Dispossessed

The question in class as to who is represented in the term "dispossessed" interested me. That it was Shevek seemed obvious, once it was brought up, and this is the most apparent answer in my mind. Shevek was outside of his own inclusive society from the very beginning of his life. I think his being estranged from his mother early on, as well as his knowing that he was always different in some way, shaped Shevek's estrangement from then on. In most aspects of his life, he felt love but not connection, except in personal matters such as physics and Takver.

The other possibilities that could be dispossessed were named as Annares or Urras, or both. In the case of Annares, the dispossession is that of their homeland, from which they were forced out, in a way. While they disagreed on philosophical principles with the rest of the Urrasti, the Odonians must have loved the land of their homeplanet plenty and leaving was difficult.

If "dispossessed" refers to the Urrasti in present times, then the whole is dispossessed of its radicals and maybe its real hope, after the departure of the Odonians.

When I first tried to interpret the title before class, I though it referred to the Annaresti, as they were so poor now in material goods. Shevek is also a clear interpretation of the word.