The Word for World is Forest

The Word for World is Forest is the story of the ecological and immoral activities committed by a group of colonists. In search of resources that have been depleted on earth, they impose their power on a forest-covered world inhabited by Athshean natives, whose passive nature is destroyed when the ill treatment of the colonists leads to a violent battle that disrupts their state of innocence. I found that Le Guin incorporates an underling feminist element in her writing, she presents the reader with a male dominated society amongst the colonists, where the only women are prostitutes and concubines who have no voice in the story and whose purpose is solely a stress relief for the men. Besides an inferiority parallel to history and the status of women in society, and I think Le Guin is trying to show that the subordination and inferiority of women in a society can carry over into the actions and crimes pursued men, who feel entitlement in their superiority and power, imposing their dominance over other peoples. This demeanor reflects those of the colonial period where men, blinded by their greed for land, resources, and wealth, are insensitive to the nature in which they impose their power, of which they feel entitled to. This greed and entitlement overpowers their moral justice, seen in the ways they treat the natives are their inferiors. Overall, the story was an astonishing and powerful parallel between human greed, our legacy, and the prospects for the future. It reminds me of the saying that history repeats itself, and has me questioning the progression of society in our behavior, I feel that society tends to look at the injustices of history in disbelief, yet the nature of greed is so imbedded that we’re bound to act upon it and be blind in the similarities of our actions. In this, Le Guin uses our growing demand and exploitation of resources as the next great parallel between the future and the past, showing that our tendencies prevail throughout time, leaving the reader feeling a bit bitter towards the nature of man.