Three Themes of Teshuva in Ursula K. LeGuin’s A Wizard of Earthsea
Ursula K. LeGuin’s opening novel of her Earthsea series tells the coming-of-age of a haughty young man who searches for maturity, peace, and self-forgiveness after releasing a terrible danger into the world. Using passages from the novel paired and contrasted with classic rabbinic texts we will explore themes in the process of teshuva/repentance including the role of spoken articulation, the fracture/wholeness of one’s self after failure and sin, and the positive impact of friends and support networks to personal growth.