Wave Three - Myth Chapters

Throughout the book, there are certain chapters that act as tales that help the readers this book understand the plots of the book and furthermore explain the Gethenian culture and morals. Chapter 2 is the first to explain the myths in the book. The tale is pretty much explains kimmer and how it works and also how Gethenians view suicide. According to the chapter, two siblings are able to go into kimmer; however, the two must separate if one becomes pregnant and conceives a child. This chapter conveys that in a Gethenian society, it is possible to go into kimmer because the Gethenians are accustomed to living in their own adrogynous society. As for the topic of suicide, it is seen as unacceptable in their world. When the brothers are forced to separate, one of the brothers commit suicide which affects the life of the brother who is still alive. This brother takes the consequence for his brother's actions which forces him to move away from his home and become exiled in a way. This chapter shows that there are hardships in this society as well and that not everything and everyone in Gethen are the same. Another tale in the book includes Estraven, the traitor. Even though this Estraven differs from today’s Estraven, it shows that even a long time ago, things were still the same. Estraven can be seen as a traitor according to the tale because all throughout the book he experiences things that shows details proving him as a traitor in his society. He seems to view Genly as different and he has a weird relationship with him. He shows his way of being a traitor by escaping Genly from jail and them traveling together to the ice. They myths in this book explain much of the plots and or the morals of the Gethenian society. It gave me a better outlook on the book because it feels good to finally understand something that is so complex and different from Earth.

Wave 3

In the novel, Left Hand of Darkness, the author tells many stories that the Gethenian culture holds. One of the stories I found the most interesting was the “The Nineteenth Day”. It was about a man who saved up to ask the foretellers about his death. He asked the question, “on what day shall I die”. The foretellers then proceeded to tell him that he will die on Odstreth, but never told him a day or month. The man then lived life in suffering. This legend told the reader to not make the same mistake as him, which is to be specific when asking the foretellers a question. This legend also served a purpose which was to educate the reader about the foretellers before Genly paid a visit to them. Genly was very specific when asking them a question and he got an answer. Another story that helped educate the reader was “The Place inside the Blizzard”. This was about two brothers who vowed kemmering to each other. However, they were forced to break their vow and one brother committed suicide which forced the other to go into exile. This educated the reader of some things that are very forbidden in Gethenian culture, which is suicide and vowing kemmer with a sibling. I also think the author included this story to foreshadow what we learn about Estraven`s past. The author uses dialogue to tell that Estraven has vowed kemmering before. Estraven also brings up his brother a lot, yet we never meet him. I think that this story is the same thing that Estraven experienced. Estraven vowed kemmering with his brother, yet it was forbidden and his brother committed suicide.

Wave 1

                Genly definitely struggles to see Gethanians as themselves and not humans. There society is completely different than us by not having gender play a role in there world, meaning that everyone is treated the  same. On Earth we classify ourselves and differentiate ourselves with what gender we are and we treat each other differently. In chapter 8 Genly struggles to realize that the king is pregnant. Genly classified the king as a man before the news of the king's pregnancy came out. This is one example of how on Earth we try to classify ourselves and Genly struggles to except that on Winter you can be both and be treated the same. Overall, this goes to show that it shouldn't matter weather you're a boy and a girl we should all be treated equally.

Wave 1

Genly basically continues to love on Gethen the place he called winter.  He starts out having a really hard time understanding how the Gethenians do things.  the Gethenians don't have any gender until their time for Kemmer comes.   Since he is a human its hard for him to understand because on earth we use pronouns such as him and her.  But on the planet he calls winter Genly calls them all "he" because it's easier for him to understand that way.  While Genly was talking to Estraven, he was thinking about how " It was impossible to think of him as a woman, that dark, ironic, powerful presence, and yet whenever I thought of him as a man I felt a sense of falseness.''  (pg.12) Genly again seemed confused and of course, we would all know why he is confused because he does not understand why.  Even though Genly is confused he still willing to learn about the Gethenian culture and why they do the certain "weird" things they do.  Even though he has been on Gethen for a while he says and talks about how he still feels like a stranger.  This very much makes sense since he is from the earth and the two places are significantly different from one another. 

wave 2

The constant cold of Gethen added to the theme of isolation and loneliness because Genly does not fit in at gethen. The weather adds an additional degree of the coldness and overall detachment of Gethenians. In this world Genly is very lonely he has been away from his homeworld for most of his life as a representative doing missions for the Ekumen and even though we are told that he looks no more than 30 which is a lie because, in reality, he is one-hundred twenty years old. He is very tall and his looks make him outcast stand out way more. I think the author made the planet cold to show how the people of gethen don't have any emotions. On Earth, there are four different seasons, all of which Genly has already experienced. However, Genly is a foreigner so he is not used to the weather being cold all the time. The cold weather builds on the cold emotions of the Gethenians by adding the extra sense of solitude for Genly, making it twice as hard for him to achieve his mission due to the additional obstacle that he has to come through.  The constant cold of Gethen also contribute the mentality of Genly as well, throughout the book, we have relied on a narrator that gave an explanation as to the normal weather patterns through the eyes of someone who is fairly used to temperature like those of Earth. Genly states that the temperature of Gethen seems to stay below even that of our subarctic regions.  Because of this, Genly must act and respond different due to the extreme temperatures of Gethen, which in turn sets him apart from the residents of Gethen.

Wave 2

The cold weather on Gethen is one of the biggest parts of the lives of the Gethenians. It’s so unbearingly cold that it takes up most of their bodily energy just to withstand it. This kind of constant drain in energy is an undoubting way to have separation between people and emotions. If you don’t have a lot of energy and someone comes to talk to you at school, a lot of times people just ignore each other because they don’t have the patience or just out right lack of energy to converse. The same idea can be applied to the Gethenians. With their energy being drained into withstanding the harsh cold Winter, they could very well not have the energy to make close connections or conversations that we have here on Earth. One strong downside of this is it can make someone feel very alone and distant from others, due to the inability of spending time with one another and getting close. The only kind of “personal” affiliation Gethenians have with each other is the kemmering process, which is 9/10 times not a personal interaction, but just a natural part of the life on Gethen. All this leads to the people of Gethen feeling isolated. Not only does this idea apply to the regular Gethenians, but it also apples to Genly himself. With Genly being the only human being on a completely different planet that’s not even close to his home planet, there is no doubt about him feeling alone and isolated from his normal way of life and his idea of “normal” people.

Wave 2:Isolation and Lonliness

The never ending cold weather of Gethen contributes to the theme of lonliness and isolation because, where there is usually a cold environment there is hardly life as prosperous as when there is warm fair weather. The theme of isolation and lonliness contributes to the Gethenians because there is no attachment emotionally, there is only physical contact which occurs during Kemmer the only time in which they are no longer lonely. This can be seent hroughout the book due to the fact that when the kids are born there is no emotional attachment between the parents or the child with the parents, instead there's lonliness between what is supposed to be a family.
   The theme of lonliness can also be seen through Genly Ai being the only kind of his species on Gethen. This adds to the theme because although he is able to make friends on Gethen there is no ther person to which he can turns to and express himself and be understood. Another example that contributes to lonliness and isolation is banishment. Banishment from your own people and if seen at all you must be killed. This leads to an even lonier lifestyle than they are accustomed to living already. The endless cold weather as well as humongous mountains that contain nothing living and infinite amounts of snow and gruesome blizzards. These are a few examples that I thought really contributed to isolation and lonliness.