The Life and Studies of a Negligent Sorcerer: A Review of A Wizard of Earthsea
I’m going to keep ruminating on books that were popular during my time on OKCupid with the next few posts, because I got unanimous praise about the last post in that regard. Another popular novel I noticed was “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles. If you didn’t read it in middle or high school it’s another schoolyard drama (minus the spells, though). Instead it is a story of hubris, cruelty and World War 2. It contains one case of combat fatigue, a show trial and a protagonist who cripples his friend in one brief flash of anger during the breaking point of a one-sided-rivalry. Ever thought about what that could look like using the summoning of evil spirits, instead of just pushing someone out of a tree?
Enter Ged Sparrowhawk of Ursula K. Le Guin’s “A Wizard of Earthsea”. Le Guin establishes in the beginning who this protagonist is and what he will eventually do to an extent and it has effectively ruined the concept of having a civic minded spellcaster as a central character for me. Better for the hero to be successful, self-interested, ambitious and too smart and cocky for his own good. It makes for an amazing spectacle while he channels forces that can lead to months in the infirmary, monsoons and collateral damage involving the martyrdom of some of the most powerful men walking the Global Archipelago. Like “The Name of the Wind”, which I wholeheartedly endorsed in last week’s post, this novel is about a young man growing up. Like most young teenagers, Ged is impulsive, angsty and prone to proving himself. “Evil” is not the right word to describe him by any means but he certainly has an insatiable lust for more power and is disturbingly comfortable with the general concept of using it.
I’m a huge fan of the views of politics within the sci-fi and fantasy genres that Le Guin had. This book showcases some of them. Her belief is that the fantasy genre is meant to give characters immense power so that you see what that power does to them physically, morally and mentally. It’s not easy to write cautionary stories when one side is so obviously perfect, even if the hero is mild mannered 90% of the time or too tiny to wield a sword against a goblin, never mind a horde of orcs. His commitment to the program is too honest and professional for him to be, at the very least, the problem as well as the solution.
The lack of interest that Ursula had in struggles between good and evil is also present throughout Ged’s story. In a time where J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were writing about innocence resisting in the face of total darkness, cruelty or depravity, Le Guin, among other authors that I’m a huge fan of, brought a more complicated moral perspective to the genre. If you can cause earthquakes with your voice and your hands, does it matter what your intentions were after starting one? This is book in not about battling a force of darkness with cruel intentions towards an entire land’s inhabitants. This book is about one reckless misuse of power after another. Oh, one last thing. I promise, it won’t remind you of real life.

