Friday, February 2, 2018
Wave Two
A person who is inwardly bitter and isolated can be described as cold. The endless cold of Gethen correlates with the theme of loneliness and isolation because Gethen is significantly a lonely and cold planet. Genly was sent to Gethen with no other people of earth, leaving him to be all alone among a planet of unfamiliar people with extremely different traditions and behaviors. He has made a few allies along the way, but they are still very different when it comes to comparing characteristics. For instance, Genly is taller and darker than the Gethenians; furthermore, he does not understand their process of kemmering. As it says on page 96, "the weather of Winter is so relentless, so near the limit of tolerability even to them with all their cold-adaptions, that perhaps they use up their fighting spirit fighting the cold." On Gethen, the cold leads people to misery; for example, in chapter 2, it talks about two brothers in kemmer, who were forced to separate, leading one to commit suicide. The cold on Gethen leads to harsh decisions, forcing people to isolate and restrict themselves from the outside world. As for Genly, the cold represents how distanced he is from the Gethenians, his intolerance for their traditions, and his feelings of loneliness on this strange planet. For the Gethenians, the cold represents their isolation from each other, and the harsh feelings that are shared between them.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I never thought about how the weather kind of isolates one from another. Or how isolated Genly really is because is the only one of his kind on a planet 17 lightyears away from his home. I totally agree with everything you've said about how Gethen forces everyone not to communicate with each other and when they do the things the decide aren't always the best thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI can understand how Gethen weather shows how cold and isolated Gethenians are from one another, leading them to feel the emotion of misery and forced separation at times. For Genley's constant struggle with feeling out of place leading to a slow depressing emotion of loneliness, also contributing to the isolation between him and other Gethenians. -Alana Williams
ReplyDeleteI like the first sentence, as I never really thought about that aspect of it too much. The people who are more emotionally distant and detached almost are described as cold.
ReplyDeleteI agree to everything you've said. Genly was placed on a lonely, cold planet with Gethenians who have a complete different custom than those who are the planet he is from. He feels isolated because he is different from everyone else by not changing genders and not being able to go into kemmering. The cold weather represents how Genly feels on winter.
ReplyDelete