A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

The balance between nature and technology is a distinguishing element of the nature/technology ideal of solarpunk fiction, and it stands in contrast to cyberpunk, a genre in which technology and nature are visibly out of balance (See: Background). In A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, Chambers demonstrates the importance of such a balance as well as alternate views of the role of technology in human life.

Historically, Panga is a civilization that grew too dependent on technology, evidenced by their use of robots to staff their factories and produce consumer goods. This dependence became so complete that when the robots became sentient and chose to leave civilization in what is called the Transition, the humans experienced a long and difficult period of adjustment. Humans eventually learned to care for themselves, and they established a post-currency economic system based on mutual exchange rather than on consumerism. They call the previous period the “Factory Age” and view it negatively. The shared cultural memory of their history makes Pangans wary of technology and careful in its use.

From the start, Chambers shows that Dex is comfortable with the limited use of technology. They carry a pocket computer that allows them access to email, information, and accounting. The wagon Dex hauls provides the means for cooking, heat, and refrigeration. On the other hand, Dex does not use a mechanized means of locomotion. Rather, Dex moves the wagon themselves by pedaling a connected “ox-bike.”

As the book opens, Dex reflects on how important it has been for them to “see the world as it was without such constructs” as housing, lamps, and refrigeration (3). The experience of living in the woods (described in the first book of the series) has given Dex a new perspective on both nature and technology. Dex now understands “that every person was indeed just an animal in clothing subject to the laws of nature and the whims of chance like everything else that had ever lived and died in the universe” (3). For this reason, Dex understands more keenly the importance of the natural world. At the same time, however, Dex also feels “indescribable relief” when they reenter the human world wherein technology serves to make life more comfortable, at least as much as sustainability will allow.

The clearest exposition of the balance between nature and technology comes when Dex and Mosscap visit the Coastlands and have long discussions with a Coastland resident, Mx. Avery. The people of the Coastlands have rejected all technology. Mx. Avery argues that the Coastland way of life “shows you how comfortable the world is on its own” (101). Without technological aids, Mx. Avery believes life is sweeter. Along with the people of the Coastlands, Mx. Avery believes that any use of technology introduces the danger of a slippery slope: Once people get used to the comfort technology brings, they will want more and more until civilization returns to the way it was back in the Factory Age. Dex is of a different opinion: “I think we’re allowed to use whatever we want to make ourselves as safe and comfortable as possible” (101). Dex adds the following important proviso, however: Technology that helps people is fine, “provided that we don‘t damage the natural world or hurt one another in the process” (101). Dex calls for a sustainable relationship with the natural world here. They think that it is possible for humans to live responsibly in the natural world, using minimal but important technology. Advocates of the solarpunk ideal would agree with Dex’s way of thinking, while not discounting entirely the points made by Mx. Avery. The key, according to Chambers, is that humans must first respect each other’s points of view, and then they must respect and protect the natural world from harm.

Chambers uses the device of the journey story in structuring A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. Authors often employ this device to indicate not only physical journeys, but also emotional and psychological ones. In both A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, Chambers addresses yet another kind of journey, one that encompasses the search for existential purpose. That is, characters in these novels are trying to find their reason for being, their essential purposes in life. It is this search that drives Mosscap out of the forest and into human society and the same search that drives Dex away from the City and out into the wild.

Mosscap thinks its purpose is to find out what humans need. However, Mosscap does not understand that this might be an impossible question to answer, although Dex does. Dex reflects that they have “no idea how Mosscap was ever going to find a satisfactory answer” (6). While Mosscap is searching for a comprehensive answer to its question, Dex understands that any answer the robot might receive would vary from person to person and community to community. As the pair journey onward, they encounter human societies that seem to have achieved everything they need. In addition, Mosscap’s quest implies that it understands its existential purpose to be fulfilling whatever needs humans share with it. Over the course of the novel, Mosscap discovers that while learning about human society and humans in general has been an important experience, its existential purpose is not only to fulfill human need. When Theo asks Mosscap, “What do robots need?” (127), Mosscap has no idea how to answer other than to say that robots meet all their needs for themselves. Theo then turns the question again, asking, “But you keep asking us the question, even though you know our basics are covered. So, then: what do you need, Mosscap? You, personally” (127). Again, Mosscap is not able to answer. Its search for existential purpose has centered solely on discovering the needs of others.

