Social Criticism

One of the most interesting aspects in The Word for World is Forest was the incredibly blatant social criticisms throughout the text. Many of these, namely the two major critiques of racism and rampant industrialism, are highlighted by their seemingly anachronous nature in a society that has progressed so far as to possess technology allowing instantaneous transmission of messages and "Nearly As Fast As Light" transportation. Captain Davidson is developed as basically a character straight out of Ursula Le Guin's time, derogatorily referring to the Athsheans as "creechies" and harvesting anything he can from New Tahiti in order to send to Earth, with no regard for the environment or native species of the planet. However, while many of the social critiques throughout the novel come from Davidson, there exist many depictions of aspects of Terran life in general that have resisted change since today, all of which help to strengthen the messages about society proposed by Le Guin.