LeGuin - She Unnames Them

4/11/2019 LeGuin: She Unnames Them.
doc - Google Docs

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She Unnames Them
Ursula K. Le Guin
The New Yorker, 21 January 1985

MOST of them accepted namelessness with the perfect indifference with which they had so long
accepted and ignored their names. Whales and dolphins, seals and sea otters consented with
particular alacrity, sliding into anonymity as into their element. A faction of yaks, however,
protested. They said that "yak" sounded right, and that almost everyone who knew they existed
called them that. Unlike the ubiquitous creatures such as rats and leas, who had been called by
hundreds or thousands of different names since Babel, the yaks could truly say, they said, that they
had a name. They discussed the matter all summer. The councils of elderly females inally agreed
that though the name might be useful to others it was so redundant from the yak point of view that
they never spoke it themselves and hence might as well dispense with it. After they presented the
argument in this light to their bulls, a full consensus was delayed only by the onset of severe early
blizzards. Soon after the beginning of the thaw, their agreement was reached and the designation
"yak" was returned to the donor.

Among the domestic animals, few horses had cared what anybody called them since the failure of
Dean Swift's attempt to name them from their own vocabulary. Cattle, sheep, swine, asses, mules,
and goats, along with chickens, geese, and turkeys, all agreed enthusiastically to give their names
back to the people to whom—as they put it—they belonged.

A couple of problems did come up with pets. The cats, of course, steadfastly denied ever having had
any name other than those self‑given, unspoken, ineffably personal names which, as the poet named
Eliot said, they spend long hours daily contemplating though none of the contemplators has ever
admitted that what they contemplate is their names and some onlookers have wondered if the
object of that meditative gaze might not in fact be the Perfect, or Platonic, Mouse. In any case, it is a
moot point now. It was with the dogs, and with some parrots, lovebirds, ravens, and mynahs, that
the trouble arose. These verbally talented individuals insisted that their names were important to
them, and latly refused to part with them. But as soon as they understood that the issue was
precisely one of individual choice, and that anybody who wanted to be called Rover, or Froufrou, or
Polly, or even Birdie in the personal sense, was perfectly free to do so, not one of them had the least
objection to parting with the lowercase (or, as regards German creatures, uppercase) generic
appellations "poodle," "parrot," "dog," or "bird," and all the Linnaean quali iers that had trailed along
behind them for two hundred years like tin cans tied to a tail.

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4/11/2019 LeGuin: She Unnames Them.doc - Google Docs
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The insects parted with their names in vast clouds and swarms of ephemeral syllables buzzing and
stinging and humming and litting and crawling and tunneling away.
As for the ish of the sea, their names dispersed from them in silence throughout the oceans like
faint, dark blurs of cuttle ish ink, and drifted off on the currents without a trace.
NONE were left now to unname, and yet how close I felt to them when I saw one of them swim or ly
or trot or crawl across my way or over my skin, or stalk me in the night, or go along beside
me for a while in the day. They seemed far closer than when their names had stood between myself
and them like a clear barrier: so close that my fear of them and their fear of me became one same
fear. And the attraction that many of us felt, the desire to feel or rub or caress one
another’s scales or skin or feathers or fur, taste one another’s blood or lesh, keep one another
warm, that attraction was now all one with the fear, and the hunter could not be told from the
hunted, nor the eater from the food.
This was more or less the effect I had been after. It was somewhat more powerful than I had
anticipated, but I could not now, in all conscience, make an exception for myself. I resolutely put
anxiety away, went to Adam, and said, "You and your father lent me this—gave it to me, actually. It's
been really useful, but it doesn't exactly seem to it very well lately. But thanks very much! It's really
been very useful."
It is hard to give back a gift without sounding peevish or ungrateful, and I did not want to leave him
with that impression of me. He was not paying much attention, as it happened, and said only, "Put it
down over there, O.K.?" and went on with what he was doing.
One of my reasons for doing what I did was that talk was getting us nowhere, but all the same I felt a
little let down. I had been prepared to defend my decision. And I thought that perhaps when he did
notice he might be upset and want to talk. I put some things away and iddled around a little, but he
continued to do what he was doing and to take no notice of anything else. At last I said, "Well,
goodbye, dear. I hope the garden key turns up."
He was itting parts together, and said, without looking around, "O.K., ine, dear. When’s dinner?"
"I'm not sure," I said. I'm going now. With the—" I hesitated, and inally said, "With them, you know,"
and went on out. In fact, I had only just then realized how hard it would have been to explain myself.
I could not chatter away as I used to do, taking it all for granted. My words must be as slow, as new,
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as single, as tentative as the steps I took going down the path away from the house, between the
dark‑branched, tall dancers motionless against the winter shining.

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Lesson Plan #2 ‑ "She Unnames Them," by Ursula LeGuin
I. Goals: To demonstrate to the students how feminism its into literary discourse. To explore with the
students experiments with the rewriting of history. To explore with the students the importance of voice. To
have the students experiment with language, details, and description.
II. Objectives: 1) Students see how voice, through memory re lection, reveals the setting (de ined as time,

