Paradises Lost | Read 10 Min

"Paradises Lost"
Short story by Ursula K. Le Guin
A poster for the 2012 opera adaptation of Paradises Lost
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction
Publication
Published in	The Birthday of the World and Other Stories

Paradises Lost is a science fiction novella by American author Ursula K. Le Guin. It was first published in 2002 as part of the collection The Birthday of the World. It is set during a multigenerational voyage from Earth to a potentially habitable planet. The protagonists, Liu Hsing and Nova Luis, are members of the fifth generation born on the ship. The story follows them as they deal with members of a religious cult who believe the ship ought not to stop at its intended destination. They also face a crisis brought on by a drastic change in the ship's schedule. The novella has since been anthologized as well as adapted into an opera of the same name.

The novella explores the isolation brought on by space travel, as well as themes of religion and utopia. It contains elements of ecocriticism, or a critique of the idea that human beings are altogether separate from their natural environment. The novella and the collections in which it was published received high praise from commentators. For its generation ship setting and examination of utopia, critics compared it to other Le Guin works such as "Newton's Sleep", and The Telling, as well as to the works of Gene Wolfe and Molly Gloss. Scholar Max Haiven described the novella as "a chastening lesson in both the potential and the perils of freedom", while author Margaret Atwood said it "shows us our own natural world as a freshly discovered Paradise Regained, a realm of wonder".

Setting

Nothing in the world has more or less than two legs. Nothing has wings. Nothing sucks blood. Nothing hides in tiny crevices, waves tendrils, scuttles into shadows, lays eggs, washes its fur, clicks its mandibles, or turns around three times before it lies down with its nose on its tail. Nothing has a tail. Nothing in the world has paws or claws. Nothing in the world soars. Nothing swims. Nothing purrs, barks, growls, roars, chitters, trills, or cries repeatedly two notes, a descending fourth, for three months of the year.

Paradises Lost.

The setting of the novella is a multigenerational voyage from Earth to a planet potentially habitable by humans. Earth is referred to as "Ti Chiu", its Chinese name within the story, or as "Dichew", the children's version of the same term: the new planet is known as "Hsin Ti Chiu" ("New Earth", "Shindychew"). In describing the setting of the story in her introduction to Paradises Lost in 2002, Le Guin described its universe as a frequently used one: "the generic, shared, science fiction 'future.' In this version of it, Earth sends forth ships to the stars at speeds that are, according to our present knowledge, more or less realistic, at least potentially attainable." Le Guin identified Molly Gloss's novel The Dazzle of Day and Harry Martinson's poem "Aniara" as exemplifying this future. Though occasionally described as such, the story is not part of the Hainish Cycle. The title is an allusion to John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost.

The two protagonists of the story are 5-Liu Hsing and 5-Nova Luis (known by their given names Hsing and Luis), with the "5" denoting that they are members of the fifth generation to be born aboard the ship (which is named Discovery). The environment of the spacecraft is highly controlled. Until the age of 7, all children roam naked, which presents no difficulties on a ship where the temperature is controlled, and all disease-causing organisms have been eliminated. The population of the ship is also tightly controlled, at a figure of approximately 4,000. Individuals are required to get contraception injections every 25 days, unless they make a pledge of chastity or strict homosexuality, or intend to conceive a child. All matter on the ship is carefully recycled, with no nonessential items ever lasting more than a few years, creating a "static eternal ecology."

The planet Earth is referred to as facing the social and environmental problems expected in contemporary society. The generation that boarded the ship intended their descendants to understand and value a terrestrial existence, but over time the words and images associated with being on a planet lose meaning to those on the ship, who become adapted to a shipboard existence, and struggle to understand the motivations of the zeroth generation. Aboard the Discovery, the major religions of Earth are depicted as having gradually lost meaning, but have been replaced by the religious cult of Bliss, with members known as angels. The adherents of the cult believe their purpose in life is to overcome their connections to a terrestrial existence. They do not see their belief as a religion, and believe the world outside the ship is an illusion. Only the voyage itself, and not the origin or destination, matters. In contrast to much of Le Guin's science fiction, which explores interactions between humans and extraterrestrial beings, the characters in Paradises Lost deal with being literally "extra-terrestrial", or disconnected from terrestrial life.

Plot summary

The novella begins with 5-Liu Hsing, as a child, being taught about Earth through the use of virtual reality tapes, an experience to which her younger self takes exception. She develops a close friendship with 5-Nova Luis. At age seven, Hsing and the other children of similar age may put on clothes for the first time; Hsing greatly looks forward to this ceremony, a rite of passage aboard the Discovery. As the children grow older, Luis develops an interest in the virtual reality programs that allow people on the ship to explore the planet they have left behind. Disagreements with her friend Rosie, a member of Bliss, lead Hsing to explore the philosophy of the angels. Although she questions in her own mind the purpose of the voyage, she disagrees with the angels' thinking, which eventually damages her friendship with Rosie. Luis also investigates this group by participating in some of their practices.

Entering college at age 18, Hsing discovers that 4-Hiroshi Canaval, the teacher of Navigation, has asked her to be placed directly into the second-year navigation course. Hsing shows an aptitude for the subject, and in her third year makes it her profession. Luis becomes a doctor, and their academic separation leads to Hsing and Luis slowly drawing apart from one another. Hsing finds herself attracted to Hiroshi, and the two begin a romantic relationship. Three days after their wedding, Hiroshi tells Hsing that the focus of his life's work is not simply navigation, as is generally believed, but concealing a secret from the rest of the ship. A few years earlier, an unexpected gravitational effect led to the ship experiencing a vast acceleration, putting it 40 years early; it is expected to arrive at Hsin Ti Chiu in five years.

Hiroshi tells Hsing that he and a handful of allies, who believe the people on the ship should stop at Hsin Ti Chiu, have been keeping news of the acceleration secret. They believe that hiding the knowledge of the schedule provides them with a weapon against the angels, who do not wish the ship to stop at all. Hsing becomes a reluctant party to the conspiracy but is distressed by its secrecy and what she considers dishonesty, and persuades Hiroshi and his allies to go public with the information. Meanwhile, Luis thoroughly investigates the education program for the sixth generation aboard the ship (the generation supposed to land on Hsin Ti Chiu) and finds that large parts of it have been erased or replaced with propaganda by the angels. Luis gets the ruling council of the ship to launch an investigation into religious manipulation of the education program. Persuaded by Hsing, Hiroshi makes a public statement about the ship's new schedule, while concealing the fact that he had known about it for a while.

A few months later Luis is elected Chair of the ship's ruling council, and helps bring about a settlement wherein the people on board can choose whether to stay on the ship, and also choose whether the ship stays in orbit around Hsin Ti Chiu. Hsing has a child by Hiroshi, but Hiroshi dies soon afterward, of heart failure. The ship's educational curriculum is revised, and all schools are required to allow teachers who are not angels to teach material relevant to living on the new planet. The new planet proves to be habitable by humans, and around a quarter of the ship's population moves to it, settling down despite the difficulty of learning to live on a planet again. The ship leaves, not intending to return.

Main characters

The two "co-protagonists" of the book are 5-Liu Hsing and 5-Nova Luis. Both Hsing and Luis have been described as protagonists typical of Le Guin's works, being somewhat isolated from the society in which they live due to their strong individuality and the fact that they do not entirely conform to societal expectations. As with other members of their generation, Hsing and Luis grow up in an environment devoid of terrestrial ties, as a result of which they are, as children, unfamiliar with the terms "hill", "sky" and "wind". Despite not understanding a planetary existence, Hsing and Luis are among the people who are not convinced by the beliefs of the angels. Instead, they question those beliefs and hold that a reality exists outside of their own human-created bubble, and are drawn to the idea of stimuli other than those created by humans.

Hsing

Hsing is of Chinese and European descent, and is brought up by her father 4-Liu Yao, who works with the ship's colony of plants. While a child, Hsing has a strong negative reaction to a virtual reality recording of a tiger in a zoo, demonstrating her complete separation from the "wild" aspect of the earth, and her rejection of things that do not acknowledge her humanness and individuality. Hsing lives with Yao until midway through her college career, when she moves in with 4-Hiroshi Canaval, whom she marries and by whom she has a child. While still a child, Hsing develops an interest in writing poetry, and in high school shows an aptitude for physics and mathematics, which gets Hiroshi's attention. On entering college, she chooses to pledge chastity rather than let her body's rhythms be controlled by the contraceptive injection. She is among those who choose to live on Hsin Ti Chiu, along with her son, whom Hiroshi names 6-Canaval Alejo.

Luis

Luis has a mixed racial background, including South American, Japanese, and European heritage. He is also brought up by his father, 4-Nova Ed, a man whose life is described as being centered on his sexual activity, and who differs greatly from the thoughtful and introverted Luis. Luis also has a memorable experience with the virtual reality tapes, although his occurs in adolescence. Luis subverts a program by remaining in a jungle he is supposed to walk through, and just watching the animal life around him. He sees a large spotted cat and is "transfixed" by its elegance and the fact that it simply ignores him. The brief experience with "wildness" and independence from humans, even though it is part of a human-made program, "strangely enriches" his thinking. In college, Luis studies to become a doctor, and also becomes interested in exploring the educational program for future generations. This leads him to uncover the angels' attempts at erasure and propaganda, and to demanding the creation of a committee on religious manipulation. His role as a conciliator following Hiroshi's announcement leads to his election as Chair of the ship's council. Eventually, he also lives on Hsin Ti Chiu.