THE UNRAVELING OF A WORLD: DEGENERATION IN URSULA K. LE GUIN’S EARTHSEA CYCLE

Abstract

In the first Earthsea trilogy, Ursula K. Le Guin exposes the process of degeneration, humanity’s connection to it, and how restoration counteracts the devastation of degeneration. Throughout the trilogy, degeneration comes in different forms. Each novel focuses primarily on personal and collective degeneration and how through acts of self-sacrifice the protagonists are able to restore themselves and their world to its original state. Unlike a series that promotes reformation, like The Hunger Games, where degeneration is combatted with rebellion and revolution, the Earthsea Cycle portrays a world in need of restoration rather than reformation in order to correct the consequences of degeneration.