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A character in The Dispossessed

Kadagv

Kadagv is one of Shevek’s childhood companions and the victim of the boys’ prison experiment.

The book

Cover of The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
The DispossessedUrsula K. Le Guin, 1974

Two opposed societies reveal how revolutionary ideals can harden into conformity without becoming simple villains.

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Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Kadagv is one of Shevek’s childhood companions and the victim of the boys’ prison experiment. The others confine him after learning that prisons exist on Urras, then discover how quickly a supposedly voluntary game can become domination. Kadagv’s terror and anger give the episode its moral force. He is released, but the novel does not follow his adult life.

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