Review: The Dispossessed

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Overall Review: The Dispossessed is a deeply political book that manages to take a nuanced view of both the anarchist and capitalist societies of the novel’s respective planets. It’s a very intentional choice by Le Guin to make Shevek (the protagonist) critical of his anarchist society while also having him discover the horrors of capitalist society. Le Guin uses vivid imagery of the planets and people to immerse you into Shevek’s world. The characters are compelling and the story complex and intriguing, if somewhat highbrow. The book feels very philosophical and political, and as long as that interests you I highly recommend The Dispossessed — even if science fiction isn’t usually your kind of thing.

Synopsis: Shevek, a mathematician from the Anarchist moon society of Anarres, is on the cusp of discovering a revolutionary faster-than-light technology. He makes the bold choice of going to the capitalist planet Urras to finish developing his theory only to find the chasm between the two societies deeper than he expected. Shevek must navigate the foreign society he finds himself in while dealing with the animosity that runs deep between the people of both planets.

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Not long after reading The Dispossessed, I read The Tyranny of Structurelessness by Jo Freeman¹. It was completely unrelated to The Dispossessed and was recommended to me by a friend who didn’t know I was reading Le Guin. The essay fits perfectly with the themes of the book — it argues that informal self-organized structures inevitably fall into the same inequalities as organized structures of discrimination, which exactly matches the main character Shevek’s experience on anarchist Anarres.

That fun coincidence aside, I enjoyed The Dispossessed. Le Guin’s use of imagery in the world does a lot to flesh out the characters and their stories. Reading the descriptions of the work camp on Anarres, you can really feel the dust caked up in Shevek’s throat and viscerally understand the physical struggle of the people in the camp. When Shevek goes travels to Urras and is whisked away into a car, the rushed description of the scenery gives a sense of how rushed and off-balance Shevek feels in the situation. Le Guin immerses you in her world which helps you connect with Shevek.

The characters themselves are multifaceted and intriguing. Since the book is written as a series of chapters alternating between the present and the past, you’ll catch cryptic references to characters and then a few chapters later learn how Shevek met them.

Most of the characters Shevek meets on the capitalist Urras are archetypes of people the average reader will be very familiar with — the arrogant aristocrat, the rough-and-tumble blue collar worker, the out-of-touch academic, etc. However, Shevek comes from an anarchist commune on the moon and thus doesn’t know any of these archetypes. You as the reader know more about the situation Shevek is going into than he does. We see him discover the perils of modern capitalist society in real time all while knowing the pitfalls ourselves, which builds an ominous sense of foreboding. At the same time you the reader are going through the same learning experience about anarchist society on Anarres, figuring out the archetypes in that foreign society.

Speaking of anarchist society, I was pleasantly surprised how Le Guin used the society on Anarres to delve into social issues. I was expecting the book to mostly focus economic issues. The one I found most interesting was the role of women on Anarres versus Urras. Shevek has this great line where he mentions his advisor at the university was a woman and the academics of Urras don’t believe him. Not recognizing the name, they assumed she was a man. They hold deeply sexist views and get angry when Shevek claims women are just as capable in academia as men. On the flip side, Shevek is perplexed that anyone would ever think to draw a distinction between men and women. When asked whether Anarres discourages women from studying physics, Shevek answers:

“That would be a waste of good equipment,” said Shevek with a laugh, and then a second laugh as the full ridiculousness of the idea grew upon him.

It was a very thought-provoking experience to immerse myself in the anarchist world of Anarres and imagine what the repercussions of such a social structure would be if played out over 100+ years. The most interesting takeaway from the book is that the society of Anarres, despite being seemingly perfectly egalitarian, is sliding back into a hierarchy. Shevek’s advisor can’t formally block his paper from being published since they’re equals, but through built-up influence he’s able to control Shevek, despite that being antithetical to the founding ideals of the society. 50 years later, the idea that societal ideals like equality must be continuously fought for, or else they atrophy, still rings true.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Dispossessed. It’s made me want to read more of The Hainish Cycle.