Ursula Le Guin presents a utopia that turns out to be not perfect, even nightmarish dystopia. The strain between these two heaven-and-hell antipodes could be added up in a pull between the verbs to seem and to be. A carefree life that seems right, pleasing, or otherwise vindicated turns out to be founded on bias and is ultimately indefensible for some of its citizens. Ethical confusion arises both within the fictional world of the story and in accepting that textual space with the real-world complement that the author arouses in her introduction. Le Guin considers the story an analogy of modern American culture inspired by the “shock of recognition” she faced upon reading this passage from William James. The story is based on a passage from
