"She Unnames Them" Literary Analysis

      Ursula K. Le Guin’s story “She Unnames Them” takes place when Adam and Eve roamed on Earth.  God gave Adam the power to name each individual animal as he pleased, but this caused Eve to feel a separation between her and the animals.  She felt like the names did not suit the animals and that by naming them, they were naming its essence and determining its sacredness.  She started to unnamed them one by one and felt the barrier between them getting smaller and smaller.  The animals accepted their loss of identity from their general names.  Once the animals’ names are removed, there is no separation from predator or prey.  Eve feels that she is “so close that her fear of them and their fear of her became one same fear.”  She and the animals are now equal, without knowing the hierarchy of each individual.  Eve begins to realize that words are powerful and they should be chosen carefully.  She even questions her own name that God and Adam had given her.  She tells Adam, “It’s been really useful, but it doesn’t exactly seem to fit very well lately.”

     In the story Eve describes how the animals feel about their names.  The animals “accepted namelessness with perfect indifference,” but the pets remained unsure.  Not only were they given generic names, but personal names as well such as “Rover, or Froufrou, or Polly.”  The pets are closest to man, so it is not surprising that they would feel that their names belonging to them were important. 

     Ursula Le Guin’s story “She Unnames Them” takes on a very ecofeminist approach.  Eve wants to be one with nature and feel connected to the animals around her.  Once she had taken away the animal’s generic names, she felt “the desire to smell one another’s smells, feel or rub or caress one another’s scales or skin or feathers or fur, taste one another’s blood or flesh, keep one another warm.”  She finally felt the serenity of being and the equality of nature.  By taking away their names, the barrier between them is broken and she feels vulnerable to the world.   

     “She Unnames Them” also revolves around the theme of power.  God gives Adam the power to name, but Eve seemingly takes away that power by unnaming the animals in which he gave them to.  The hierarchy of man is lost because she is now equal to man.  She has claimed the power of language that was not given to her.  She defies the social class that God had put on humans and animals.  Eve even gives her name back to Adam in order to join the classless society she has built. 

     Ursula K. Le Guin’s story “She Unnames Them” allows the reader to contemplate the complexity of titles and how reality is often categorized.  She makes the audience question whether the names objects and animals are given are a way of respect or a creation of separation.  Eve does not want to feel close to an animal by the association of its name but rather its existence on Earth and its connection with nature.

Contribution to Literary Movements

     Ursula K. Le Guin can be placed in various literary movements such as postmodernism, ecofeminism, and the New Wave.  She is mostly known for contributing to the science fiction theme in her novels and stories.    

     Postmodernism is the period of literary criticism that took place near the end of the twentieth century.   Postmodernists do not believe in universal truths, or that “language conveys an absolute meaning”, or even that there is truth in history other than what people tell.  Ursula Le Guin creates different worlds in her writing and mixes both fact and fiction.  In her story “The Left Hand of Darkness,” the Gethenians can become either a man or a woman and conceive a child. That means they can “experience both fatherhood and motherhood at different times.”  Le Guin also falls into postmodernism because she grew up in a household unbiased towards religion.  Religion is seen as too much of a one directional truth.

     Ecofeminism is the motherly nurturing of Earth and the environment.  Ecofeminism can be seen in the styles of authors as early as the 18^th century and has carried into the 21^st century.  Ursula Le Guin contributed to the renewed respect of the Earth in the 1900’s with the Earthsea series.  She wrote about many environmental aspects such as the appreciation of fresh water and living on a fish and seaweed diet.  “All citizens support a silkworm culture by tending orchards until apathy causes them to abandon their traditions and squander their natural resources.”  Ecofeminism stresses the beauty of nature and the importance of preserving it.

     The New Wave is the literary movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s that focused on the style of science fiction rather than the “scientific accuracy.”  Ursula Le Guin’s literature consists of psychology and sociology, but her science fiction is often considered fantasy.  The New Wave promotes social change and blurs the line between real and unreal. Le Guin has many stories with make believe aspects, fitting her into the New Wave movement.

     Postmodernism, ecofeminism, and the New Wave are all literary movements that Ursula K. Le Guin has contributed to.  Her literature allows a wide variety of criticism and interpretation.

    

          

Works Cited

Barr, Marleen S. "Science Fiction." New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. 2188-2191. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://ezp.tccd.edu>.

"Le Guin, Ursula K. (1929-)." Modern American Literature. 5th ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: St. James Press, 1999. 164-167. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://ezp.tccd.edu>.

"Postmodernism." Literary Movements for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Literary Movements. Ed. Ira Mark Milne. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 615-653. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://ezp.tccd.edu>.

Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. "ecofeminism and feminist literature." Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://ezp.tccd.edu>.

Wilson, Christine. "Ecofeminism." Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender. Ed. Fedwa Malti-Douglas. Vol. 2. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 431-432. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://ezp.tccd.edu>.

The Biography of Ursula K. Le Guin

     Ursula K. Le Guin was born on October 21, 1929 in Berkeley, California.  Her father, Alfred Kroeber, was an anthropologist and her mother, Theodora Kroeber, was a writer.  Ursula Le Guin graduated from Radcliffe College with a bachelor’s degree in 1951.  She then entered Columbia University to earn a master’s degree in 1952.  While pursuing a doctorate in French and Italian renaissance literature in France, she met her husband Charles Le Guin.  They had three children: Elisabeth, Caroline, and Theodore. 

     Ursula Le Guin’s family was quite close, and she grew up in a household where religious beliefs were unbiased.  She claims that she was “brought up to think and to question and to enjoy.”  She was exposed to a vast amount of books, which contributed to her early interest in reading and writing.  Once Ursula Le Guin began to write stories, she found that many people thought of her style as unusual.  It became hard for her to find a publisher who believed in the success of her work.  It was not until Ursula Le Guin discovered science-fiction was she able to find a place where her “crazy” style of writing fit in.  Ursula Le Guin is known for her fantasy fiction and science-fiction works.  She is an award winning author, and she was the first woman to win both the Nebula and the Hugo award for her novel The Left Hand of Darkness.  She appeals to all audiences through her wide variety of literature, ranging from children’s books to adult novels.  Not only are her literary works entertaining, but they address many of the important issues we have in the world, including slavery.

Her common themes include alienation, liberation, ecological and social awareness, and unity through interacting with opposites.

     Even in her eighties, Ursula Le Guin is making statements by winning awards and starting petitions.  She started a petition against Google in 2010, because they were reproducing works without gaining permission from the publishers. She stated towards the issue, “I want my rights, my copyrights. Google doesn't need them, but I do.”  Her stories continue to be successful, and her readers continue to explore her deeper meanings of the “importance of culture, language, belief, and gender roles.”

            

Works Cited

Carmean, Karen; Williams, Donna Glee; Rich, Mark. “Ursula K. Le Guin.” Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition; January 2010, p1-9. Literary Reference Center Plus. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://ezp.tccd.edu>.

"Ursula K. Le Guin." Authors and Artists for Young Adults. Vol. 84. Gale, 2010. Gale Biography In Context. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://ezp.tccd.edu>.

"Ursula K. Le Guin." Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of American Literature. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 962-966. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://ezp.tccd.edu>.