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 10: The Anger of the Dark
Length: 8 pages, 84 paragraphs
Setting: The Place of the Tombs
Characters introduced: None
Tenar learns, at last, to really trust another person, and suddenly her world falls apart. The chief thing that interests me in this chapter is how Tenar’s control slips away and how that loss of control is essential to her freedom.
Tenar is confused and afraid in the domain where she once felt most in control. Poor Manan, in his attempt to save her by killing Ged, falls to his death in the pit beyond the treasury. Tenar loses her way and her confidence in her sense of direction in the Labyrinth. In the Undertomb, she finds that Kossil is within the Hall of the Throne, preventing her exit, denying her freedom of movement.
Finally, when the way seems lost, Ged commits the ultimate taboo and returns light to the Undertomb and so they escape.
It’s quite a lot to absorb in a breathless chapter, and someone not quite so sleepy could probably squeeze out a bit more juice for you.
I love that Ged, apprentice of Ogion who calmed an earthquake on Gont, holds off the earthquake here in the territory of the Nameless Ones. As I understand it, Le Guin did not have a master plan for Ged or for this book when she began A Wizard of Earthsea, but she does a remarkable job of crafting this narrative so that Ged seems destined for this moment.
That’s all for now. Until next time.
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