A Wonderful Day in the Haberhood: Exploring the Power of the Individual Colleen Keeler College

In The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula K. Le Guin utilizes the unique power struggle between George Orr and Dr. Haber to assert that a single person is not capable of addressing all negative aspects of a society. Many individuals may argue that those who have both power and altruistic intentions have the ability to improve society on the whole, but the consequences of Haber’s actions show us otherwise. While it could be perceived that Dr. Haber has good intentions, that he desires power solely to improve the world for everyone, he seems to entirely overestimate the amount of good that a single person can create. He continually applies his ideals of altruism to the unique situation in which Orr’s effective dreaming has placed him—a situation in which normal logic does not apply. Haber sees Orr’s dreaming as a power to be controlled, but he seems to forget that the dreams are not entirely controllable: when Haber attempts to do this through hypnotic suggestions, Orr reminds him that “he do[es]n’t choose” how to handle situations, but instead “follow[s]” (Le Guin 125). Thus, Haber isn’t only flawed in his perceptions of power, but also in the methods through which an individual can exercise this power.

From the start, Haber lived by the...