Is Orr the jellyfish, being tugged along by Haber, a powerless creature enslaved by his dreams and Haber's control over them? But jellyfish have no influence, and thus this metaphor falls short: Orr's influence over the universe is undeniable; his mind changes reality, everyone's reality.
So, does this mean that the people of earth are the jellyfish, as their realities are subject to the will of Haber and Orr, together with the Augmentor?
Could it be Haber? Haber's seems to carry the most power of any character, as he is the one feeding Orr the dream-subjects through hypnotic suggestion. But it is not until Orr's dream about "The Plague" that Haber truly realizes what power he has, and what he has already done (become the founder and Director of the Oregon Oneirological Institute). Until this point, Haber is just as much a jellyfish as anyone, unaware - though perhaps willingly - of his influence, but subject to the changes he and Orr have made nonetheless.
This all seems a bit forced; Haber does not fit the metaphor.
"What will the creature made all of seadrift do on the dry sand of daylight; what will the mind do, each morning, waking?" (Le Guin 2). This sentence, which leads into the beginning of the actual story, helped me get a better grasp. The image of a jellyfish, with its moist and delicate exterior, on dry land draws an immediate parallel to Orr's physical experience in the following paragraph, where brain is seared by light that forcibly enters through unclosed eyes. This leads me to believe that Orr must be the jellyfish. Let me try to expand upon this metaphor to make it fit.
Orr has been a jellyfish all his life, adrift, a victim to circumstances that appear outside of his immediate control - his effective dreams, his guilt and fear over the dreams, his fall into drug abuse. He is thrust into daylight, onto the beach, and must take control of his life, of his dreams.
We briefly mentioned in class the theme of blackness in The Matrix trilogy, and how it was a symbol for humanity. The most striking evidence of this theme was in the orgy scene in The Matrix Reloaded - a tribal dance with African drum beat. I would like to discuss in more detail the connection between blackness/Africanness and humanity as a whole.
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