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. I should also note here that I didn’t notice until the second chapter of Tehanu that I had substituted “deep read” for the academic term “close read.” Alas, I am a writer and only a layman in the academic arts. I’ve elected to keep the title of this series as is because while I quite like this series of posts, I do not think it stands up as a close read.
Chapter 1: Going to the Falcon’s Nest
Length: 13 pages, 64 paragraphs
Setting: The road to Re Albi
Characters introduced: A trader from Re Albi (Townsend, though we don’t have his name yet), Clearbrook the shepherd
Goha and Therru make their way to visit Ogion in this chapter. Goha (Tenar again soon enough) cuts walking sticks for them, which will find their way into paragraphs for at least the next few chapters.
We get a glimpse of the dangers of the road when a crowd of ruffians passes them. I believe, though my memory is flawed, we’ll meet these ruffians again.
We also get a story passed down from Ogion about a woman who was a dragon. We’re awfully concerned with dragons in this book, almost as if we’re going to meet one by surprise.
We find Ogion sickly at the end of the chapter where he ensures we know this is Tenar.
Until next time.
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