Family and Feminism in Ursala K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed

The current American familial structure consists of a mother who serves as the housewife anda father who serves as the breadwinner. Although American society is breaking away fromthis norm, the nuclear family structure is still idealized, causing women to struggle against thepatriarchal confnes of this structure as they choose to remain single, enter the workforce, andrefuse to reproduce. Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed utilizes the utopia genre to explore afctional planet, Anarres, that values collectivism over individualism in an attempt to become trulyegalitarian. This essay analyzes the egalitarian structure of Anarres through the experiences ofthe main character, Shevek, and uses it to examine the anti-feminist issues of the current familialstructure of America.