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 7: Mice
Length: 18 pages, 164 paragraphs
Setting: Re Albi
Characters introduced: Five men sent by Lebannen who will return
I hate to once again compare Earthsea to Middle Earth, but this chapter finally got something through to me that I think I’ve been missing.
Ged can’t face the men sent by the newly returned king. He’s still recovering from the quest and must learn how to be himself in its aftermath. Tenar, key player in the returning of the king, has been living on Ged’s childhood island as a wife and mother for years.
We may not know it yet if we are only just encountering Tehanu, but there is something wrong on Gont.
It will go a very different way, but this is Le Guin’s Scouring of the Shire.
It took Arren’s messengers contrasted with Heather and Therru’s bounty of frog legs to make me see the connection. The world of the grand quest and of power was visiting the hearth and home, creating ridiculous juxtaposition.
Until next time.
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