Sunday, January 21, 2018
Genly's Struggle to See Others.
Genly struggles to see the Gethenians in the same way as they view themselves because he cannot completely accept that they are different then him. He has become so used to everyone being the same as him. Although he doesn't oppose the way the Gethenians live their life, but he also can no fully accept it. This has many similarities to the controversies that we face in our world. There are many times of people being angry that someone does not look like them or think in the way they do. This causes many problems to arise in society, which is what has been happening lately. Even during the time Ursuala wrote this book, the same single minded idea was being thought. Genly cannot grasp that the Gethenians live a life so different then his. For example, throughout the book, Genly is constantly referring to the Gethenians he meets with pronouns such as he or she even though he is aware that they have no gender for the majority of their lives. Genly struggles to accept their lifestyle and because of that he can't see them in the same way they view themselves. This tells you that the world he lives in has a superior complex. That they believe their way of life is better and that everyone who is different from them should transform their lifestyle so that it is the same. As I had mentioned earlier, this type of superiority complex is still in our world today. We are not accepting of the differences, in fact we are scared of them because we don't understand them. The same goes for Genly and his world. Which is why he is on this mission in the first place. To better understand the Gethenians, as well as get them to join a neighboring country.
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I agree with you and to add to what you had said I also feel like it’s not that he can’t accept it or he won’t I think it’s that he Dosent know any better. He was raised to think you are either a boy or girl as many Americans are. And then we and even genley explore or then what we are thought we realize there is a whole different world out there and it may take a while to accept but with a proper education and time Americans and Genly will learn and know better
ReplyDeleteGenly's difficulty to understand the Gethenians is completely understandable as you have stated. The fact that he assigns a pronoun to everyone he meets shows that it is natural for him to categorize people as such. What I find interesting is that the majority of the time, they are seen as male by Genly with only a small few being seen as feminine fully.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Genly struggles with adjusting to the way of life because even though they are similar in ways they are also very different. The whole kemmering thing is uncomfortable for him, and the no gender situation must be hard when he has grown up around people who label everything has feminine or masculine.
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