Examples Of Porlock As A Foils

Le Guin’s Vaster Than Empires and More Slow contemplates the existence of the other beyond the self and epitomizes the struggles the self has with the induction of foreign elements and the resulting paranoia that stems from the unfamiliar. The character of Porlock is a prime example of xenophobia and the infectious nature it perpetuates throughout society and ultimately serves as the key foil to Osden that emphasizes the necessity for the acceptance of the other in order to culminate in a mutually beneficial understanding of one another. The entire NAFAL flight crew is initially described by the narrator as comprised of “… escapists; misfits; nuts” because of their ludicrous mission to explore parts of the galaxy hundreds years of travel

His irritable demeanor is relentless in its pursuit of Osden’s strangeness. He essentially views Osden’s reformed autistic tendencies as an inhuman or even subhuman byproduct of experimentation. He explicitly states that “nothing gives a man” the right to be a bastard implying that Osden is in some way inferior to himself and therefore he thinks less of Osden as a result. Porlock’s failure to understand Osden is the initial conflict that sets the rest of the story into motion. The dynamic the foil of Porlock and Osden create serves as the springboard for Harfex’s skepticism as well as the overarching sweeping fear that grips the camp side. Porlock’s incessant complaints and jeering taunts about Osden become infectious to even the other more level-headed team members, as they join in and unite around their mutual distrust of

Porlock confesses, “Do I have to say his name? Osden, then. Osden! Osden! Why do you think I tried to kill him? In self-defense? To save all of us! Because you won’t see what he is doing to us. He’s sabotaged the mission by making us all quarrel, and now he’s going to drive us all insane by projecting fear at us…” (122). Porlock’s own sense of paranoia is so destructive that it is ultimately the source of his own downfall. Porlock’s intense hatred for Osden is allegorical to the hatred minorities or unfamiliar experience today at the hands and persecution of the mob mentality. The unfamiliar perpetuates a sense of distrust, which is even reflected in the forest when it feels fear upon its acknowledgement of a foreign organism invading its natural ecosystem. This distrust evolves into fear as the self makes no effort to understand or accommodate the peculiar and this fear results in xenophobia. Porlock’s xenophobic tendencies borders upon fanaticism as he consistently hounds Osden’s reputation and paints him as the monster within their own group, when in fact, it’s xenophobia and doubt itself that is the monster in the back of their own minds. When Osden is struck by Porlock, all he feels is unfathomable fear, which evidently stems from Porlock’s fear of Osden that becomes the same fear that grips the entire planet. In this way, even after his removal