The jellyfish symbolizes the Taoist concepts central to the novel. Specifically, the jellyfish evokes the idea of Tao (“Way”), which refers to the universe’s natural balance, as well as the behavior needed to obtain that balance, and wu wei (“effortless action”), which refers to an unconscious, spontaneous action that is unburdened by human efforts and in line with the Tao. The jellyfish first appears in the novel’s opening scene, where it’s depicted gliding effortlessly and contentedly through a wide, open sea. The jellyfish’s effortless movements evoke the concept of wu wei, and its harmonious existence within the larger ocean represents living in accordance with the Tao. Though the jellyfish is a “vulnerable and insubstantial creature,” its existence within the larger sea keeps it safe from harm. The jellyfish achieves its safety and reassurance not through physical strength or force of will, but through its natural participation in a larger, coherent whole: through living in accordance with the Tao. The novel depicts the jellyfish’s passivity and inaction in a positive light, insinuating that all beings should aspire to exist in this manner. Things take a dark turn, however, when continents emerge from the water, sever the coherence of the ocean-universe, and threaten the jellyfish’s harmonious existence within the larger universe. The emerging continents represent the chaos and suffering that occur when one engages in disruptive, decisive actions (the opposite of wu wei) that prevent one from living in accordance with the Tao.
This opening scene with the jellyfish also serves as a rough encapsulation of the novel’s plot. The jellyfish represents Orr and the ideal, balanced existence he longs to achieve, and the emerging continents represent the disruptive, outside forces—such as Orr’s preoccupation with controlling his effective dreams, and Haber’s meddling presence—that stand between Orr and a harmonious existence within the larger universe. The jellyfish appears one other time, during an argument between Haber and Orr that occurs much later in the novel. In the midst of attacking Orr’s passivity and unwillingness to use his effective dreams to alter the universe, Haber refers to Orr as a “moral jellyfish,” insinuating that Orr is spineless and lacks moral integrity. That Haber repurposes a positive symbol of harmony and balance to insult Orr shows how much Haber’s views are at odds with the Taoist ideals the novel espouses.
Jellyfish Quotes in The Lathe of Heaven
Current-borne, wave-flung, tugged hugely by the whole might of ocean, the jellyfish drifts in the tidal abyss. The light shines through it, and the dark enters it. Borne, flung, tugged from anywhere to anywhere, for in the deep sea there is no compass but nearer and farther, higher and lower, the jellyfish hangs and sways; pulses move slight and quick within it, as the vast diurnal pulses beat in the moon-driven sea. Hanging, swaying, pulsing, the most vulnerable and insubstantial creature, it has for its defense the violence and power of the whole ocean, to which it has entrusted its being, its going, and its will. But here rise the stubborn continents. The shelves of gravel and the cliffs of rock break from water baldly into air, that dry, terrible outer space of radiance and instability, where there is no support for life. And now, now the currents mislead and the waves betray, breaking their endless circle, to leap up in loud foam against rock and air, breaking… What will the creature made all of sea-drift do on the dry sand of daylight; what will the mind do, each morning, waking?
Orr slept. He dreamed. There was no rub. His dreams, like waves of the deep sea far from any shore, came and went, rose and fell, profound and harmless, breaking nowhere, changing nothing. They danced the dance among all the other waves in the sea of being. Through his sleep the great, green sea turtles dived, swimming with heavy, inexhaustible grace through the depths, in their element.
“Take evening,” the Alien said. “There is time. There are returns. To go is to return.”
“Thank you very much,” Orr said, and shook hand with his boss. The big green flipper was cool on his human hand. He went out with Heather into the warm, rainy afternoon of summer. The Alien watched them from within the glass-fronted shop, as a sea creature might watch from an aquarium, seeing them pass and disappear into the mist.
Jellyfish Symbol Timeline in The Lathe of Heaven
