Themes and message

The main themes of the short story “The Rule of Names” by Ursula K. Le Guin are appearances and the importance of words. The themes of the short story are also explored with the help of motifs like greed (that of Blackbeard and that of the dragon), magic and superstitions (the action is set in a fantasy universe). The author’s intention is to convey a moral lesson—that appearances can be deceiving, and people should not judge a book by its covers.

Appearances

The theme of appearances is explored through the main characters of the short story, Mr. Underhill and Blackbeard. The villagers of Sattins judge both of them based on appearances. Because Mr. Underhill is fat, strange-looking, and because his spells do not always work, the villagers believe he is harmless and incompetent. Furthermore, the girls tend to shy away from him.

However, the end of the short story proves that the villagers were wrong in their judgment. Mr. Underhill is only a disguise that a powerful dragon takes to hide from people looking for him for stealing a treasure.

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The importance of words

The theme of the importance of words is explored in the story through the rule of names and the nicknames given to the characters. In the universe of the short story, people are not supposed to ask or tell each other’s true names when they become adults. As children, they take some public names, but when they reach puberty, they have to take their true names and keep them to themselves. As a result, many people address each other using nicknames: Goody Guld, Mr. Underhill, Blackbeard, etc.

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