The fact that Modh has to use rudimentary gestures to communicate with her captors draws attention to the pronounced linguistic and cultural divide between the Sky People and the Dirt People. And half opened her eyes, like a dead person she leapt up with her hands held like claws and her face distorted, and pretended to attack Vui she pointed at the sick baby.” ("The Wild Girls", 211) “Modh kept up her pantomime: she lay down, lolled her head.
The description of the roofs as toadstools keeps with the idea that the town is quirky and like a mythological shire, with homes that blend seamlessly into nature. Underhill,' said the villagers as he passed them in the narrow street between houses with conical, overhanging roofs like the fat red caps of toadstools.” ("The Rule of Names", 279)
This simile foreshadows the fact that Mr. “Each breath shot out of his nostrils as a double puff of steam, now-white in the morning sunshine.” ("The Rule of Names", 279) This is yet another example of how gender roles are malleable and can easily change based on a society’s values. In Seggrian society, women have many of the characteristics that are traditionally ascribed to men: assertiveness, directness, confidence, etc.
“Noem, like a woman, was direct and receptive.” ("The Matter of Seggri", 170) Later the story reveals that the women are actually the more civilized members of Seggrian society and they view the men like animals that have escaped from their proverbial cage, in this case the village castle. As men, the observers interpret the women’s behavior as animalistic because they flee from them. This is an example of an anthropological misinterpretation stemming from biases applied to observations. “A few of my men following some girls on the road, women rushed from the town like a pack of wild beasts, so that the men thought it best to return forthwith to the castle.” ("The Matter of Seggri", 133) This idea appears again later in the story when most of the tenclone dies and the Exploitation Corps simply sends more clones without missing a beat. “The Exploitation Corps simply sent out teams regularly and as blindly as a dandelion sends out its seed, knowing there would be a job for them on Libra or the next planet out or one they hadn’t even heard about yet.” ("Nine Lives", 36)Ĭomparing the Exploitation Corps’ decision to send out teams to dandelions sending out seeds suggests that the corps carelessly and thoughtlessly sends out teams with little regard to what happens to them. This quote offers a foreshadowing as two earthquakes lead to two devastating incidents later. “As Pugh saw this there was a shock like one of Libra’s earthquakes inside him, a very deep tremor.” ("Nine Lives", 31) The sound of the children’s voices adds to the festive mood of the occasion and serves to underscore the joyfulness of the festivities. “Children dodged in and out, their high calls rising like the swallows’ crossing flights over the music and the singing.” ("The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", 1) Le Guin paints a vivid picture of Omelas to emphasize the city’s beauty and splendor. Buy Study Guide “The air of morning was so clear that the snow still crowning the Eighteen Peaks burned with white-gold fire across the miles of sunlit air, under the dark blue of the sky.” ("The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", 1)