“A person must accept all aspects of himself (herself) to grow” One of the main facets of humanity (other than higher comprehension skills and opposable thumbs) that sets us apart from other organisms is that we show growth not only physically, but mentally and emotionally. It is essential to growing up and maturing. “A person must accept all aspects of himself (herself) to grow” is a major secondary theme within this story. It is not until the very climax of the story when this theme came into fruition, however. It has already been established that the shadow that was hunting Ged was a physical manifestation (symbol). of all of Ged’s negative qualities. During the climax in pages 248-254, Ged travels out to the edge of Earthsea where he finds a distorted world of only darkness he …show more content…
In the past, Ged was also known to be arrogant and jealous as well as somewhat violent. The shadow transforming into Jasper and Ged’s dad represented Ged’s spiteful and violent nature with each of these characteristics belonging to the aforementioned people Ged once knew respectively. After the shadow finishes taunting Ged with his “memories,” it directly attacks him. It is here that Ged realizes the shadow’s real name, and becomes one with his shadow. Ged’s “synthesis” of his shadow is symbolic of of his acceptance with his negative self. He is realizing his childish characteristics and accepts them to become complete and this is supported by him saying “I am whole” before collapsing in page 253. Upon recovering, his friend Vetch says, “knowing his whole true self, cannot be used or possessed by any other power other than himself” on page 254. This further reinforces the theme as it shows Ged admitting his arrogance and mistakes and can finally begin to grow as a person. Perhaps the shadow was not chasing Ged to control him, but to simply return to Ged to restore the balance necessary to nature. Everyone grows and people