Chapter 7-9

[Sam]

Third discussion thread

[Sam]

Things pick up in this section. I enjoyed Shevek's interactions outside of the university, as he finally gets a chance to see what Urras, particularly A-Io is all about. The society initially seemed pretty normal to me, until the demonstration on chapter. The sudden intervention by the police into the peaceful rally was pretty crazy. I can't imagine that happening, but at the same time, it has happened. Not here in Canada, but in various places around the world in recent years: Ukraine, Syria, and others that I can't think of.

Meanwhile, in the past, Shevek is dealing with the drought. His seperation for Takver really sucks, especially when he returns to find that Takver has had to take an assignment elsewhere for an indefinite period of time.

It seems to me that the society of Annares, while not having any government, still has a lot of 'rules', defined by what society expects of you. I'm not sure if this is what Odo wanted, but I get the impression that it is. It's interesting that there is still bureaucracy developing, particularly in academia.