Magic, Trust, and Choice in the Escape from Atuan

  • Graham St. John Scott

Abstract

Graham Stott explores agency in Ursula K. Le Guin's Tombs of Atuan as something requiring not simply self-confidence, but collaboration and trust as well. He sees Le Guin's decision to shift her narrative away from the magic of the Archipelago and Roke Island as a way of forcing Tenar, her young woman protagonist, to make her own choices, to find subjectivity on her own terms and her own ground. Both those new to and familiar with the world of Earthsea will relish Stott's argument that trust and choice, but not magic, are essential to Tenar's growth into knowledge of herself.

Author Biography

Graham St. John Scott
G. St. John Stott has a Ph.D. from Brigham Young University, and taught American Literature in Tunisia and Palestine for thirteeen years. For the past decade, however, Graham has been publishing as an independent scholar, and is currently working for a joint-venture bank in Saudi Arabia.
Published
2008-12-09
Issue
Vol. 10 No. 3 (2006)
Section
Alice's Academy
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