Jellyfish (Symbol)
The jellyfish is the symbol of harmony, in particular with the external world. It also symbolizes “a thing in itself”, and introvert type of relation to the outer world. This symbol is an original prologue to the image of George and his type of world-view: harmonizing with the world concept, the introvert one.
THE GREATEST GOOD FOR THE GREATEST NUMBER (Allegory)
Such a legend appeared on one of the scientific centers when Dr. Haber had started to use George’s effective dreams to change the world. He is sure everything he does will make the life better for everyone. In the following scenes the critics of eugenics comes. These words symbolize wrong ideas, that every better number is more important that a single person, that is not perfect or completely healthy.
Mount-Hood (Motif)
This motif reappears numerous times in the story. It ‘observes’ all the changing of the reality, sometimes is becomes an object of changes (as a picture). But the volcano itself becomes gradually more and more uneasy and symbolizes the approaching of some troubles and critical nature changes. In our reality the Mount-Hood is regarded to be active volcano with 3-7% probability of eruption. In Ursula Le Guin’s story this index rises proportionally with characters’ deeds. Mount-Hood is a representative of nature being influenced and responding to people’ activity.
