Le Guin uses her motif of “walls” throughout the first couple chapters of The Dispossessed and the motif appears in the opening of the novel. Le Guin presents a physical wall that “did not look important…built of uncut rocks roughly mortared”, but “there had been nothing in the world more important than that wall” (Le Guin 1). While the wall itself is not a physical marvel, it provides the job of being a barrier between the planets of Anarres and Urras. I feel that this wall has a much greater mental impact on those who live in Anarres and creates a theme of isolation. Le Guin specifies that this wall serves as a separation between the Port of Anarres and the “rest of the universe” but it also serves to enclose the entire planet within itself (Le Guin 2). By stating that Anarres is looking to separate itself from the rest of the universe and Urras, it feels like it really builds this theme of isolation around Anarres as a completely different universe rather than just a different planet.
The motif of walls not only applies to the physical walls but the mental walls that humans create within themselves too. How is it possible for someone’s thoughts to be walled off? This becomes the case when your thoughts and decisions are completely based on one aspect of information or society, and you do not accept other views that oppose yours. Dr. Kimoe is described by Shevek as having “walls around his thoughts, and he seemed utterly unaware of them” (Le Guin 16). When questioned by Shevek about his thoughts on gender, religion, and race, Kimoe simply responded with a societally shared ideology. Men are superior, the Urrasti are superior, and the Urrasti religion is superior. When you simply base your entire thought and decision-making process based on society’s ideal, are you not completely walling yourself off from learning about the rest of the world around you? Similar to how Anarres walls itself out from the rest of the world around them, or how some members of a political party refuse to accept the tenets of another political party.
Another central idea to the novel that I believe Le Guin brings up using her motif of “walls” is not just the idea of physical separation, but also ideological separation. When illustrating the wall, Le Guin also states that the wall “was ambiguous, two-faced. What was inside it and what was outside it depended upon which side of it you were on” (Le Guin 1). This statement shows that there are different perspectives based on what side of the wall that you are on, which applies greatly to the aspects of life in Anarres. The idea of the isolation between Anarres and Urras is one of these aspects that change based on what side of the wall that you are on. To those is Anarres it kept them isolated from the rest of the world and those who come in through the port which leaves Anarres “outside, free”, but to those on the other side of the wall there becomes the idea that the isolation of Anarres is similar to that of a “great prison camp” where there is typically no freedom (Le Guin 2). Anarres believes that there is a wall protecting their “free” society from the “corrupt” influence of other planets, while those who view Anarres from the other side view the society as completely imprisoned by their ideologies. Society beyond these walls is also drastically different due to the different perspectives that the walls create, which causes the ideological differences between the capitalist Urras and anarchist Anarres. The creation of these different perspectives caused by the walls becomes the basis for Le Guin’s argument on utopia vs dystopia. There is truly no one “correct” ideology, but whatever side of the wall that you are on will determine what you perceive as utopia or dystopia. If you live in Anarres then you will believe that it is a utopia and that Urras is a dystopia because its society follows ideals that are completely opposite from your ideals.
In this case, Le Guin’s motif of walls goes beyond a philosophical boundary and connects heavily with the ideological concepts of the Cold War. The United States and the Soviet Union engaged in ideological warfare for a claim to the most effective governing ideology: capitalism or communism. Anarres illustrates the Soviet Union since it retains themes of collective action and Urras represents the United States since it is described as being a capitalist society. There was even a physical wall in Germany, that divided the country into two parts and left lasting effects on the regions that had been affected by either a communist or a capitalist ideology. The motif of walls in Le Guin’s novel extends far beyond the conception of a physical wall, but it also represents a mental and ideological wall. The philosophical idea of a wall is significant even in our own reality.
Works Cited:
- Le Guin, Ursula K. The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia. [1st ed.]. New York: Harper & Row, 1974.