[KC]: LHoD WAVE THREE Discussion Question

Wave Three:

Here comes the prompt for the third wave of blogging for The Left Hand of Darkness. Wave Three Bloggers must post in response to this prompt by 6:00 p.m. on Monday, February 5.  As before, anyone can comment on any post (Wave 1, 2, or 3), so by the time the unit is complete, you should have posted once, and commented twice. Remember, we are always looking for students who are working ABOVE AND BEYOND the minimum requirements.

Reflect on the myths presented in the various chapters of Left Hand of Darkness. Consider them as little symbolic parables and consider the following: What does this myth tell you about Gethen culture? However, some of the myths do have direct connections to the plot, especially the ones about Estraven. Discuss some of the Gethenian myths and folktales. Find one to discuss—the Place Inside the Blizzard, the Nineteenth Day, etc. How do such stories function in a culture?

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.

Who shall post: Cameron Minor, Jazlyn Parra, Kali Snyder, Caitlin Ramos, Joana Rodriguez, Arturo Sanchez, Kylie Sivard, Skyler Swearingen, Bryan Ta, Briauna Thompson, Andrew Venegas

#TheStruggleIsReal

The cold of Winter is a constant reminder of how isolated and lonely Genly Ai feels. Genly is alien to the planet, so his body was not made to endure its extremely low temperatures. Because of this, he is always layering up, which makes him even more noticeable to the citizens. Since Gethenian bodies are adapted to the frigid temperatures, they do not understand how severe the weather feels to him, again, making him feel like an outsider. I noticed that when writers are writing about a sad topic, they often make the setting gloomy to evoke our emotions and force us to picture said gloomy setting. To build on the theme of loneliness, Genly is, as I said, an alien to Winter; therefore, he is not accustomed to their androgynous society. To further explain Genly’s isolation, his mind is so used to the typical “male” and “female” way of life, that he never fully grasps and holds the idea that nobody he meets is specifically male or female, causing him to feel out of place in this cold society. “Cold society” referring to both the weather and attitudes of the people. Another character that adds to the theme of isolation is Estraven because he is banished from Karhide and is forced to live in isolation from his child and everyone/everything he ever knew. In chapter two, the setting, for the most part, is in the freezing cold and includes Getheran going “... alone through the storm.” and the imagery of his limbs becoming frostbitten (pg. 25)

The Attempt 

Genly Ai's struggles to see the Gethenians as they see themselves was when he went to an unknown planet that people are considered to be neither male or female. Also, Genly is used to call the Gethenians as he or she because on Genly’s planet which is basically like Earth, that is the universal law to be either male or female. On Gethan, the people are not considered female or male and Genly hasn’t really gotten over the matter of looking at Gethenians and not worrying about calling them a male or female. Genly just accept their tradition and he categorize because that’s what seems normal for him. However, for the Gethenians' point of view, they don’t see each other as female or male until their kemmer season, they see each other as just regular humans beings. They ignore their gender and focus more at each other with their souls. Not being able to accept this causes a culture board for him in a sense, but what also cause a culture board is the fact that Genly seems to be more like a real life human (like from our reality, you know from Earth) which causes Gethenians to also not accept him, they see him as a pervert because he’s a male full time. Genly’s attitudes reveal about his world is that it’s more like ours and that their used to identifying each other as male or female. When he identify a female she and a male he, Genly knows how and what to talk about with them.

To be alone

The constant cold on Gethen is something that the inhabitants of the planet have adapted and gotten used to. Since Genly is an alien, the cold affects him more than anyone else. This often serves to further how much of an outsider he is, which leads to him feeling out of place and alone. Since he does not originally come from a planet that is as cold as Gethen, he feels cold in times where others think of the weather as a nice spring day (page 20). He has no one that truly understands how much he suffers from it all. On Earth, places that are freezing cold are abandoned and undesirable, often making people think of loneliness when trying to picture it. People are miserable when they are freezing, and sometimes they can feel hopeless and all alone in certain situations. This, I believe, is how Genly feels all the time on Gethen. The cold makes him feel uncomfortable and isolated from everyone around him. No matter how many layers he puts on, the constant reminder that he does not belong there will always be present, such as when he was put in that van and the others sought him out as one of the weakest there (page 170). Another instance of Genly being treated as weak was when he arrived in Orgoreyn and was treated as if he was pregnant due to how susceptible to the cold he is (page 117). While it did help him to stay warm, it still no doubt made him even more isolated than before.

[KC]: LHoD WAVE TWO Discussion Question

Wave Two:

Here comes the prompt for the second wave of blogging for The Left Hand of Darkness. Wave Two Bloggers must post in response to this prompt by 6:00 p.m. on Monday, January 29.  As before, anyone can comment on any post (Wave 1, 2, or 3), so by the time the unit is complete, you should have posted once, and commented twice. Remember, we are always looking for students who are working ABOVE AND BEYOND the minimum requirements.

How does the constant cold of Gethen contribute to the theme of isolation and loneliness?

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.

Who shall post:
Paige Foy, Valerie Gamboa, Michael Garcia, Corea Hatcher, Franqui Herrera, Jasy Johnson, Heather Laughlin, Stephen Le, Emily Martin Del Campo, Noa Melendez

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?

Genly Ai's struggle to see Gethenians as they see themselves stems from the fact that he comes from a world vastly different from Winter. Gethenians are genderless. Thus, Genly Ai struggles to understand and comprehend the interactions of Gethenians, because Genly Ai simply can not relate with Gethenian society. In addition, Gethenians also find it difficult to understand and comprehend Genly Ai, for he is permanently in "kemmer". Furthermore, Gethenians see him as a pervert, and as a result, both sides have difficulty understanding each other. Especially, Genly Ai, who faces culture shock, for Ai he cannot grasp how Gethenians can live in an androgynous lifestyle. Although Genly Ai has been on the planet of Winter for two years it is apparent in his narrative that he still is not accustomed to Gethenian ways, nor has tried to understand them. 

Genly Ai's attitudes toward Gethenians reveals how he believes in gender roles. Throughout Ai's narrative, we see how he constantly refers to masculine characters as "he", when in reality they are androgynous meaning they are not specifically male or female. Furthermore, the world that Genly Ai comes from is similar to Earth. The idea of gender roles is deeply ingrained into Ai's mindset to an extent where he tries to force the idea of gender roles onto Gethenians which can be seen when he refers to again masculine characters. This idea of gender roles reveals how Genly Ai views the world in a man's point of view believing that gender plays a significant role in society.

          Gently Ai is from a different planet, where permanent gender and clear distinction between each is the norm. When he visits the planet winter, he is shocked to find that things are completely different. The people there don’t have a specific gender, they are all androgynous, until they go into Kemmer, meaning they turn into a specific gender to mate. Genly Ai struggles to wrap around his head around the concept, placing them in female and male “boxes”, rather than seeing them as neutrality. Ai finds this strange and difficult to comprehend. He also shows his struggle because he keeps referring to Estraven as “he” and “him” which is definitely not the case. He can’t let go of the norm of where he’s from. His permanent gender appears to the others from winter as perverted. Even the Kings ask him, ‘“So all of them, out on these other planets, are in permanent kemmer? A society of perverts?”’ (36). So it shows that they both think alike, unable to accept differences and be normal about it. This is a parallel to how attitudes are back in his world,  how people are still afraid of change and things that are different. Even though things aren’t scary, they are still feared because they’re different, rather than embracing and accepting uniqueness.