The Lathe of Heaven

In the Lathe of Heaven, a bland man named George Orr has the ability to “effective dream”, in which the contents of his dreams become reality. Dr. Haber, a psychologist/therapist with huge ambitions to change the world for the good of all humanity, takes advantage of Orr’s “gift” to manipulate Orr into dreaming worlds to benefit Haber’s ambitions. Throughout the book Orr struggles to find his own independence, choice, and free will, as well as to articulate what it is that he wants in life. One of the desires he realizes is for the woman Heather, who starts out as his lawyer but becomes his lover, then his wife, by the end of the book.

Overall, the book was composed of such amazing world building. I loved and appreciated how so much of the world building was done abruptly and on the fly. In the aftermath of each of Orr’s dreams, LeGuin masterfully and smoothly built up a new world and new world history. Parts of the book felt like Vonnegut in its absurdity. I loved the idea of multiple memories and multiple timelines that are each its unique thread while at the same time all true simultaneously. Through Orr’s dreams, LeGuin explores so many possible world scenarios and futures.

A large motif of the book is the lack of free will. Orr feels this as he fights against Haber’s control of his dreams. “I haven’t any strength, I haven’t any character, I’m a born tool. I haven’t any destiny. All I have is dreams. And now other people run them.” (83). Orr also bemoans how his dreams leads to the loss of free will in the other people in the world — “People can’t choose anything at all anymore for themselves. Why is everything so shoddy, why is everybody so joyless?” (147). Ironically, after Orr gains his independence from Haber, he still exerts power over other peoples’ lives and stories, continuing the idea that people really do NOT have free will in this world, subject to Haber’s whims/Orr’s dreams. This was especially apparent in Heather’s character and story arc. Through Orr’s effective dreaming, Heather changed from lawyer to “Mrs. Orr”. I didn’t like how George made Heather the ideal wife for him. She was her own person and she became the whim of George’s imagination. SHE definitely had no free will. She became the person George wanted in his life. She forgets who she was: “He had no idea what, or how much, she recalled, nor how to fit it in with his own multiple memories” (182). The cost of Orr gaining independence was her losing hers. Again, very ironic, given the fact that Orr said “I don’t like making the rest of the world live in my dreams, but I certainly don’t want to live in yours” (148)

The book reminded me of the parable of the fisherman who catches a magic fish that can grant wishes, but the fisherman gets so greedy with wishes that he returns to his original life. And that is who Haber is. Haber, the “mad scientist”, thinks that what he is doing is the best for the world. However, Haber’s desires to improve the world are tied with his personal ambitions, and eventually his greed gets the best of him. “He’s not an evil man. He means well. What I object to is his using me as an instrument, a means — even if his ends are good.” (45) With each of Orr’s dreams, Haber becomes more powerful and more ambitious. “He only got bigger at every reincarnation” (130). “He had always wanted power to do good. Now he had it.” (131). Haber thought he was God but he saw Hell during his nightmare and got lost in his ambitions. “Then this world will be like heaven, and men will be like gods!” (150). And eventually, Haber thinks he is God by attempting to dream by himself; the turning point of the book’s plot comes along during Haber’s nightmare.

Orr reminds me of Kafka’s Gregor in a way. I didn’t like him very much. “There was little impress of his personality on the rooms, yet she saw him living there, a quiet man living quietly” (91). For a man with such little personality, he imposes so much of himself on others’ worlds. “He could be born into any world. He had no character. He was a lump of clay, a block of uncharted wood.” (130) Either he is used by Haber kind of like a doll; or he is the one using others’ free will. Haber describes Orr as “a moral jellyfish” (147). Turning point in George’s character was him saying “No” to Haber, when he takes some free will for himself. But even then, he kind of just becomes a watered-down Orr, where he makes the world a better place — for himself.