The Dispossessed: Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

At a PDC meeting, Bedap introduces a project idea from the Syndicate of Initiative, who have—against the recommendation of several Anarresti organizations—been in contact with Urras for twenty decads. Bedap has been fighting against the gathered councilmembers for three years now, but asks if at this meeting they can stop reigniting old quarrels. His syndicate has received an interesting message from the Urrasti country of Benbili—a group called the Odonian Society has reached out to the Anarresti, asking to send people to Anarres as settlers. The PDC is deeply against reopening the planet “to any profiteer who calls himself an Odonian.”

One of Bedap’s opponents—a “cool, intelligent” woman named Rulag—asks how the Odonians even propose to get to Anarres. In these meetings, which occur regularly, Rulag opposes the Syndicate of Initiative on each and every issue, but Bedap always respects her clever arguments and occasionally even ends up siding with her due to her cool, convincing point of view.

Bedap has wondered several times since the winter after the famine, when he and Shevek first got together to form their Syndicate, whether the two of them have “set off an uncontrollable chain of events.” The Anarresti have been angrier and more opposed to communications with Urras than either Shevek or Bedap thought they would be.

Bedap tells Rulag that “like good Odonians, [the Benbili would] hitchhike on one of the freighters.” Bedap wonders if the archists on Urras would even let the anarchists leave, and says he is very curious to find out what would happen on both planets if a small group departed Urras for Anarres. Rulag applauds Bedap’s curiosity, but tells him that it is impossible to predict the level of danger, since the Anarresti know so little about what things are really like on Urras. Rulag stands, announcing her intent to give a speech. Bedap notices that as Rulag begins to speak, she continually stares at Shevek, who is seated beside him.

Rulag denounces the Syndicate of Initiative as being against Odonian ideals and says that they are behaving “in the way that archist critics always predicted people would behave in a society without laws: with total irresponsibility towards the society’s welfare.” Rulag believes that if Urrasti come to Anarres, they will dismantle Anarresti society and occupy the planet, ending the Anarresti once and for all.

Bedap argues that sheltering the Urrasti will not make them believe that the experiment of Anarres has failed, but rather will show them it has succeeded, and the Anarresti are now strong enough to face the Urrasti as equals. The argument between Bedap and Rulag goes on and on, but eventually Bedap relents, agreeing that no Urrasti will come to Anarres.

Shevek speaks up and proposes the flip side of the question: what if an Anarresti is sent to Urras? Shevek argues that his journey would not harm or threaten any Anarresti, and that such travel is not forbidden in the Anarresti terms of settlement. Rulag tells Shevek that anyone can leave Anarres, but that if he leaves, he cannot come back. She cites the Terms of the Closure of the Settlement, which states that no one from another planet is allowed past the wall of the Port of Anarres. Another member of the council shouts that Bedap and Shevek are traitors to their own planet. The councilmember warns the two of them that if they leave Anarres and then attempt to return, they will be met with justice. Rulag clarifies that the councilmember means violence—and that if there is violence on Anarres, it will be Shevek and Bedap’s fault.

Shevek speaks up, stating that their people did not come to Anarres for safety but for freedom, and that since he cannot work in solidarity with his fellows, it has become his duty, and his right, to pursue his work alone. He says that forcing any Anarresti to work in a certain field or with a certain group is tyranny, and the individual must accept no rule—such is the basis of Anarresti society. He believes the time has come to take risks. Rulag responds that Shevek should not involve other Anarresti in his risk-taking, but Shevek remains resolute in his belief that no one has the right to stop him from going. The two look directly at one another, and then both drop their gaze.

Bedap withdraws the topic, and he and Shevek leave the meeting. As they walk out of the building, Bedap disparages Rulag, noting that she seems to have a personal grudge against Shevek. Bedap wonders if he and Shevek have just hardened the opposition to their goal, but Shevek insists that they should send someone off to Urras just to prove their right to act. Shevek heads off to meet Sabul, while Bedap goes over to Shevek and Takver’s to help Takver with the new baby, Pilun.

Bedap and Takver talk over a drink of fruit juice, which is no longer being rationed. Takver is thinking of quitting the fish lab where she works—as Shevek’s profile in Abbenay has risen, Takver’s fellow syndics are coming down harder on her lately. Many people hate her, she confides in Bedap, and some will not even talk to her. Takver is frightened, and fears both disapproval and violence.

Bedap warns Takver that his and Shevek’s Syndicate of Initiative had a difficult time at PDC today, and that Rulag threatened the two of them. Takver then reveals that Rulag is Shevek’s mother. Takver explains that Shevek feels that something “essential” is missing from him due to Rulag’s absence from his childhood. Bedap observes that now it makes sense—it seems like Rulag has been waiting for Shevek to come to a meeting, and speculates that Rulag hates the Syndicate of Initiative so much because of her guilt over abandoning Shevek.

