Ecological Warnings in The Word for World is Forest

The novel, The Word for World is Forest is a satire on Earth as a whole and the dire ecological impacts that industrialization can have on Earth. Throughout the novel, this horrific dystopian vision of Earth is noted as “the norm.” Earth is regarded as a post industrial desert, and try to takeover the Ashtheans’ world. Le Guin draws parallels between the two worlds, and the yemens and the Ashtheans with the quote, “Blood, the same startling red as human blood” (Le Guin 30). She draws the attention of the reader to the horrible condition of the Earth, and that they are also trying to do the same things to the Ashthean world. Le Guin writes this novel as a warning to people, and how they need to have a careful treatment of our world, or risk the potential consequences that will come.