25 Discussion Questions for The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (With Analysis) | Chapterly Blog
Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed is one of the most intellectually rigorous political novels in science fiction, and The Dispossessed discussion questions push readers to think carefully about freedom, property, power, and what we owe each other. Whether you are in a book club, a college course on political philosophy or speculative fiction, or a reading group interested in utopian thought, these questions are designed for substantive conversation. Published in 1974 with the subtitle "An Ambiguous Utopia," the novel alternates between two worlds: Anarres, a barren moon settled by anarchist revolutionaries who have built a society without government, property, or hierarchy; and Urras, the wealthy, stratified mother planet. Shevek, a physicist from Anarres, travels to Urras to share his revolutionary scientific theory and confronts the limitations and hypocrisies of both societies. These 25 questions are organized by theme. The Dispossessed Discussion Questions: Anarchism, Freedom, and Social Order Le Guin does not write propaganda for any political system — she writes a novel that subjects every system, including the one it most sympathizes with, to relentless scrutiny. Anarres is built on freedom and mutual aid, but Le Guin shows how even a society without formal hierarchy develops informal power structures,...