place, and historical signi icance.)
2) Students see how language is a mere notion that carries no signi icance without (wo)man. 3) Students see
how voice reveals the character of the speaker.
III. Materials: 1) Xerox copies of the story, "She Unnames Them," by Ursula LeGuin. 2) Xerox copies of list of
de initions.
III. Bridging or Focusing:
We will discuss the history we learned from the "The Lady's Maid," and the memoir writing we looked at in
"Country." History and memory will be main parts of the lesson plan today. We will look at how voice reveals
setting in "Country," and how it does it in "She Unnames Them," and we will look at the historical signi icance
of today's story in comparison to "The Lady's Maid."
IV. Sequence of Activities:
1) Have two quotes on the board before class begins ‑ explain to the students (brie ly) how they relate to the
story in terms of feminism rewriting history and the role of feminism within a literary context.
1) "...[the oppression of women] is also a question of sexual ideology, of the ways men and women image
themselves and each other in a male‑dominated society, of perceptions and behaviour which range from the
brutally explicit to the deeply unconscious." Eagleton,129
2) "The message of the women's movement, as interpreted by some of those outside it, is not just that women
should have equality of power and status with men; it is a questioning of all such power and status. It is not
that the world will be better off with more female participation in it; it is that without the "feminization" of
human history, the world is unlikely to survive." Eagleton, 130
2) Students will have read the story the night before class.
3) Pass out list of de initions ‑ class looks over list before step four.
4) The teacher rereads the story aloud to students in class.
5) Discuss general questions/observations about the story and quotes on the board in large group. **the
discussion of the quotes should be brief and well‑guided ‑ it shouldn't become a political debate; the function
of feminism isliterary here. If allusions to the Garden of Eden or biblical references do not come up, bring
them up here.
6) Separate into small groups ‑ students are given a list of questions to help them discuss the story: 1) what
does the story have to do with feminism? or does it have anything to do with feminism? 2) what does LeGuin
do with history in the story? 3) what does the voice of the story do by unnaming the things around her? 4)
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how is the setting important? 5) where does the story take place? and how do you know? 6) what ahs the man
lost and why is it so important? 7) what visual images does the story create? 8) does the story remind you of
anything? another story?
7) Discuss any questions that still remain in large group.
8) The writing assignment (homework) is to take the new language that the speaker of the story has created
(or uncreated, if you like) and write a piece of poetry ‑ free verse describing a natural setting, or a single plant
or animal without actually naming the object. The language should be rich enough in description that the
reader will be able to igure out what it is simply by the detailed sketch provided in the poem. The piece
should be rhythmic ‑ de initely poetry, not prose. If the student is so inclined he can include some of the topics
we talked about in class ‑ feminism, rewriting history, patriarchy, religion, etc.
V. Assessment
‑Are the students able to complete the assignment? Are their poems full of images that are reminiscent of a
plant or animal without actually naming it? Does the student try to throw in an allusion to feminism,
oppression, or patriarchy?
‑Was the discussion fruitful? Did the students understand the issues presented in the story? Were they
intrigued by the position of the speaker?
‑Did they understand who's point of view the story came from? or where they story took place? Did they
understand how LeGuin slowly revealed they speaker's character, setting, and dilemma through a memory?
‑Were the students intrigued or bored by the story? Did anyone say it was too hard? Should the lesson be
extended into two or three class periods? Was there time to accomplish enough so that the students seemed
to enjoy the story?
VOCABULARY ‑ "She Unnames Them," by Ursula LeGuin
1) ALACRITY ‑ cheerful eagerness; sprightliness.
2) APPELLATION ‑ a name or title; the act of naming.
3) BABEL‑ a scene of noise and confusion where construction of a tower was
interrupted by the confusion of tongues (Babylon).
4) ELIOT ‑ T.S. Eliot 1888‑1965, American‑born English poet.
5) EPHEMERAL ‑ lasting for a brief time; transitory.
6) LINNAEAN ‑ Carolus Linaeus (latinized name of Carl von Linne) 1707‑1778. Swedish botanist. His Species
Platarum is considered the foundation of modern botanical nomenclature.
7) MOOT POINT ‑ subject to debate.
8) MYNAH ‑ any of various Asian birds related to starlings.
9) NOMENCLATURE ‑ a system of names; systematic naming in an art or science.
10) PEEVISH ‑ irritable.
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11) TENTATIVE ‑ of an experimental nature; uncertain.
12) UBIQUITOUS ‑ being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time.

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"...[the oppression of women] is also a question of sexual ideology, of the ways men and
women image themselves and each other in a male‑dominated society, of perceptions and
behaviour which range from the brutally explicit to the deeply unconscious." Eagleton,129
Where does the story take place?
Why is the setting important?
What visual images does the story create?
What has the man lost?
How are we to think of names? Are names liberating? Binding?
Are name and existence bound together? (Can something exist if it was not named?)
Is there power in knowing a person’s name?
Can you think of any name that has been kept a secret? Why?
What relationship is there between the name giver and the name receiver?
Journal #6. Take the new language that the speaker of the story has created (or uncreated)
and write a piece of poetry, narrative or essay describing a natural setting, or a single plant
or animal without actually naming the object. The language should be rich enough in
description that the reader will be able to igure out what it is simply by the detailed sketch
provided in the writing.

"...[the oppression of women] is also a question of sexual ideology, of the ways men and
women image themselves and each other in a male‑dominated society, of perceptions and
behaviour which range from the brutally explicit to the deeply unconscious." Eagleton,129
Where does the story take place?
Why is the setting important?
What visual images does the story create?
What has the man lost?
How are we to think of names? Are names liberating? Binding?
8
Are name and existence bound together? (Can something exist if it was not named?)
Is there power in knowing a person’s name?
Can you think of any name that has been kept a secret? Why?
What relationship is there between the name giver and the name receiver?
Journal #6. Take the new language that the speaker of the story has created (or uncreated)
and write a piece of poetry, narrative or essay describing a natural setting, or a single plant
or animal without actually naming the object. The language should be rich enough in
description that the reader will be able to igure out what it is simply by the detailed sketch
provided in the writing.

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He was itting parts together, and said, without looking around, "O.K., ine, dear. When’s dinner?"

II. Objectives: 1) Students see how voice, through memory re lection, reveals the setting (de ined as time,

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