Reworking the myth: Questing heroes in Ursula K. Le Guin’s hainish cycle

Abstract

This thesis examines the questing heroes in contemporary American author Ursula K. Le Guin’s speculative fiction set in the alternate-history/future-history universe of Hain to demonstrate how she rewrites the Eurocentric heroic archetypes and undermines the normative standards of hegemonic masculinity to offer a more inclusive and subversive definition of heroism. Notably, travel and mobility are quintessential to the American literary imagination since the nation’s history has been traditionally defined by narratives of exploration and conquest along the frontiers of the New World. The concept of travel and physical mobility, however, has largely been perceived as a masculine enterprise. Although, the term ‘hero’ is gender-neutral— and has been generally recognized as such since the efforts of Second-Wave Feminism—the heroes of traditional American quests are, more often than not, white, heterosexual males who are toughened adventurers and fearless explorers with a penchant for violence. In such fictional quests, the marginal presence of women and queer characters are for the sole purpose of glorifying the hero’s presence and achievements. Contrary to this, in Le Guin’s speculative fiction we find male, female, and queer heroes who are at times helpless, emotional, guilt-ridden, ageing, and struggling with physical and mental debilities as they engage in their quests. Notably, Le Guin’s protagonists, conflicted and sentimental yet hopeful and resilient, survive physical and psychological ordeals to produce alternative definitions of heroism. Additionally, by reading quests as journeys of introspection and identity formation, the study investigates how Le Guin’s heroes negotiate with communities and social groups similar to and different from their own and how it transforms their perception of self and societal norms. This thesis, therefore, is an attempt to study how Ursula K. Le Guin while working within and deviating from the narrative structure of the monomyth, repudiates the traditional Eurocentric hyper-masculine hero archetypes to pave the way for a hero figure who finds utmost value in kindness, community, connection, and empathy.