Shevek and Sadik come in. Sadik is ten years old now, and Bedap observes both her and Shevek, for the first time, through the lens of knowing that Rulag is Shevek’s mother. Shevek announces that Sabul has told him that the Physics Federation has an autonomous and permanent full-time posting to fill at the institute. “If you can’t uproot it, domesticate it,” Shevek says, referring to the notion that perhaps the PDC is trying to force him to stay put on Anarres—and get home to dissociate from the Syndicate of Initiative—by dangling a great opportunity in front of him.

Takver can’t believe that Shevek would even speak to Sabul, who has betrayed him and slandered him so many times. Sabul has been spreading lies that Shevek stole research from him, and also refused to inform Shevek that Shevek won a major Urrasti prize. She asks Shevek what he said to Sabul, and Shevek replies that he told Sabul that he no longer accepts regular work postings in favor of doing his own theoretical work. Sabul countered that Shevek could go on with his research. Takver tells Shevek that if he takes the post he will be allowed to publish his own work autonomously—"the walls are down,” she says. Bedap insists, though, that there are only more “walls behind the walls.” Shevek tells Bedap that he is not going to leave the Syndicate, and the five of them all head off to dinner.

After dinner and some conversation in the common room of Shevek and Takver’s domicile, Bedap and Shevek take Sadik back to her dormitory. At the entrance, though, she stops, and refuses to go inside. Shevek asks her what’s wrong, and she tells him that the other children in the dormitory don’t like her. They call her “traitor,” and disparage Shevek, Bedap, and their Syndicate. Shevek embraces Sadik while she cries, and Bedap leaves the two of them alone, returning to his dorm and lamenting the fact that he does not have a family of his own.

Shevek goes into the dormitory to tell the watchman that Sadik will not be staying the night. He and Sadik return home, and Sadik apologizes for interrupting Shevek and Takver’s privacy. Shevek tells her that she is of course welcome in their room, just like her baby sister Pilun is. At home, Takver comforts a crying Sadik until she calms down. Shevek fills Takver in, explaining that Sadik’s friends at the learning center disapprove of them all. Takver asks Sadik how long this has been going on, and Sadik says that for a long time now she has been excluded from games, and that her classmates have told her that her father is an egoizer and a traitor.

Takver braids Sadik’s hair and tucks her into bed beside Pilun. Shevek and Takver get into their bed, and fret about what to do with Sadik. Takver worries that no matter what they do, Sadik will experience pain because of their actions. Shevek shoulders the blame, but Takver assures him that she doesn’t care what anyone thinks of them—they will send Sadik to a new center and she herself will take on a new job posting if need be, though it may be far away, in a town called Peace-and-Plenty.

Shevek offers to come with her, but admits that the only real solution to their problems would be his dropping out of the Syndicate of Initiative—the two of them and their children might not even be free from scorn and ire in a small place like Peace-and-Plenty. Shevek admits that he has had rocks thrown at him, and has had people pick fights with him, but hasn’t said anything because he was the only subject of people’s hatred. Now that it has spread to Takver and the children, though, he worries he is putting them in danger by staying with them. Shevek is despondent, and says there is nowhere for him to go.

Takver tells Shevek that he should go to Urras. Her voice is harsh and firm. The Urrasti want him there, she says, and he clearly wants to go. She knows he needs appreciation, discussion, and the chance to learn and teach. Shevek protests, claiming that he doesn’t want to go, but Takver knows that he does. She insists that it is his right to go. Shevek asks what Takver would do in his absence, and she says that she would go to a fish lab on the coast and live peacefully with the girls until Shevek returns. Shevek tells Takver sadly that he might not be able to come back, revealing Rulag’s warnings and threats earlier at the PDC.

Takver asks Shevek if it would be worth it for him to go to Urras despite the risk of being unable to return. He tells her that it would be, if he could finish his theory and give it as a gift to the worlds of the universe. He feels walled in on Anarres, and no longer wants to spend his life handing his work over to Sabul. Takver agrees that it is worth the risk, stating that she believes that there are more Anarresti on their side than they realize—perhaps Shevek’s journey to Urras would flush like-minded Odonians out into the open.

Shevek tells Takver that he’s not going to go to Urras, but Takver insists that he will—and not only that, but he will return. He always gets where he’s going, she says, and he always comes back. Shevek argues back, but Takver proclaims that she is tired, and insists they both go to sleep.