Monday, February 5, 2018
Wave 3: Left Hand of Darkness
The myths of the Left Hand of Darkness are one of the most interesting parts of the book. Like many myths in real life they help explain the Gethenian culture or how things occur on the planet. Thus clarifying any confusion the reader may have. One such example is the story of the 19th Day which explains the roles of fore tellers in Gethenian society, as highly respected beings who can predict the future which connects to the plot of the story. Since Genly does meet a fore teller by the name of Faxe who helps answer one of Genly's questions about the future. Specifically, if Gethen would join the Ecumen. It's stories like these that help explain the Gethenians actions or special abilities. Without the story the reader would be confused on how Faxe is able to predict the future, or that you have to pay fore tellers, and even that there are a bunch of fore tellers that exist in this world. Another story that explains the Gethenian culture is the Place Inside the Blizzard. This story is significant because it helps explain the Gethenian punishment of exile and how difficult it is to run away from it. In the story, Getheren is exiled and has to travel far to safety before he is hunted down. This story shows how the idea of exile works as well as it helps the reader illustrate how hard the weather on Gethen is. To conclude, the role of these myths is to explain how society in Gethen functions and why do Gethenians have certain abilities compared to others. It basically explains their life and how it formed.
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I also find it super interesting that some of these "myths" may not be myths at all but more like legends that were forgotten over time. I think this because of the way that Estraven keeps bringing up certain things here and there during his journey with Gently that sound strangely similar to the story that we read having to do with the brothers that were in kemmer but weren't allowed to stay together. I should probably read more to see if Estraven explains this more but for now I simply wonder if all the other stories are connected to other people that exist in the book currently.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of how these stories do play a huge part in the storytelling of the novel. You mentioned that they help explain their life and how it formed, and I agree that it gives a huge insight to how the Gethenians live. These stories give the readers a chance to understand special abilities that the Gethenians have, like for example the foretellers. It is interesting to see the parallels of some myths with parts of the story. Also, it is helpful that they portray events from the past to learn about the history of Gethen.
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