In this series, I’ll be working my way through Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea works and analyzing her prose chapter by chapter. Spoilers follow.
Chapter 8: Hunting
Length: 18 pages, 68 paragraphs
Setting: Various islands
Characters introduced: the Kargad castaways
I have very little to say about this chapter. I think Le Guin plays this chapter pretty straight. The tide has turned and Ged hunts his own shadow across Earthsea.
The castways are a sort of “Riddles in the Dark” parallel (and it is at this point I wonder how consciously Le Guin is working these Tolkien parallels in). Rather than through deception and for self-preservation, Ged comes by his broken legendary ring by showing kindness to two broken souls on a nameless and hopeless island.
I know the ring returns, but I cannot now recall how much more, if any, we learn about the castaways and how they managed to survive on this desolate island.
My favorite turn of phrase here is only a partial sentence. I love the rhythm of it.
“Had he lost one instant, he had been lost; but he was ready. . .”
Until next time.
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