Wave Two

I think the idea of cold has multiple connotation than just the temperature.  Often I associate kindness and belonging with warmth.  Le Guin choosing to create this world that is always cold is interesting because it establishes this underlying feeling of loneliness throughout the story.  Cold is an uncomfortable feeling and I think that creates a  general uncomfortability in the novel.  It almost hurts to be cold and I think that adds to the loneliness of the planet.   I have never thought of cold as something friendly and that is way the book is just so lonely.  Le Guin was very smart about her choices.  I think she wanted the planted and the novel to be lonely.  By Le Guin literally showing cold in her novel she makes the overall mood lonely  Loneliness because of cold is also shown through the characters. Genly is very lonely the planet and he is obviously not a fan of the cold.  “I (Genly) longed for anonymity, for sameness.” (8).   This part of the book starts to show just how lonely he is on this planet.  Genly talks about how he has never been warm in the planet in a few chapters.  This is probably meant literally but I think that Genly is also talking about friendship.  Genly has never felt welcomed or friendship on Winter.  The people of Winter are in general cold people.  They are not very welcoming to Genly because he is strange and different.  This adds to the coldness of Winter.

Wave Two

The world of Gethen was nicknamed ‘Winter’ for an obvious reason - it is always cold. On page 133, Genly expressed just how cold the world was: “..months and months of unrelenting cold, sleet, ice, wind, rain, snow, cold, cold inside, cold outside, cold to the bone and the marrow of the bone.” This piercing coldness affects every aspect of the people’s lives. For instance, it affects how the buildings are structured as well as the people's behavior.  Because weather influences all aspects of Gethenian life, the people tend to live in isolation and loneliness.

  Physically, cold weather makes people secluded behind walls of buildings.  On page 115, the structure of the city Mishnory was described as "..a queer-looking city, all blank stone walls with a few narrow windows set too high, wide streets that dwarfed the crowds, ....shed-roofs sticking out of housewalls eighteen feet above ground like big aimless bookshelves." This illustration portrays how buildings were built in Gethen to adjust to the cold. In a sense, the structure of the buildings contribute to the isolation of the people. The high walls, making them feel like dwarfs also literally separated them with huge barriers from others making them lonely.

  On page 96, it is explained that "the dominant factor in Gethenian life is not sex or any other human thing: it is their environment, their cold world. Here man has a crueler enemy than himself." The society is centered around the unfortunate weather conditions. The people are not concerned with socializing and building strong relationships - they simply live to survive in harsh conditions. As a result, they live secluded from each other and live in isolation and loneliness.

Wave 3

The various myths in the chapters of Left Hand of Darkness show the Gethenian culture and how their society is structured and portrayed. One of the various myths explains how siblings born from the same Gethenian "mother" can not become kemmering partners and share an romantic bond with one another. In the tale two brothers end up sharing a romantic bond together resulting in them secretly becoming kemmering partners. Hiding from society, they end up relieving their secret and being exile from their community. Not able to deal with the pain of loneliness one brother commits suicide, while the other is left alone without his lover or community by his side. This myth portrays a cultural story we have known throughout our lives, Romeo and Juliet.

Wave 1

In the Left Hand of Darkness, Genly faces a challenge on how to view the Gethenians. The reason for this is because the Gethenians do not have a specific gender until they enter kemmer which is a stage in which the Gethenians develop a sexual drive and then determine a specific gender. In the beginning, Genly is confused on this awkward stage for these people and can seem very sexist through the book. It takes Genly some time to adjust to this different cycle, whereas to his world you are born male or female and remain that way. Genly had also assigned specific genders to some people which created even more confusion for him because of the constant changing of gender. This shows the little bit of struggle that Genly has faced in this confusing world, but has adjusted since getting used to it.

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.

WAVE 1

Genly has such ahard time seeing Gethenians as they see themselves. Sometimes he kind of forgets that theyr’e not human, but other times he’s really weirded out by them. Through out the book he starts to understand things more and he starts to kind of relate to them in certain ways. Genly’s attitudes make him seem like a jerk, but almost every one on earth acts like this. He is sexist on a planet that has no genders which is hard for him because sometimes he tries to figure out their gender, or even make one for them when he does’nt need to and can’t really do that.

Wave 2 response

The constant cold of Gethen contributes to the theme of isolation and loneliness because it represents  the feeling of losing hope, darkness and depression. You are never able to feel comfortable and also not being able to control the environment that you are in. When I think of the word cold  I don't think of happiness unless it involves snowing or the Christmas holiday season, but it's not as fun if you don't have someone to experience it with you. To be cold is a miserable feeling just like being lonely and not having the support of another person.  So if the Gethenians planet is called Winter and only experiences cold, harsh weather it must not be as happy as it seems. I believe that the cold weather reference is directed toward Genly.  He goes to the planet Winter and experiences isolation and loneliness since he is the only human who doesn't go into kemmering.  He is seen as a pervert because he never changes gender and stays a male. No one in winter has an assigned gender, it's all determine once they've reached kemmering. Since he is so different it makes it hard for others to trust him.  He has nobody to relate with and is never in competition with competing with his masculinity. Everyone in Gethen is adjusted to the weather on winter but Genly struggles to keep warm. It's hard to stay alive in Winter, he comes from a warmer planet so he had to learn how to make adjustments.  Winter is so cold that it makes the air to hard to breathe in. Coldness results in death.