Gifts

Gifts adalah novel fantasi remaja karya Ursula Kroeber Le Guin. Novel ini adalah novel pertama dalam trilogi Annals of the Western Shore dan diikuti oleh Voices. Cerita novel ini berlatarkan dunia fiksi, tepatnya di wilayah tandus dan dilanda kemiskinan bernama Upland, beberapa penduduknya memiliki bakat magis turun-temurun. Cerita ini mengisahkan narator Orrec, putra pemimpin domain Caspromant, yang bakat turun-temurunnya adalah kemampuan untuk "melepaskan" dan Gry, putri dari domain jiran, yang dapat berbicara dengan binatang. Bakat Orrec terlambat muncul dan tampaknya tidak terkendali, sehingga matanya menjadi buta. Keluarga mereka terjebak dalam perseteruan dan pembalasan kekerasan yang menjadi ciri-ciri masyarakat Upland tempat anak-anak berusaha menemukan tempat mereka.

Novel ini mengeksplorasi tema kekerasan, penyalahgunaan kekerasan, dan peralihan anak-anak ke dewasa. Protagonis harus berjuang berulang kali bagi membuat pilihan yang mereka sukai. Perkembangan moral mereka terjadi dalam kerasnya budaya Upland, berbanding terbalik dengan contoh kebaikan dan altruisme. Novel ini digambarkan berbagi tema dunia mimpi dan pilihan dengan sejumlah karya lain Ursula, seperti Earthsea, The Beginning Place, dan "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas". Novel ini juga memiliki kemiripan dengan buku karya Maurice Sendak yaitu Where the Wild Things Are, semehtara transformasi Orrec dalam novel dibandingkan dengan kisah Yunus.

Gifts won the PEN Center USA 2005 Children's literature award. It was very well received by critics, who praised the characterization of Orrec and Gry as "unique, thoughtful young rebels". The writing of the book was also praised as being lyrical or poetic, while the themes of misused power and coming of age were also described positively.

 Latar 
Gifts berlatar di Upland yang berada di semesta fiksi Annals of the Western Shore. Peradaban di dunia itu dihuni oleh orang-orang dari seberang gurun di sebelah timur wilayah yang digambarkan dalam seri tersebut. Peradaban terdiri dari sejumlah negara kota serta beberapa pengembara di perbatasan gurun. Dataran tinggi berada di ujung utara wilayah ini, di daerah yang dilanda kemiskinan yang terisolasi dari seluruh dunia. Dunia itu memiliki lanskap yang suram dan tandus, sehingga memaksa penduduknya berjuang mencari nafkah. Upland dibagi menjadi beberapa domain yang dipimpin oleh "brantor", atau pemimpin. Para pemimpin ini memiliki bakat magis yang kuat yang turun temurun dan digunakan untuk melindungi wilayah mereka serta tujuan lainnya. Anggota suatu keluarga harus menikahi anggota keluarganya sendiri demi mempertahankan bakat, yang sering kali sulit dilakukan karena jarangnya penduduk Upland. Narator Orrec berasal dari Domain Caspromant, where the hereditary gift is the power of "unmaking", which can kill or destroy at a glance; his friend Gry is from the neighboring domain of Roddmant, and her lineage has the ability to call animals. The society they live in has no laws or government, and its culture is shaped by feuds and battles between lineages and the alliances made to further these feuds: violence is thus endemic to the region.

 Ringkasan alur 
The novel begins with Emmon, a lowland runaway, coming to Caspromant when Orrec and Gry are 16. The children tell Emmon of their gifts, though he is somewhat disbelieving of them. Orrec then narrates the history of his family from his childhood. His father Canoc is the brantor of Caspromant; his mother Melle, a woman from the lowlands. Despite living in the Uplands, Melle holds to some of her traditions, and teaches Orrec stories and lays that she had learned as a child. She also teaches him to read, an ability rare among Uplanders. Canoc also begins to instruct Orrec in the use of their power, though Orrec does not manifest any ability as a child. Orrec and Gry, of a similar age, become good friends, and Gry begins to show her power, being able to listen to the speech of cats and mice.

When he is 13, Orrec seemingly becomes able to use his power, striking an adder dead when it was about to bite his father. However, he is troubled by the ability not feeling different from his past unsuccessful efforts at using it. His father asks him to try, suggesting that Orrec has a duty to use his power to protect the domain, but Orrec refuses. A few days later Ogge Drum, the brantor of the neighboring domain of Drummant, comes to Caspromant, inviting the Caspros to his home, and suggesting that Orrec be betrothed to his granddaughter. Although wary of Drum due to their longstanding enmity, Canoc agrees to visit. Melle expresses opposition to the betrothal: Orrec is hurt because he and Gry had assumed they would marry each other. Canoc once again asks Orrec to use his power; Orrec is initially unable, but as his frustration builds, he seemingly turns an entire hillside into desolation. Terrified at his lack of control over his "wild" gift, he blindfolds himself.

The Caspros visit Drummant, but Ogge is rude to them, and the granddaughter Ogge proposed to betroth to Orrec is found to be mentally disabled. After they return, Melle falls ill, and Orrec assumes that Ogge used his gift of setting a wasting sickness on her. As Melle gets slowly weaker, she asks Orrec to retell her stories, leading him to realize he has a gift for storytelling and poetry. Orrec also develops a bond with Coaly, a guide dog trained for him by Gry. On her deathbed, Melle asks to see Orrec's eyes one last time, so he removes his blindfold, and realizes that his love for Melle would never have let him hurt her. Orrec begins to secretly remove his blindfold to read his books, and once looks at Coaly accidentally without hurting her. He realizes that he never had the gift of unmaking; his father had performed all of the acts attributed to him, and had pretended that Orrec had a "wild" gift to frighten people into leaving his domain alone. He confronts his father, and stops wearing a blindfold. Soon after, Ogge leads a raid against Roddmant. Canoc kills Ogge and his son while defending it, thus avenging his wife, and is killed himself. Orrec and Gry decide that there is no future for them in the uplands, because Gry is unwilling to use her gift to call animals to be hunted, and Orrec's gift of poetry is of no use there. They join Caspromant to Roddmant, and leave the uplands to make a new life elsewhere.

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Kategori:Novel karya Ursula Kroeber Le Guin
Kategori:Novel Amerika Serikat tahun 2004