Alienation and Capitalist Exploitation: A Marxist Critique of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Word for World Is Forest

Alienation and Capitalist Exploitation:

Section: RESEARCH
Issue
Vol. 55 No. 103 (2025): Vol. Fifty-Five / No. One Hundred and three
Published
Dec 2, 2025
Pages
140 - 151

Abstract

This study examines The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin through Marxist literary critique to identify themes of alienation and capitalist exploitation. The novel provides a dystopian vision of colonialism, ecological destruction, and institutionalized exploitation of labor that resonates with historical and contemporary struggles against imperialism. Drawing on Karl Marx's ideas of alienation and surplus value, this study illustrates ways in which the novel condemns capitalism through forced labor and commodification of indigenous Athsheans. The study also examines class consciousness among Athsheans and their revolutionary rebellion as a form of resistance to colonialism. Le Guin's novel not only highlights dehumanizing effects of capitalism on oppressors and oppressed alike but also raises important questions on ethics and psychology of violence in resisting colonialism. In addition, this study puts Le Guin's critique in a broader context of Marxist literature to examine its relevance to contemporary socio-political issues such as corporate exploitation, ecological responsibility, and indigenous rights. By integrating Marxist critique with science fiction studies, this study underscores that the novel remains significant as a literary critique of capitalist colonialism and that it has deep implications for today's struggles against economic and ecological injustice.

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Authors

Israa Yass Khudier Khudier

Department of English / Faculty of Arts / University of Mosul / Mosul - Iraq

Wafaa AbduLateef Abdulaali Abdulaali

Department of English / Faculty of Arts / University of Mosul / Mosul - Iraq

Identifiers

https://doi.org/10.33899/radab.v55i103.54059
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Khudier, I. Y. K., & Abdulaali , W. A. A. . (2025). Alienation and Capitalist Exploitation: A Marxist Critique of Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word for World Is Forest: Alienation and Capitalist Exploitation: . اداب الرافدین, 55(103), 140–151. https://doi.org/10.33899/radab.v55i103.54059
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