Ursula K. Le Guin’s collection of short stories, The Birthday of the World and Other Stories, explores different science fiction worlds with a very anthropological focus. She also seems to focus on two core fundamentals of any society, family units and sexual relations. Although each story in itself is very interesting and thought provoking, what struck me as most intriguing was how she presents each new world or society and how that world relates to ours.
Firstly, Le Guin never sets a back-story; each short story throws the reader right in the middle of a society by using unfamiliar words and values. For example, in “Coming of Age in Karhide,” Le Guin speaks of kemmer nonchalantly and it is up to the reader to figure out what kemmer actually is. This makes these worlds seem more real. In the real world there would be no back-story, people would just exist within the confines of that world.
Secondly, each world seems to be radically different from ours on the surface, but on a deeper level is revealed to be loosely based on an aspect from our world. The Karhide story seemed to be based on human sexuality and raw emotion linked to it. The Ki’O society highlights the importance of the family unit in all aspects of everyday life. The world of Eleven-Soro exaggerates the difference between men and women and the roles they are meant to play. This connection to the real world is fundamental to virtual worlds. Virtual worlds are created in this world and so, on some level, have a thematic connection to this world whether the creator intended so or not.
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