The Struggle

Genly Is envoy, or first mobile sent by the Ekumen to the frozen planet of Winter for a diplomatic mission. To the genderless people of Winter he is an alien "pervert", or someone who is in permanent kemmer. He is in a new world so much more different than the others he has been to. He is not used to meeting a group of people who happen to be genderless; this for Genly is a struggle for it is difficult for him to see Gethenians the way the way they see themselves. In chapter 8 page 106, it is revealed that the king is pregnant; to him this is strange for he thinks of it to be odd, but the older clansman he spoke to "found this funny-they said he was too old to be bearing children". The kings is seen as this masculine figure especially in Genly's eyes, so hearing this is strange to him but to the clansman this is normal. It seems that Genly can't completely accept this lifestyle for he still does things such as referring to the people he meets as he or she depending on how he sees them. This reveals that the world he is from have a strong belief in their own lifestyles and that it is the only right way to live. Since Genly doesn't quite accept their lifestyle, it also shows that his world isn't the type of place that is accepting of lifestyles far more different than their own. We are able to understand how Genly must feel since we are used to only being around others who are sexually oriented, and have never been around someone who isn't sexually oriented.  

An Outsider Looking In

Genly Ai is an outsider that is trying look at Gethen and Gethenian society with an openly closed mindset. He is trying to learn about Gethenian culture but can't fully grasp the nature of things because he has never been exposed to any of it. Just like in our society, we have never been able to accept things as they are but we find ways to compromise. For Genly, that compromise is mentally associating the androgynous inhabitants of Gethen to a gendered society of his own, basing it off of their personalities and physical characteristics. By doing so, Genly thinks sexist remarks to himself and it sometimes inhibits his ability to grasp some of the simple matters that trouble him.  That being said, Genly is a foreigner that was handed the observations, uncertainties, and theories  of the investagator team which seem to cloud his judgement at times.  Genly is openly trying to adapt to the way Gethenian society is conducted but his nature is close minded but he was unconsciously transforming their society to fit what he is used to, a world that has genders, a world that has inequalities, a world in which people are in a hurry to reach new height rather than slowly improve upon what we've had. Genly won't be able to truly see the inhabitants of Gethens as they see one another because of the way he associates them to fit he's used to.

Wave 1: Genly sees how He sees

Genly Ai, a Mobile from the Ekumen on a diplomatic mission, displays his struggle to see Gethenians as they see themselves within the very first chapter, where he had supper with Estraven at his house. During the moment Ai addresses his subconscious behavior of “forcing him into those categories so irrelevant  to his nature and so essential to my own” (12). This one experience illustrates Genly’s premature behaviour to instinctively label the people of Winter as some gender. As being from another world and coming from Terran, a world of perverts, or rather permanently gendered people, the idea of being genderless is unfathomable. Especially to an Investigator who's only knowledge of genders revolve around male and female, never once considering the possibility of androgynous beings. Moreover, where he comes from the people have a sexual drive daily, whereas the people in Winter have a cycle where their sexual drive kicks in. Also, Gethenians have “no division of humanity into strong and weak halves” (94). Where as all the other beings from the other worlds have a division between the roles of men and women. These few differences illustrate the vast difference between Terran and Winter, and being a foreigner it makes sense why Genly struggles to wrap his mind around their gender orientation. In addition, his ignorance is further displayed throughout the book as he constantly refers to the natives as “he”. Nonetheless, despite the natives alien like nature to Genly they too see him as an alien, or Envoy; and his tallness and dark complexion sets him apart from the Gethenians, so although Genly may see them as strange and his perception of them is challenged, Gethenians may too have the same attitude towards him.

Genly Ai struggles to understand how Gethenians see themselves because of how different Gethen is compared to where he’s from. He comes from a planet where everyone is known by their gender, and is seen as male or female where in Gethen, there are no genders. They only become male or female when in kemmer, a term Gethenians use when they’re sexually active. It’s completely different to what Genly understands because in his world, the people know what gender they are and don’t go through kemmer. Genly may feel unusual about everything because he’s not like everyone else around him. All the things on Gethen is normal for Gethenians except for Genly. The Gethenians think of him as a pervert, judging him for having a permanent gender. The king asks him, ‘“So all of them, out on these other planets, are in permanent kemmer? A society of perverts?”’ (36). It shows that when Genly thinks that everyone else is strange, he’s actually the strange one to them all. He doesn’t mean to be a pervert or to upset anyone. Genly also struggles with not knowing what to refer Gethenians as because of them being genderless. His attitude reveals that the world he comes from is just like our world. We can relate to Genly by understanding how he feels because we’re more like him. With his struggle of not fitting in makes him feel different from everyone else. People judge others by how they look and not accepting them for who they are.

Since Genly Ai is from a different planet where a human is categorized as male or female, he faces many  challenges being on the planet Winter. Genly is so used to looking at someone and calling them he or she because on his planet, that’s normal. On Winter, they aren’t male or female. For Gethenians, they don’t see each other as male or female until their kemmer season, which is when they see each other as humans. They look pass their gender and look more at each other, like looking at a soul. Not being able to accept this causes a culture board for him in a sense, but what also causes a culture board is the fact that Genly seems to be more like a real life human which causes Gethenians to also not accept him, they see him as a pervert because he’s a male full time. Genly’s attitude reveals that his world is more like ours and that they're used to identifying each other as male or female. Calling a male he and female she, identifying them so Genly knows how and what to talk about with them.

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.

[KC]: LHoD WAVE ONE Discussion Question

WAVE ONE:

Discuss Genly Ai's struggle to see Gethenians as they see themselves. What do Genly Ai's attitudes reveal about the world he comes from?

Reminder, your post should be between 250-300 words long. Anything shorter will not be effective. Also, include page numbers when you reference the text.

Wave 1 responders, you have until 6:00 pm Monday, January 22nd to post your response to this question. All other students in the class may comment on any of the LHoD posts at any time.

Who shall post:

Summer Almond, Jasmine Apodaca, Joyce Asombrado, Gaby Bayani, Caitlyn Carstens, Haley Davis, Kameron Drew, Sydairee Dudley, Chris Esparza, Eli Figueroa

Remember, anyone can comment on these posts.  The total requirement for this novel is ONE blog post and TWO comments, and as always, I hope some students will EXCEED EXPECTATIONS and go ABOVE AND BEYOND this 1:2 minimum requirement.