The Lathe of Heaven

“I am living in a nightmare, from which time to time I wake in sleep,” (p.41) proclaims George Orr, main character of The Lathe of Heaven. And in fact, George is living in a nightmare. George discovers early in his teen years that his dreams become reality, for better or for worse. George becomes horrified at this and begins taking various drugs to keep him from dreaming. He eventually gets caught and is forced to see a psychologist. This is where the story starts.

George is ordered by a judge to see Dr. Haber, a sleep specialist. At first Haber, like everyone else, does not believe George and thinks he’s crazy, but the doctor soon learns of George’s powers and begins to use George’s dreams to “help” the world. Dr. Haber hypnotizes George and attaches him to a machine, called the Augmentor, which helps achieve the stage of sleep necessary to dream. He then suggests things to dream about to George. Dr. Haber is not an ill-intentioned man; he genuinely does want to help the world become a better place. But his suggestions at aiding the planet end in failure. For example, Haber wants to get rid of overpopulation. Overpopulation is a major problem and there is no space to live and not enough food to feed everyone.  So Dr. Haber tells the hypnotized and unconscious George to dream of a planet where overpopulation is no longer any issue. And he does, except George dreams up a plague that kills six billion people.

There are many problems that Le Guin addresses in this book. The Earth in the future is in poor condition because of greenhouse gases that cause warming (Le Guin was ahead of her time on this issue) and man has destroyed much of the natural habitat of the planet.  Dr. Haber attempts to solve many other problems of the world: racism, war, and violence.

What Dr. Haber does not realize, though, is that he is the problem. Le Guin shows that she is very skeptical of people who hold power. She is against one person, like Dr. Haber, holding too much power. Even if intentions are good, power still can be abused. For example, a lawyer friend of Georges attempts to help George get rid of Dr. Haber. She hypnotizes George and tells him to dream of Dr. Haber as a gentle man. But in her attempts to “help” she also tells George to get the aliens who are threatening invasion off the moon. George does get them off the moon; he just dreams that they are now attacking Earth.

Le Guin’s message in this novel is that no one should attempt to play God. No matter how good your intentions are, one person cannot fix the world and make it more efficient. Power left unchecked in one person’s hands can be devastating. The Lathe of Heaven captures your attention and warns of this unchecked power. It justifies our world today, the good and the bad. Things are the way they are for a reason and no one person can, or should, change that.

P.87

(Definitaion from Dictionary.com)