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Literary Devices
Definition of Allegory
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and events. The story of "The Tortoise and The Hare" is... read full definition
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and events. The story of "The... read full definition
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and... read full definition
Allegory
Explanation and Analysis—Anarres and Us:
The many societies that the novel depicts—Anarres and Urras, and Urras's nations A-Io, Thu, and Benbili—function as allegorical representations of different societal models. Some of these models resemble societies familiar to the reader. Anarres, however, isn't a reference to an existing society, but rather a model for what an anarchist society might look like.
Urras is not Earth. Within the world of the novel, Earth has become "Terra," a planet that was stripped bare of its natural resources in the past and faces hardship in the present. Inhabitants of Terra look to Urras as a utopia, shocking Shevek, who comes to view it as akin to hell. Le Guin's Terra is a somber cautionary tale about taking our planet for granted. But Terra is not the focus of the novel and is not the narrative's primary cultural critique.
While Urras is different from our world in many ways, it bears many similarities to Earth. The Dispossessed was shaped in large part by the Cold War politics of its era: the two large states of A-Io and Thu are analogous to the USA and the USSR—two world powers embroiled in espionage, proxy wars, and an arms race. According to Le Guin, Shevek himself was inspired by J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who was instrumental to the Manhattan Project and the development of the first nuclear bomb. While Shevek explores Urras, A-Io and Thu are fighting a background proxy war in the impoverished nation of Benbili so as not to bring the “barbarism” of war home. From Shevek's perspective, neither A-Io or Thu offers a desirable societal model. Le Guin draws attention to the similarities between the two states (which consider themselves diametrically opposed to each other) rather than the differences to point out that neither state stands for the common interest of humanity.
Odonianism, the philosophical foundation of Anarres that saturates the novel, casts the fundamental structure of society in stark terms. Odo, the writer, philosopher, and activist, laid out the ills of Urrasti society and proposed an alternative model that was realized on Anarres. Property possession is such a central concern of Urrasti life because of the existence of Anarres. The presence of the anarchist world throws Urrasti society into stark contrast. Property, an element of life that we take for granted, is depicted as an absurd notion that is antithetical to the possibility of freedom. Shevek's distaste for the materialistic lifestyles of his Urrasti colleagues extends to the materialistic culture of our world, and his convictions have the potential to resonate beyond the page.
Related Themes:
