The landscape in The Dispossessed does a great deal to shape the cultures and characters of both Urras and Anarres. Although they are supposed to be contrasting civilizations, Urras and Anarres are similar in that they both possess highly complex and highly organized lifestyles. Complete with their own values ​​of governance, geography, and society, both civilizations complete the novel by providing two sides of the spectrum. While the island-like Urras helps create an isolated, free-spirited society, Anarres, a more expansive geography, has a more rigorous hold. The isolation of Urras forces its individuals to conform to the extravagant lives they all share. Although Anarres has a capital, Abbenay, which proves to be its pride and joy, the rest of its geography is barren and desert-like, leaving no room to expand beyond what the government allows. The landscape and geography in The Dispossessed influence the development process of the cultures and people of every respected civilization. If landscape and geography were described differently, society would most likely change dramatically. Author Ursula K. LeGuin's idea that Anarres, a utopia built on deprivation, is an ideal society would be unclear. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The geographical privileges offered by each civilization influence the mentality of each culture. Although the A-Io of Urras, the main country of the novel, is very fertile with many types of resources, the people of Urras do their best not to take advantage of its superabundance; however, any industrious production is supported, as demonstrated by the mining to exhaustion of things like heavy metals. With its capitalist economy, the government regulates virtually all life in the A-Io of Urras. Because Urrasti are aware of the lushness of their planet, they tend to have a very wasteful nature. When Shevek first arrives in Urras, he is given pajamas to wear while in quarantine. At the end of the quarantine process, the doctor burns his pajamas or “night clothes”. While the doctor burns the clothes, this is the first time in the book that a wasteful act is introduced. The doctor describes the pajamas as “cheap pajamas, service problem”. He explains that “you wear them and throw them away” and that “it costs less than cleaning” (13). The fact that the residents of Urras are so ready to throw away a pair of perfectly good pajamas underlines their view of the economy. Since their society has so much to start with, they don't see the point in recycling clothes like they do in Anarres. In Anarres, people are aware that their natural resources are limited and that they must do their best to preserve most of them. do it as they can, without being wasteful. Their culture does not allow extravagance and promotes the recycling of everything. Shevek does not know the term pajamas since in Anarres they do not have clothes exclusively for one purpose. When the doctor burns his clothes, he is extremely confused by the doctor's reasoning. Due to the scarcity of resources offered by Anarres' geography, the people of Anarres reuse a lot. When Shevek was invited to Vea's party, he was introduced to the ornate lifestyle led by the people of A-Io. While drinking alcohol, a good he did not receive in Anarres, he was asked to tell what Anarres was really like. Shevek replied, “It's an ugly world. Not like this one. Anarres is all dusty, dry hills. All skinny, all barren... Life is boring and hard work. You can't always have what you want, or even what you need, because there isn't enough of it. You Urrasti have themenough” (228). This is a privileged moment in which Urras and Anarres are compared in great detail by the protagonist Shevek. Urras is clearly a different environment from Anarres, and Shevek's honest description to his listeners at Vea's party shocks them. Planets, Urras being a continent surrounded by water and Anarres being more extensive, play an important role in the conformity of every civilization to the life it leads. The isolation that an island's geography provides its inhabitants forces the people of Urras to be very similar and spread conformity everywhere. If they question compliance, the designated people forcibly take away their freedoms. When they discovered that Doctor Shevek was from Anarres, they thought it was a strange phenomenon. Shevek reveled in the appreciation shown for his work. Since the people of Anarres did not know much about physics, there was no one who appreciated his teachings. Since the government placed strict restrictions on the speech of people in Anarres, Shevek was unable to freely preach his physics research. Because Urras was eager to learn and be an innovative company, he was very happy to find a place where he could share his research and where people would find interest in it. Shevek took advantage of his position in Urras. He loved the freedom of speech he had been given in Urras. He “wondered why the government didn't stop him from speaking…He spoke of pure anarchism, and they didn't stop him” (144). Shevek definitely took advantage of the weak minds of the Urrasti and fed them with all his intellectual beliefs. This turns out to be one of the reasons why the island's isolation forces its inhabitants to be very open to new ideas. They accept what they are told and see it as enriching their intellect. Anarres enjoys a lot of geographical freedom, so much so that its people tend to live in concentrated areas such as the coast and Abbenay. In Anarres, the people of his society put more pressure on conformity than on it being a deviant act. These densely populated areas are given much more attention than the barren areas that surround them. Abbenay, the capital of Urras, is the most common place for the people of Anarres to live as the other cities and the rest of the planet are covered in sterile "dust". With so many people in one area, it is very easy for its citizens to contaminate each other. Having an anarchic government, the inhabitants of Anarres place a great deal of respect in the cooperation of others. While the ideal is for there to be no governments, central authorities, or restrictions, this does not exist on the planet Anarres. Many people do not oppose authority because there is clearly no established authority; however, Anarres is Le Guin's way of showing that even complete freedom will have some kind of authoritative entity that suppresses individuality in some way. Since Anarres is described as a planet "not intended to support civilization", (167) it suffers from natural disasters such as drought, which Urras does not. This difficulty tended to lead the inhabitants of Anarres to help each other more. Pregnant with Sadik, Takver was at great risk of not receiving enough nutrients to support herself and her child. The community helped her, as well as other pregnant women, by offering extra meals. “Pregnant women, as well as children and the elderly, could receive an extra light meal each day” during the drought (237). Difficulties like these generally brought the communities of Anarres closer together. Because Urras did not experience the same geographic obstacles as Anarres, it was not able to share the same level of community bonding evident in Anarres. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now..