The fourth story in Orsinian Tales is Conversations at Night. This story is marked up and underlined more than any other in the book. Le Guin introduces us to two characters who are not supposed to love each other. They are in a poor country; they do not have options in general. They are the poor working class of the city without privileges available to those in the upper part of town. Beyond the common hardships, the man has been blinded by an accident in the mine. Somehow, they begin to love each other, then they begin to realize it, then they decide to overcome.
The characters go on a walk early in the story. They walk to the better part of town, to the nice buildings, to the parks. They talk, they enjoy each other, then they return. Le Guin writes,
The characters go on a walk early in the story. They walk to the better part of town, to the nice buildings, to the parks. They talk, they enjoy each other, then they return. Le Guin writes,
“They went back down the wide, calm streets, back into their world. There the streets were noisy and jammed with people coming home from the mills”
I love that line: “…back into their world…”
In the margin, I wrote, “if only it were that simple”.
Sometimes our world brings us down. Sometimes we feel the weight of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles around us. Sometimes freedom seems a little far away. If only we could get out of our world for just a little while. If only we could walk up the hill and breathe freedom, and come back into our world when we were ready.
What is it in your world that weighs you down?
How do you get out of your world?
How do you get back in?
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