Sci-fi and the Word for World is Forest

After reading this book, I've had to reevaluate the way I live my life and not in a sense that the book would have triggered. It's more in a sense of I watch far too much Sci-fi TV if I really wasn't very surprised by the events that happened in the book. Already, without much knowledge of what sci-fi means or what its purpose is, I can tell you that the book follows many of the themes that appear constantly in Sci-Fi. Thus, I'll explore this possibilities by comparing it to one of the shows I watch, Doctor Who. To begin with, the very title of this book reminds a common theme of language barrier. In Doctor Who, there are languages with limited or no English translations like the one feature in the book (in the Athsheans' language, that is). One very simple thing that the book's very title the Word for World is Forest (of which concept we learn more as the book progresses) reminded me of was the way a certain race of people in Doctor Who (Gamma Forest People, they are called) loosely translated the name of a certain human child Melody Pond into River Song because those were the only words that were remotely similar and widely used for these meanings in their native culture. On the same note, the way the Athsheans translate words into English is based on what they associate with such a word because they might not have a single translation for every English word. Another important thing to not is the view on race. The question repeated throughout the book from the Terrans is who is superior and if the supposedly primitive Athsheans will respond violently. This is a big concept in the science fiction universe because we've explored so many possibilities of the results that could occur. Identity is a sensitive for every being because it indicates power. Unfortunately, as this book shows, power is often confused with superiority. Just because one has the upper hand on authority doesn't mean they are the better person. On Doctor Who, this issue is explored a race of "aliens" called Daleks, who consider themselves better than everyone and everything else in the entire universe. Their way of coping with the all inferior beings is to "exterminate" everything on site, which they are completely capable of and would accomplish if the Doctor didn't stop them on every attempt. Of course, Le Guin's isn't quite as extreme but the similarity still stands that because one race of beings believes they have the power to suppress the other race of beings, they will consider themselves superior.

The bigger picture, of course, is how this book, and sci-fi generally, relates to the <Todorov> spectrum of supernatural, fantasy, and uncanny, which is quite simply explained by the effect the novel takes on the reader. The reader will undergo a feel of uneasiness from the way this is similar to what one sees on a daily basis . .. yet not completely. That feeling hangs over the reader until one knows that everything is what it seems and everything has gone astray. This is one of the goals of sci-fi: to be a bit uncanny. It's whole purpose is take things we know to be familiarly factual, and frankly already a bit scary, like science and take onto a level we've not discovered yet. That is why science fiction can be frightening: the suggestion of one phenomenon has not be totally explored so the possibility such a scenario is real can still stand.