into farms. The Athshean dwellings and towns are built in a way that allows them to integrate with their environment: This depiction not only links the Athsheans to their environment, but gives primacy to the forest over the rest of the natural ecosystem. The Athsheans' clans are named after trees, and their highly decentralized social structure is constructed in a way that resembles their ecosystem. To the Athsheans, being a mentally healthy person is equivalent to being in touch with their roots, which are closely linked to their ecosystem. In contrast, the Terrans' behavior, such as rape and murder, is attributed to their leaving "their roots behind them". In the Athshean language the word for "forest" is also the word for "world", showing the dependence of the Athshean culture upon the forest. In contrast, the Terrans ignorance of the ecology of the planet has already denuded one island in the archipelago, and is damaging the rest of the planet. Davidson sees the forest as a waste of space, and wishes to turn it into farmland. The contrast between the Terran relationship to the planet and the Athshean one is the major example of a larger dialectical structure within the novel, a comparison of opposites. Throughout, the Athsheans are shown as living in balance with their world, while the Terrans despoil it. The Athsheans are shown as a gentle people, in contrast the violence and aggression of the Terrans. The three main characters of the novella, Selver, Lyubov, and Davidson, have been described by reviewers as representing three different historical attitudes towards nature. Davidson represent the machismo of some early explorers, who feared nature and wanted to overcome it. Lyubov has a more positive but highly romanticized view of the forest, while only Selver and the other Athsheans are able to live in harmony with it. Resemblance to Avatar Several reviewers have noted that the narrative of the 2009 film Avatar has many similarities to that of The Word for World is Forest. Specific similarities include the notion that the Earth's resources have been used up, the extraction of resources in an exploitative manner from another planet, a native population on that planet which lives in close harmony with their world, and a rebellion by those natives against the exploitative human colonizers. A key difference lies in the roles of the "benevolent" humans in both works: Raj Lyubov in The Word