Dex’s journey is likewise. They embark on their journey because of an indefinable dissatisfaction with their life, a feeling that something is missing, a feeling that there must be a larger purpose to their existence. Becoming a tea monk seems at first to fulfill Dex’s longing for purpose in that they provide an important service for others. Indeed, Dex’s role as a tea monk has largely been to help others find their own existential purpose. After meeting Mosscap, Dex continues to offer service by helping the robot navigate human culture. Mosscap, however, understands that Dex has not learned the lesson of reciprocity. Although Dex believes that everyone has the right to comfort and the right to simply be, Dex does not apply this to themselves. They tell Mosscap, “I feel like it’s true for everyone else but not me” (141). Dex only feels worthwhile when they are giving to others. However, the lesson they must learn is that one must be ready and willing to not only give to others, but also to lovingly receive what others give to them.

While both Mosscap and Dex have spent many long days and many miles searching for their existential purposes, by the end of the novel, neither of them has learned the answer to their questions. Nonetheless, they have realized that the one thing they do not want to be without is each other. Together, they fill each other’s needs and decide that simply being together is purpose enough.

The role of mutual exchange and reciprocity in societal and personal lives provides one of the most important thematic concerns in this book, a concern that Chambers explores in two basic ways. In the first, mutual exchange is foundational to the Pangan economic system. In the second, at a personal level, humans and creatures must behave reciprocally. That is, they should be able to both give and take as needed for their own happiness and survival.

Economically, Pangan society is based on a system of “pebs.” When a person or robot provides service or goods to others within a Pangan community, they receive several pebs from the recipient of the service or goods. For example, when Mosscap changes a flat tire on a bicycle for a resident of Stump, the owner of the bike awards Mosscap a peb. Dex explains to Mosscap that it can use these pebs to get services or goods for itself. Although this seems similar to systems where people earn money that they can spend on goods, the peb system is perhaps less systematic and impersonal. An individual rewards pebs directly in recognition of another’s efforts. It is not a payment, per se, but rather a way of saying thank you and expressing gratitude. The society as a whole works on this system of mutual exchange to benefit the entire community. As Indigenous scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer writes, “In a culture of gratitude, everyone knows that gifts will follow the circle of reciprocity and flow back to you again. This time you give and next time you receive” (Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. United States, Milkweed Editions, 2013, p. 381). In Dex‘s description of the system, Panga is a world of gratitude. Each individual gives what they can give and receives what the individual needs.

In addition, Chambers features a world of mutual exchange and reciprocity among not only humans, but also those in the natural world. Humans must safeguard the environment so that nonhumans such as trees, fish, and wild animals can live well. When Dex catches a fish in the Coastlands, Mosscap, Mx. Avery, and Dex treat the fish with respect as they watch it die. Dex makes a silent prayer to Bosh, the God of Cycles, acknowledging that the fish has given the humans the gift of nourishment with its death, and the gift should be received with gratitude and respect.

On a personal level, reciprocity is also an important lesson for the characters, particularly for Sibling Dex. While they freely give to others, Dex is less able to accept comfort and care. This is a lesson they must learn, as “[b]oth the honor of giving and the humility of receiving […] are necessary halves of the equation” (Kimmerer 381). When Dex works themselves to exhaustion or gives more of themselves than they are able to receive, Dex unbalances the reciprocity equation. Dex‘s task moving forward is to be kinder to themself so that they can be open to receive care from others. When Dex confesses to Mosscap that “most days, you’re the only thing that makes sense” (146), they are telling Mosscap that the bond between them, one of giving and receiving, has become the most important part of their life. While neither of them knows the answers to all the questions they struggle with, they know that they can count on each other in the cycle of reciprocity that underpins all existence.