Ursula K. Le Guin's Novel
Why do we no longer get the day off for Columbus Day? Is the "discovery" of an already inhabited land with a fully functional society really something worth celebrating? Even today, more than 500 years after Columbus first "discovered" the "new world", Native Americans continue to fight for their rights and continue to stand against discrimination and oppression. Recently, there have been some measures taken against this discrimination, for example, in 2020, the Washington Football Team took the initiative to change their team name from the "Redskins" to the "Football Team".
This is a step in the right direction, however, discrimination against Native Americans continues to be an issue in the United States, and teams such as the Cleveland Indians continue to play under an offensive and insensitive name. Although actions like these are being taken to compensate for the wrongful events these Indigenous people have faced, their culture and traditions must continue to be protected and preserved.
Moreover, Ursula K. Le Guin, the author of Dancing to Ganam doesn't seem to think Columbus' style of "discovery" is something worth celebrating. Instead, through the tragic hero, Dalzul's tragic flaws, Le Guin shows us how the "discovery" of a formerly inhabited land should be frowned upon, not celebrated. Standard Science Fiction stories tend to rely heavily on futuristic concepts such as revolutionary space travel, extraterrestrial life, advanced technology (artificial intelligence, robots, etc), and in general, ideas revolving around futurism. However, this is not necessarily the case in Ursula K. Le Guin’s story Dancing to Ganam, as Le Guin introduces historically common themes and traits to suggest that sci-fi can be utilized to reflect on the past rather than project the future.
The story begins on a spacecraft, and the audience is immediately introduced to the main characters of the story who are: Shan, Dalzul, Riel, and Forest. Dalzul has returned from a trip to a fictional world known as Ganam, as he arrives the crewmembers are in awe of his charisma and confidence. The story is essentially narrated from Shan’s point of view, given his innocent and impartial nature. Dalzul suggests to his crew that they return to Ganam with the intent of helping the local people prosper, not thinking much of it, Shan, Forest, and Riel agree and follow along with Dalzul.
​
​
When they arrived on Ganam, Dalzul described the place and its people in a very derogatory manner, referring to them as “barbaric” and “primitive”(Le Guin 135). At this point in the story, the audience begins to see Dalzul’s ethnocentric traits as it becomes evident that he feels he holds a higher power in this society and treats the planet and its people as a charity case that needs to implement his beliefs in order to prosper. Throughout the story, Dalzul’s ego continues to inflate as he is constantly praised and celebrated by the people of Ganam. Later in the story, Riel and Forest, the two primary female characters of the story, become rather skeptical of Dalzul’s involvement in this society.
As they all grow concerned about Dalzul’s wellbeing, Shan begins to question sanity, and goes as far as to ask himself, “Does Dalzul know we’re here? Apparently Forest and Riel don’t exist for him as women;”(Le Guin 146). This quote displays Dalzul’s sexism as it is suggested that he values women so little, that his mind essentially ignores their existence completely. In addition, Dalzul continues to pursue Ket (a princess from Ganam) who is already married, he neglects Ket’s wishes and desires and ignores the fact that she is married, which adds on to his neglect towards women. At the end of the story, Dalzul’s ignorance, and over-involvement in a foreign society leads to delusion and ultimately his death.
​
As we can see through this story of a “tragic hero” seeking to complete his “conquest”, Science Fiction does not necessarily have to implement futurism and can instead reflect stories and lessons that were much more prominent in the past. In general, tragic stories revolving around an epic conquest, taken by a "hero" with a god complex call forth similarities to older styles of tragedies such as the Epic of Gilgamesh (which is rather outdated). Although many science fiction stories tend to depict themes of
progression and advancement, Dancing to Ganam reflects many ideologies
Columbus' First Contact on Newly "Discovered Land" - North America
that were just as commonplace in history as they are now. The most relevant ones being: "discovery" of new land, and first contact with a foreign people and society. First contact is a notable sci-fi convention that can be applied to stories that revolve around futurism, just as well as stories that reflect the past. It is commonly seen in space travel/ exploration stories where humans come in contact with "aliens" on a newly "discovered" planet. The sci-fi convention of first contact can be seen through history in the practice of global exploration which took part in an era called the "age of exploration" and lasted from the early 15th century to the early 17th century. The practice of global exploration with the intent of finding new, undiscovered land is undisputedly a thing of the past, and completely non-existent in modern day society. Some prime examples of global exploration and "first contact" can be seen through some famous European explorers, such as: Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and John Cabot. Columbus is probably the most notable of the bunch as he was credited for the extremely controversial "discovery" of North America. Columbus had originally started his journey searching for the Asian continent (India in particular), he stumbled across what is now North America, and simply assumed he had "discovered" India, and as a result the habitants of the land were referred to as "Indians". Columbus' "discovery" of North America is a topic of controversy till this day due to his oppression and mistreatment of the natives of the land - Native Americans. Unlike standard sci-fi stories, Dancing to Ganam brings topics of the past to light by heavily emphasizing on Dalzul's discovery of this new planet, his desire to gain power, and spread his views and beliefs. This contact with the planet of Ganam, is only a “discovery” to him however, as this land has already been inhabited with people and a functional society. Thus Dalzul’s “discovery” falls within the same category as Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of America. Essentially, Dalzul’s consequential actions condemn the idea of colonization and serve as a warning to not repeat past mistakes.
​
​
Map of the Early Voyages that took Place during Age of Exploration
(SPOILER WARNING AHEAD)
There are many modern day works of science fiction that reflect similar themes, one that immediately comes to mind is Avengers: End Game and Infinity War. These films depict the topic of colonialism in a very subtle and unique manner. The antagonist of the movies, Thanos, has this strong belief that in order for the universe to be balanced, half of the universe's population must be diminished. Thanos believes that once this happens, the remainder of the universe's population can flourish and thrive with little to no adversity. In order to go through with this plan, Thanos must gather all the "infinity stones" which would grant him the power to wipe out half the population with the snap of his fingers. In the process of retrieving these stones that are scattered across the universe on multiple planets, Thanos invades foreign lands, preaches his ideologies and seeks to take control of their respective societies through brute force and violence. Towards the end of the film, Thanos is met with a fate that is similar to that of Dalzul - death due to a stubborn and ignorant nature, a tragic flaw if you will.
When people think of science fiction the first thing that comes to mind is stories that take place in a Utopian society and involve themes revolving around futurism, technological advancement, and societal progression. Le Guin’s Dancing to Ganam counters this misconception and demonstrates how a science fiction story can reflect ideologies/issues of the past, present, and the foreseeable future. Le Guin does so by providing audiences with a tragic story that follows an egotistical main character who neglects women, is very stubborn/arrogant, and engages in the conquest of a foreign land, all topics that do not portray any sense of societal progression whatsoever. While Dancing to Ganam reflects Dalzul's desire for exploration as a means of inflating his ego, gaining respect, and being prideful, this is not always the case. Modern science fiction works that follow the topic of "first contact" and discovery, do so by carrying out explorations and expeditions for the purpose of science and human advancement. Ultimately, it can be argued that Science Fiction has a much larger scope and wider reach than is generally thought.