Here we have included some reading questions to consider while reading The Dispossessed. Scroll down further for a guide to names, places, and other terms in the novel.

Questions for Discussion

Walls, Prisons, Freedom.The novel’s first chapter begins by describing the wall around the Port of Anarres. What significance does the wall play in this society? How do people interact with it? How could the theme of boundaries and perspective relate to Shevek’s situation? More generally, which cultures do you view as free or unfree in this novel--Anarres or A-Io (in Urras)? Why?

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Utopias and Ambiguity.Le Guin subtitled this novel “An Ambiguous Utopia.” Why do you think she chose this subtitle and what do you think it means? What is “ambiguous” about this novel? Which place is the utopia--the “good place”: Urras? Anarres? Both of them? Nowhere? Where would you want to live--and why?

Shevek as a CharacteR. How does Shevek’s character develop and change in this novel? What does he learn or forget? Le Guin stated that she based Shevek upon the famous physicist Oppenheimer, whom her parents knew. How could this comparison influence your views of him?​​

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Women and Gender. How does Shevek’s view of women differ from those held by the scientists of A-Io? How do these views relate to the feminism of the 1970s when the book was written, and attitudes toward women and gender today? (Recall that in the 1970s many colleges and universities were beginning to open their doors to women for the first time.) How does Shevek’s relationship with his partner Takver compare to his relations with Vea in A-Io, and why do you think the novel sets up this comparison? 

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The EnvironmenT. How does the natural environment of Anarres impact the way that the society functions? How do the Odonians reconcile these restrictions with their freedom as anarchists? How do these restrictions also influence Shevek’s attitude toward the natural environment in Urras?

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Language and Communication. How does this novel play with language through the invented language of Pravic and terms and concepts in Iotian (the language of A-Io). What are different terms that particularly interested you as you were reading, and why? How does this novel deal with questions surrounding communication, dialogue, and translation? Does Shevek succeed in establishing “free exchange” between the two planets?

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CommunitY. In this novel, what holds communities together and tears them apart? Can a community survive or thrive through exclusion (by excluding or rejecting other cultures, people, or ideas)? What common ideas and values can hold a community together? Shevek suggests one possibility (“shared pain”) at the end of chapter 2: is it viable, and are there others?

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Time, Space,and Narrative. The Dispossessed can sometimes be hard to follow because its chapters move back and forth in time and space between the two planets of Anarres and Urras. Why do you think Le Guin structures her novel this way instead of telling us Shevek’s story in a straight line? Why does the novel begin and end with him in transit on a spaceship?

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Science as a metaphoR. Shevek’s scientific theories focus on time both as a linear arrow and a circle/ cycle (with his Principles of Sequency and Simultaneity). How could his theories serve as a metaphor for the form and direction of this novel and of Anarres as a society based upon ideas of revolution?

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The ending/ beginning. What do you think will happen after the book’s ending? How will the Annaresti respond to Shevek and Ketho when they arrive? More generally, what will happen when the ansible (the communication device) is available for all to use?

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Cheat Sheet- Who’s that again?

Names

• Atro- The most renowned physicist on Urras. Shevek has corresponded with Atro and their theories have been in competition with each other.

• Bedap- A friend of Shevek’s from the Regional Institute with whom Shevek had a brief relationship before settling as decidedly heterosexual.

• Chifoilisk- A Thuvian physicist who accompanies Shevek on his tours.

• Desar- A mathematician who is one of Shevek’s neighbors in the Institute of Sciences in Anarres.

• Efor- Shevek’s servant in his university rooms in A-Io

• Gimar- A woman from the Regional Institute who rejected Shevek.

• Gvarab- A woman physicist who is Shevek’s first teacher in Anarres.

• Kadagv- A childhood friend of Shevek’s, a boy who was the victim of their “prison” game.

• Keng- An ambassador in the Terran Embassy in Urras

• Ketho- A Hainish commander on the Davenant spaceship.

• Mitis- A woman who is Shevek’s teacher and scientific mentor at the Institute in Anarres.

• Odo- The woman who started the anarchist movement on Urras that led to Annares being founded. Odo is Anarres’ founding revolutionary--its “Karl Marx”-- but she dies before her plans come to fruition.

• Oiie- An Iotian physicist who accompanies Shevek on his tours.

• Pae- Another Iotian physicist who accompanies Shevek on his tours.

• Palat- Shevek’s father, a kind and caring man.

• Rulag- Shevek’s mother, absent after his early childhood.

• Sabul- A physicist who works at the Central Institute of Sciences in Anarres and controls scientific communications with Urras.

• Salas- A composer who is Shevek’s friend in Anarres.

• Shevek- The protagonist, a stubborn physicist from Anarres determined to bring the two worlds back together.

• Takver- Shevek’s partner, a biologist and mother of their children Sadik and Pilum.

• Tirin- A friend of Shevek’s from the Regional Institute, a sensitive and creative individual.

• Tuio Maddea- A working-class revolutionary in Urras.

• Vea- A wealthy Iotian woman who is fascinated by Shevek and lives a life of leisure and material display. Sister to Shevek’s physicist colleague Oiie.

Places

• Abbenay- The capital and only large city in Anarres, where the Port of Anarres is located. Composed of centralized, identical block neighborhoods of one-story buildings. Home of the Central Institute of Sciences.

• A-Io- The most wealthy and powerful country on Urras, where Shevek lives during his time on the planet. In this country, women shave their heads and do not cover their breasts indoors and men wear short hair but do not grow beards. 

• Anarres- The moon of Urras that Shevek is from. All humans on this planet are descended from Urrasti settlers and live in the anarchist style. Barren and dry with little vegetation and no land animals.

• Benbili- A poorer and less economically developed country on Urras, with lots of political turmoil due to intervention and proxy wars from A-Io and Thu. 

• Hain- A planet in a distant star system, whose inhabitants are the ancestors of humankind on all worlds. Invented the interstellar drive that allows for travel between worlds.

• Ieu Eun- The city in A-Io that houses the World Governments of Anarres, as well as Ieu Eun University, the institution that Shevek has been invited to stay and teach in.

• Nio Esseia- Another large city in A-Io which has vibrant shopping districts and sightseeing. 

• Tau Ceti- The name for the solar system Urras and Anarres are a part of.

• Terra- Earth! It is eleven light years away, but does exist. Read more to hear about it.

• Thu- The secondary main power on Urras, a centralized socialist country which is on the brink of war with A-Io.

• Urras- The main world that Anarres orbits. An abundant and green world with much war and wealth. 

Other Terms

• Anarchism- Defined as “the state or condition of having no absolute ruler or ruling authority,” and as “a political philosophy” that seeks to organize society “according to voluntary cooperation, without any form of governing authority or hierarchy” (Oxford English Dictionary). While many variants of anarchism exist, the term has often been associated with lawlessness, chaos, and confusion.

• Anarresti- A person from Anarres.

• Hainish- A person from Hain.

• Iotic- The language of A-Io on Urras.

• Iotian- A person from A-Io.

• Odonian- Someone who follows the anarchist teachings and systems of Odo. 

• PDC- Production and Distribution Coordination. A computerized system that assigns all labor in Anarres and is supposed to be equitable and unbiased

• Pravic- The language the people on Anarres speak. A conlang, or “constructed language”, which means a language invented by one person or group purposefully, instead of evolving naturally over long periods of time. 

• Terran- A person from Terra.

• Thuvian- A person from Thu.

• Urrasti- A person from Urras.

Work Cited

“Anarchism, N.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, September 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/2397760266.