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Metaphor
Explanation and Analysis—The Storm:
After months apart, Shevek's desire to reunite with Takver and Sadik is metaphorically represented as a storm. This metaphorical storm is joined by the literal stormy weather on the night that he returns to Anarres: The city around him is dry and windy enough that the wind fills the streets. Shevek's feelings unite with the wind around him, and both the wind and his own passion propel him forward:
They came into the city late on a windy night of early autumn. It was getting on for midnight; the streets were empty. Wind flowed through them like a turbulent dry river. Over dim street lamps the stars flared with a bright shaken light. The dry storm of autumn and passion carried Shevek through the streets, half running, three miles to the northern quarter, alone in the dark city.
The "dry storm of autumn and passion" is a combination of the literal stormy wind and the metaphorical "storm" of emotions that Shevek is feeling. By blurring the lines between reality and metaphor, Le Guin represents how emotion and imagination can sometimes overtake one's experience of reality. Shevek's emotions are as powerful or more so than the storm around him, so they become a storm unto themselves. The passion that he feels is equated with a force of nature to convey its strength. Within the metaphor, the storm is personified as “carr[ying]” Shevek through the streets, implying that it has a will of its own. While it does not literally carry Shevek, that is not how he experiences his motion.
When Shevek discovers that Takver has taken a posting in another place, the metaphorical storm does not cease, but instead halts:
The storm, the impetus that had hurled him through the streets, was still in him. It had come up against the wall. He could go no farther, but he must move.
The emphasis placed on the power of the storm makes it even more significant when its progress is halted. The storm of emotion still persists within Shevek, but it is restrained by external forces. The “wall” of Annaresti society is positioned here in opposition to the desire within Shevek. Because Shevek’s desire has been metaphorically equated to a natural force, Annaresti society is implied to be restrictive to human nature—in this case, it has kept Shevek from his partner and his child. This opposition, the contest between nature and society, deepens Shevek’s gradually growing distrust of the Anarresti social order.
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