Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Lathe of Heaven, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Limits of Utilitarianism
Dreams and the Limitations of Knowledge
Cosmic Balance
Power and Selfishness
Summary
Analysis
An omniscient narrator describes a jellyfish swimming through the sea. The vulnerable creature gathers strength from the vast ocean that surrounds it. But land masses impede the ocean, interrupting the “endless cycle” of its tides. The narrator asks what the jellyfish will do when it is thrust onto land, and “what will the mind do, each morning, waking?”
The sea and the jellyfish symbolize the Taoist concepts of Tao (“Way”) and wu wei (“effortless action”), respectively. The water symbolizes the Tao—the balanced universe—and the jellyfish symbolizes the harmonious existence of a creature practicing effortless action (wu wei) to maintain that universal balance. The rhythmic, instinctual motion of the ocean’s tides mimics the natural, unceasing rhythm by which the universe achieves and maintains a state of natural balance. The emerging continents symbolize the destructive and disruptive effect that deliberate, conscious action (the opposite of effortless action) has on the universe. Just as the continents cut through and disrupt the natural “endless cycle” of the ocean’s tides, so too does the practice of deliberate, conscious action disrupt the natural rhythm established through effortless, unconscious action. Here, the continents disrupt the jellyfish’s effortless, peaceful journey through the water when they thrust it onto land. When the novel compares the act of waking to the jellyfish being thrust onto land (and presumably left for dead), it positions the waking, conscious mind as dangerous and unpredictable in comparison to the sleeping, unconscious mind of watery effortless action.
Themes
The narrative shifts to a man with burned eyelids. He’s restrained by fallen blocks of concrete. Once the blocks are gone, he can move again, and he sits up. He’s sitting on some cement steps, and there’s a dandelion near his hand. Eventually, the man stands up, though he’s very ill from radiation sickness. The man walks toward the door of a small, cramped room and staggers down a long hallway.
It’s unclear if the man’s burned eyelids are symbolic or literal. This scene is rather odd and fantastical: the man seems to be in a chaotic, apocalyptic setting, yet when he physically rises, he’s in the comparatively normal setting of a room situated at the end of a hallway. Since the narrative referenced waking from a dream in the earlier scene, one can speculate that the apocalyptic setting in which this scene begins is the man’s dream, and the subsequent bedroom setting is where the man is when he wakes up from that dream.
Themes
Mannie, the elevator guard, asks the man if he’s drunk or on drugs. The man denies being intoxicated and talks about being sick and unable to find the key to unlock the door to his dreams. The man struggles to breathe, and Mannie tells him the medic is coming, though the “roaring seas” drown out his voice.
The man’s odd response to Mannie might suggest that the man actually is on drugs. This would also explain the burned eyelids and cement block imagery present in the preceding scene: they could either be drug-induced hallucinations, or drug-induced nightmares. Throughout the novel, water symbolizes the Taoist concepts of Tao and wu wei (“effortless action”). The novel also explores the ways in which the content and development of dreams mimic the natural, spontaneous movement of effortless action, so the fact that the narrator can’t hear Mannie over the “roaring seas” symbolically suggests that the man can’t hear Mannie because he’s slipping into unconsciousness—the place where dreams occur.
Themes
The medic arrives and gives the man an injection to stop him from overdosing. The man says he’s been using drugs for a couple months now. The medic knows that the man must’ve borrowed other people’s Pharmacy Cards to get the pills and urges him to identify the people whose cards he used—it’s just a formality, nobody will get in trouble, and the worst that will happen to the man is he’ll have to undergo Voluntary Therapeutic Treatment (VTT).
VTT is hardly “voluntary,” since the man seems to have no other option but to participate in this course of treatment. The social or legal acceptability of coercive treatment says something about the kind of society this man lives in: it seems rather dystopian, bleak, and authoritarian.
Themes
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The man refuses to give any names, and the medic warns him that he’ll be jailed or sent away to undergo Obligatory Therapy if he doesn’t cooperate. Mannie lies and tells the medic that he loaned his card to the man, whom he calls George.
Whether or not he’s telling the truth about loaning George his Pharmacy Card, Mannie’s decision to cover for George presents compassion toward others as an antidote to authoritarian power.
Themes
The medic and Mannie advise George to take it easy and stay inside, though there’s not much reason to go outside, anyway: the GPRT drivers are striking, hundreds of kids from “Basic Support” families have kwashiorkor, and the government can’t seem to do anything about any of it.
The dystopian world in which the novel takes place is characterized by workers’ unrest, systemic poverty, extreme starvation (kwashiorkor is a severe form of malnutrition), and government ineptitude. It’s clear that all is not well in this society and there’s much room for improvement.
Themes
