point of
understanding that no matter the blame you are always responsible for events.
Many read this
story as Ged freeing the trapped girl, much like a Disneyesque tale of the
Princess waiting for her Prince but in reality Ged is nothing more than a tool
that Tenar uses to unlock her own unconscious. Cummins phrases it quite well by
saying that “it is a mistake to say that Ged “saves” Tenar; she saves herself,
but Ged functions as the midwife in the rebirth” (42). There is a chance that
without Ged she never would have escaped but there is an equal chance that she
could never have survived long with her unconscious fighting her every move. In
terms of gender Tomb’s presents an
issue because it is a novel about a woman who lives in a compound of women but
in almost every way the life being led is the same as a man because the
compound is not a matriarchal society but rather women placed into a
patriarchal system. Kossel and Tenar are both allowed power in a system by the
God King, a man, and the power they wield is masculine in nature as is the
society. Later in the paper this distinction will be quite clear because the
fourth book is more of an honest depiction of how society is different from the
perspective and inside the power structure of women.
Tenar is a strong
woman and in the end she escapes but of course that escape is not the end of
the tale, because she has to escape to somewhere. In this case Ged takes her
back to the inner lands where she is a hero for returning the Ring of
Erreth-Akbe to Havnor. But Tenar wants none of that; she needs isolation and an
opportunity to normalize her life. She has been through trauma and needs time
to sort it all out and figure out where her life will lead now. Not to mention
that whereas Ged spent his entire childhood and early adulthood trying to
decipher his identity Tenar has spent maybe a few months to completely reorder
her life. She has accepted her shadow as part of her and seen that her choices
lead to the destruction of all that mattered in her previous incarnation. Also
Tenar has not been allowed as Ged was to learn about the world and through the
world herself. She was taught what she needed in order to be the one Priestess,
nothing more. In fact when asked by Ged if she can read she responds, “’No it
is one of the black arts’” (Tombs 124). I tis fitting both for Tenar’s journey
but also for Ged’s that Tenar is to begin her reborn life in the hands of Ogion.
Ogion who Ged was to immature to heed is the perfect teacher to integrate Tenar
into a society of freedom.
The Farthest Shore
While each of
these tales has its own significance, especially to the individual whose
journey we are reading, The Farthest Shore
is the tale which is most significant to the world as a whole. Its
importance is simple; Lebannen will be the High King of the inner lands if he
completes his journey. But of even more significance if this mission is failed
than magic will also fail. Regardless of the greater consequence this tale is
still focused on how Lebannen grows into the man he will become. The pattern is
almost identical to that of the first two novels with Lebannen first needing
some forms of outside stimuli to show that a journey is needed and then hurdles
along the way. Much like Tenar he has Ged to serve as an advisor. One of the
patterns that has become clear across these four books is that when the
individual on the journey is male he must go on a journey that includes great
physical distances whereas in the two female driven stories distance takes a
backseat to the idea of an interior struggle.
Lebannen is the prince
of one of the more important Islands in the
Archipelago and as such is a person of power and responsibility. That is why it
is quite clear that the situation is serious since the ruling prince not only
sent his son to Roke to report on the disappearing magic but also ordered him
to make himself available to help. The disturbance in the magic then is the
stimuli which forces Lebannen down his path. The second stimuli is that Ged
both decides that the issue is serious enough to warrant him leaving Roke to
investigate and to bring Lebannen with him because it is not a coincidence that
Lebanon should have been the messenger. There is quite a bit of the old idea of
fate in this story as the master patterner says of Lebannen being the
messenger, “not by chance does any man come to the shores of Roke. Not by
chance is the son of Morred the bearer of this news” (Shores 24). In many ways
this book is the most traditional of the four because it is a story of a King
being made. It has the old ideas of fate and adventure, but Le Guin turns it
all on its head by making much of the journey boring. They travel far together
Ged and Lebannen but for much of the book they see ordinary people who have
become slightly crazy because of the new lack of magic, especially because one
of the facets of the lack is that the people do not remember what they have
lost.
The distinctive
tone of the quest is puppy love because Lebannen is in awe of the Archmage, at
the start of the journey. This love is actually a shadow construct because
throughout the novel we see Lebannen projecting onto Ged, mostly because of his
feelings of inadequacy. While everything in the journey seems to be in slow
motion Ged does discover rather quickly that the villain is a man and that the
reason magic is failing is because that man is craving “power over life—endless
wealth, unassailable safety, immortality—the desire becomes greed. And if
knowledge allies itself to the greed, then comes evil. Then the balance of the
world is swayed, and ruin weighs heavily on the scale” (35). Therefore the
villain they seek is the man who is subverting death. This ties in with our theme
of knowledge because the symptoms of the magic drain are an inability to use
the true words or even remember magic related words. Hare cannot even say the
word wizard when he is trying to explain why he is using the Hazia drug to
chase his dreams of immortality. Lebannen also cannot completely escape the
temptation of immortality because for him it is a good thing, a comfortable
thing. That is why in Hort
Town he chooses to allow
himself to follow Hare down the path to try and find the root of immortality. While
Lebannen does give in temptation he also is beginning to show independence by
making choices. Choices are the key to the balance because a person is able to
choose light or dark or a mixture whereas as we saw with Tenar if there are no
choices then their can be no balance.
Choices have consequences,
so even though Lebannen is taking a step forward by making a choice that choice
leads to him being captured and enslaved, balance in action. Ged of course
rides in like a white knight unleashing his wizardly might to free Lebannen.
But it is another action of Ged’s which gives us true insight into what Lebannen
is trying to overcome in his journey. When Ged is injured we see Lebannen
frozen and unable to act, he has up to this point believed utterly in the
Archmage as an unbeatable power which allowed Lebannen to continue to believe
that he is a mere sidekick wit no real purpose. Eve though Ged himself has
named Lebanon
the guide and true force behind their mission, he has responsibility but he has
not accepted it yet. He is still in the blame stage of development. The incident
which truly exposes Lebannen’s inability to understand the situation is the
dyer of Lorbanery who everyone says is mad, including Lebannen. Ged allows the
dyer the same freedom as he has allowed Lebannen, the ability to choose. Here Lebanon
thinks fiercely that Ged is wrong but he suppress these thoughts and continues
to believe that Ged is the leader and he must simply follow. He is by denying
his instincts also denying his destiny to lead. Cummins describes Lebannen’s reaction
to Ged’s injury: “When Ged is wounded, Arren (Lebanon) is so overcome with the
presence and fear of death that he cannot think or act. Unwilling to examine
himself, he blames Ged for all that has happened; despairing, he sees Ged with
‘no power left in him, no wizardry, no strength, not even youth, nothing’
(108). Having denied his own potential for evil, he has essentially been
fostering and believing in a false self; when I crumbles, there is nothing for
Arren to get hold of to help him solve the problems. He is without hope”
(53-54). But since he is without hope we know it is now time for him to rise,
to regain his path and complete his journey. There is a nice interlude where
Lebannen remembers who he is, a prince, as well as what the stakes are in their
journey.
The next step is
of course the end where Lebannen finally takes responsibility for the actions
and stands up. The first sign is of course that Lebannen becomes a dragon lord
of sorts by speaking to the great dragon Orm Embar, without fear. But the real
change is that he realizes that he is afraid of death and that it is only right
to fear death. Because of that realization he is able to become the man and
king he will be. More importantly to this story he is able to accompany Ged
into the dark lands. They journey into the dark where the horrors of eternal
life are sown to be a loss of community because these souls which Cob has
trapped are incapable of feeling even for themselves let alone others. Even Cob
is shown to be nothing more than husk of a man whose fear of death has made him
afraid of life and doomed him to a life in the limbo of the dark lands. The
final test for Lebannen comes after they have defeated Cob and Ged has sealed
the rift in the world. Because then Lebannen must return to the land of the
living, thorough the mountains of pain. But with his new found sense of self he
is both able to escape and bring Ged with him thus fulfilling his vow that he
would be returning with Ged.
Much of Lebannen’s
journey is exciting with its pirates, dragons and wild magic. But the true
meaning happens inside of Lebannen’s head where he finally allows the
equilibrium to settle. Lebannen must realize that he is capable, that he is
more useful than he believed at the start of the journey when he told Ged “I
have no great gifts or skills. I can fence with the short sword and the noble
sword. I can sail a boat, I know the court dances and the country dances. I can
mend a quarrel between courtiers …and that is all. There is no more. What use
will I be to you” (Shore 27)? But more than just that litany of minor skills
what really worries Lebannen is the possibility that he will fail Ged. His
doubts prove that he is the right person for the journey because he is already
thinking about being responsible, but is hampered by his own lack of faith in
his own abilities. That is the key in his psychological journey the ability to
fear failure but to try anyway. That is another aspect of balance because if
you never attempt something difficult enough to fail at you will never reach
very high. That fear of failure is one of the key components of the parent
world where individuals refuse to try to be different because of the shame that
they will fail at it. The security of the herd means that everyone can succeed
as long as they do not try to be ambitious.
Conclusion
These three novels
are perfect examples of how an author takes a theme and plays with it inside of
different possible constructs. Each story starts with a different premise and
leads us to the same principle, that to choose and take responsibility for that
choice is the true power of balance. Each character learned that lesson in
their own way, generally with the help of Ged as Campbell’s spiritual figure. But more than
just having different types of characters those characters must overcome very
different psychological hurdles which were constructed quite beautifully with
Jungian sense even though Ursula K. Le Guin said that she had not read any
Jungian theory until after she had written the novels. In some ways that proves
the power of Jung whose concepts like the shadow are so universal as to be
unavoidable when writing tales of identity formation.
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Cummins,
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Curry. Steven. “Freudian
Terminology.” Class Handout. 2008.
Curry, Steven. “Initiation as a
right of Passage.” Class Handout. 2008.
Curry, Steven. “Jung: On the
Shadow.” Class Handout. 2008.
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