SFF Readalongs led by Kitty G discussion

This thread is for initial thoughts and discussion of chapters 3 and 4 of The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin

*** As always, if you're going to spoil anything please remember to use the Spoiler tags ((click on '(some html is okay)', copy in the spoiler tags, remove the '...' and write out the spoiler-y stuff where it was and everything inside the tag will automatically be hidden)) ***

* Don't forget the hashtag for this readalong if you're using Twitter/Instagram - #TheDispossessed17 *

A few questions to help:
- Are there any characters you're rooting for or more interested in?
- What themes are the most interesting to you?
- Is there anything in this book you've not seen done before?

Are there any characters you're rooting for or more interested in?
I'm not sure I've fully connected with Shevek yet as he's a peculiar character. The world he comes from is so very different to how we as humans are. It makes him seem a little alien (probably intentionally) to me. Also he has the aloofness of a super-genius :D

What themes are the most interesting to you?
So far I most like the clash of cultures. This is always something I like seeing and I find the navigation of political and social currants can be really engaging when it's done in Le Guin's fantastic style :)

Is there anything in this book you've not seen done before?
I think Le Guin always manages to surprise me with her stories becuase they are always far-reaching, yet they also manage to feel intimate and contained within their universe. I feel like I always have a good grounding in the world, and so when new ideas are brought in or character I never feel overwhelmed.

Things I want to mention:
- on Pg. 64 I really liked this quote, 'We ignore you, you ignore us. You are our history. We are perhaps your future. I want to learn, not to ignore. It is the reason I came...such ignorance is a wrong, from which wrong will arise. So I come to learn.'
This is a quote from Shevek/Le Guin which I just feel is so incredibly poignant and still hugely relevant to today. Imagine having the chance to meet someone who is kind of like you, but also totally alien to you. They may have lived on another planet, or they may just have grown up in a different way/place/time to you, but that is no reason not to learn from them and listen to them, in fact, it's the perfect opportunity to do so!

Another moment I liked was on pg. 94
"Didn't everybody at every refectory...get the same, share and share alike? He had always been told so and had always found it so. Of course, there were local variations...Most refectories served dessert once or twice a decad. Here it was served nightly. Why? Were the members of the Central Institute of Sciences better than other people?"
In this one Le Guin is challenging the social expectations of privilege. I love seeing how she subtly takes something that is so common and unfair in our real world and cleverly inserts it into her own story. The way that Shevek's upbringing has made him see the world is vastly different from how the people of Urras see it, and so he does silently question these strange ranks they place on themselves.