A Wizard of Earthsea Extract Analysis
Medium: Novel
Purpose: Show the uncertainty of Ged after he looses a shadow of “Evil, it wills to work evil through you.” The change in Ged as he begins to take responsibility for his actions, growing up to understand and fear the true danger of his inborn power, recovery of faith in himself through Vetch’s gift of friendship and “unshaken, unshakeable trust.” To show the importance of acknowledging the past before moving forward. The whole work explores issues of people and relationships, good and evil in a different light through the use of a created world.
Audience: Older teens and adults to understand the difficult and complex issues that are explored in this book and the Earthsea Quartet that it’s part of. For people who are interested in reading fantasy and looking at issues more creatively.
Context: A created, imaginary world where wizardry, magic and dragons are written about convincingly enough to feel real.
Meanings: People fear the unknown, with Ged, he doesn’t know his own strength or the shadow he has loosed into the world, and so fears to use his power in case he does “more harm”. The loosing of the shadow has divided Ged’s life and changed him, so that he becomes fearful of his own powers and loses his self-confidence. This extract shows how Vetch, as a true friend, helps restore his faith in himself “Vetch had given that gift only a friend can give, the proof of unshaken, unshakeable trust”. Life’s experiences are often painful but educational, most taking a long time to learn, the past is important in determining a person’s identity “made a whole again. He knew once more, at last, after this long, bitter, wasted time, who he was and where he was.”
Perspective on Changing-Self: Actions performed with pride and arrogance can have devastating consequences which destroy a person’s self-confidence. People can be changed by having a true friend who helps them regain faith in themselves. No matter how much the person changes, accepting every aspect of their life is important before they can continue to go forward. The past defines the person’s identity in the present, and by knowing themselves in the present, they can decide what they want from the future.
