The Word for Nature Is Commodification: Capitalist Undertones of The Word for World Is Forest Anonymous College

In Ursula K. LeGuin’s novel The Word for World is Forest, the concept of nature is presented in an intriguing and innovative way. The novel considers nature as a commodity, albeit a commodity that has different meanings for each of the people portrayed in the novel. This essay explores how the concept of nature in The Word for World is Forest is constructed as a commodity by discussing first the earth colonists’ approach to Athshe’s natural resources, then the commodification of women for their “natural” breeding ability, and finally analyzing the way the Athshe see nature through their belief system and the notion of the “dream time.”

When colonists from Earth arrive on Athshe, they approach it as Earth colonists on Earth have traditionally done. They see it as a place from which resources are to be extracted for their use. When the novel opens, Captain Davidson ponders the arrival of a new supply of women (for they are nothing more than a supply, a factor that will be discussed later), and he sees “…rain pouring down into plowed dirt….” (Le Guin 12). This opening, minor detail launches the narrative into a discussion of farming practices and Davidson’s perception that trees were a waste of space if it got in the way of...