Shevek's Shifting Perceptions

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a world is supposed to look like" (LeGuin 65). He sees nothing to indicate that Urras' is not a happy planet. He doesn't see pollution, decrepit buildings, ghettos or other signs of poverty. This lack of dilapidation indicating a general well-being. Shevek is not only impressed by Urras's outward appearance, but he sees that the Urrasti use their planet to its complete potential in order to benefit the people. While traveling the countryside "all the people he saw, in the smallest country village, were well-dressed, well-fed, and, contrary to his expectations, industrious" (82). From years of pro-socialist propaganda on his home planet, he believed that Urrasti people of the upper class would hoard the wealth and that the lower portion of society would be stuck in abject poverty. This is not the case, for he can see every citizen is financially capable and can support themselves. He had expected to find the capitalist planet a pit of corruption, inequity, and waste; instead, he ...

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