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Jerzy's Reviews > Tehanu
Tehanu (Earthsea Cycle, #4)
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It's possible that people who have never experienced much actual trauma or severe discrimination might not understand how on-target this book can be. If that's you, you'd probably find it really interesting to check out Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman for a solid overview of how/why trauma survivors can be crippled by fear in seemingly irrational ways. And The Macho Paradox by Jackson Katz is a surprisingly good book on male violence (and not just against women).
Reading the first 3 Earthsea books, I couldn't understand why some people called Le Guin a "feminist writer." In Tehanu this finally comes across clearly - and it works very well. I love that each of the Earthsea books is very different, and this one certainly takes fantasy novels in a new direction. Dealing with your own weaknesses and other people's ignorance and fear in daily life can take far more courage and perseverance than any heroic quest. Honestly, the feminism of this book is no different from themes that are found in all her other books: no matter what status or power you have, it's important to have respect for people, maintain balance in your actions, and not rely excessively on force.
I'm not sure what to make of the ending, which doesn't tie up some loose ends... but then that's sort of her point, right? Things are never neat and tidy. Life is complex; life goes on.
Previously: The Farthest Shore
by
It's possible that people who have never experienced much actual trauma or severe discrimination might not understand how on-target this book can be. If that's you, you'd probably find it really interesting to check out Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman for a solid overview of how/why trauma survivors can be crippled by fear in seemingly irrational ways. And The Macho Paradox by Jackson Katz is a surprisingly good book on male violence (and not just against women).
Reading the first 3 Earthsea books, I couldn't understand why some people called Le Guin a "feminist writer." In Tehanu this finally comes across clearly - and it works very well. I love that each of the Earthsea books is very different, and this one certainly takes fantasy novels in a new direction. Dealing with your own weaknesses and other people's ignorance and fear in daily life can take far more courage and perseverance than any heroic quest. Honestly, the feminism of this book is no different from themes that are found in all her other books: no matter what status or power you have, it's important to have respect for people, maintain balance in your actions, and not rely excessively on force.
I'm not sure what to make of the ending, which doesn't tie up some loose ends... but then that's sort of her point, right? Things are never neat and tidy. Life is complex; life goes on.
Previously: The Farthest Shore
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Macade
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rated it 1 star
Nov 07, 2012 10:37PM
ok...that's great and all in their own domains. But why does it need to be brought into Earthsea? The theme of this book is completely irrelevant to the rest of the cycle. I don't condone male violence or women suffering in any way. I'm just an Earthsea reader that doesn't see why the dark sexual violent theme needed to be incorporated into this book... This book might be "on-target" in describing trauma and/or discrimination, but why does it need to be? She could have written a book about discrimination/sexual trauma rather than call it Earthsea cycle #4.
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I guess she decided first that that's the topic she wanted to write about next, and then she decided Earthsea was a convenient setting for it?I feel like she did something similar with The Left Hand of Darkness: she wanted to explore a society without gender, and she decided that the setting of her existing Ekumen novels was a convenient place for it, even though there's not much connection between the plot or feel of that book and the previous ones.
Actually, there is both darkness and sexual violence in "The Tombs of Atuan". Tenar, too, is a survivor. There's a reason why she is so drawn to this child, IMHO. Good review!Oh - and I think you need to remember that this book slots in during and immediately after "The Farthest Shore", when dragons and humans alike have fallen into unreasoning violence and things are falling apart. Don't mean to spam the thread here; good review and good comments!
I think this book fits in perfectly with the other Earthsea stories. In The Farthest Shore Ged and Lebannen here rumours of and see terrible things: the see islands where the people have gone mad and burned the forests and they don't know why, we hear stories of parents murdering their children, Ged himself is nearly murdered. This story is a continuation of the themes of The Farthest Shore. A child is raped and burned, nearly murdered. This is what has been happening in Earthsea up close and personal. The madness unleashed by the wizard Cob has its roots deeper in Earthsea than Ged knew during his quest. It will take more than the coronation of a new king to root out this corruption. Therru/Tehanu has a role to play in this. "A woman of Gont", a daughter of dragons. She is the answer to the prophecy made by the Master Patterner. Magic has always been for men in Earthsea, so the men think. They denigrate and despise the witches. They fear them. Ged's first teacher was a witch. Earthsea now has a king who can see the value of all of his people both witch and wizard.
