I think I’m starting to realize why LeGuin dislikes power. It’s not just that the ability to do good goes hand-in-hand with the ability to do evil. Power also takes a personal toll on the one who wields it. Under Taoism you can only take as much as you give, and so everything has a price.
In the Lathe of Heaven LeGuin talks about the passive hero George Orr’s wholeness. He never wants to dramatically alter the world around him. He doesn’t want the responsibility. This lack of power allows him to remain complete, untouched, the ideal Uncarved Block.
In Tehanu LeGuin presents the polar opposite. A crude bully who torments a small child is likened to a starving man. LeGuin calls his power “an emptiness” (139), and says that he continues to torment the child in order “to eat.” (112) The power he has gained has left him empty and hungry, and the only way for him to satisfy that hunger is to terrify the girl even more, to re-exert his power over her. And so power is a vicious cycle that continuously feeds off the souls of those that wield it. Even the Tombs of Atuan, in order to gain her power as high priestess, Tenar had to lose her name and become Arha, the “Eaten One.”
Power – even the power to do good – can never truly satisfy. It is inherently destructive and will ultimately ruin even the best of intentions.
On that note, what does it say about Tenar that she is starving right after she learns of the girl’s brush with the sadist?
