The plot of The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin presents a typically colonialist scenario, in which the Terrans have used modern technology to colonize the Athshe natives, who are portrayed as the idyllic uncorrupted innocents living in Edenic harmony with nature. Captain Don Davidson's raid against an Athshean village in which he kills all the inhabitants is a classic example of colonialism. A post-colonial response, is found in the episode in which the Athsheans attack a Terran village and kill all the Terran women and capture the men. In this, it is shown that Raj Lyubov, in teaching the Athsheans violence, albeit for the benevolent goal of helping them defend themselves, has changed Athshean society. The end of the novel, with Selver's reflection that the nature of the Athsheans has changed permanently, and even with the Terran threat gone, they cannot return to their innocence of war, demonstrates the postcolonial condition in which even after the colonizers have left, the effects of colonialism remain.