A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Choice is a recurring motif throughout the work. Through choices, characters assert their freedom and their desire to determine their path. Dex chooses to leave their comfortable life as a garden monk at the inner-city monastery and to become a self-taught tea monk. Tellingly, Sister Mara, the monastery’s Keeper, calmly and supportively accepts this decision. Choice, and therefore freedom, are tenants of Pangan religious life.

Furthermore, Dex is provided with a wagon through which to practice their chosen vocation, illustrating that disciples of Allalae are provided with the necessary resources to practically pursue their choices. The reader is invited to reflect on the differences between Panga and our own capitalist lives on Earth, where choices are restricted by access—or lack thereof—to wealth and resources. Chambers continues to present a utopian society; autonomy is not dictated by material wealth, and material wealth is not celebrated as an indicator of one’s worthiness as a person or as a professional.

Choice is an assertion of freedom. Chambers explores this through Mosscap’s decision to carry Dex’s water tank. Dex feels uncomfortable with Mosscap assisting them, as this carries connotations of humanity’s subjugation of robots in pre-Transition Panga. However, Mosscap points out that Dex is limiting Mosscap’s freedom by refusing to accept its help; although Dex is well-intentioned, they are misguided—“if you don’t want to infringe on my agency, let me have agency.