In one of the previous class periods, the question on whether the planet of Gethen was a model Utopia or Dystopia society was presented. After finishing the book and collecting some final thoughts I think it is very safe to say that Gethen is neither and of its own category.

Gethen, in the beginning, had many factors that would be expected of a Utopian society.  The fact that gender does not exist has to be included in this. The fact that Gethenians can only mate during the Kemmer cycle does a lot of progressive things for the society. There is no constant drive for sex or any other sexual interaction that may distract one from daily work. There is also not as much of emphasis put on relationships of that sort so domestic violence and tension does not exist. Also the fact that war does not exist is a huge indicator of a possible Utopia. There are stories of murders and individual crimes but not full fledged war.

However at the same time nothing is ever as it seems in any situation. Gethen people are naturally mistrusting and put on false fronts, regardless of the country. Also even though there has not been war we can see that one day this could occur based on the interactions of the people throughout the story.

In the end while Gethen has traits of both, it falls into its own unique category. It faces many issues that our Earth faces and many we do not. Its issue with politics is evident throughout the entire story even though politics on Gethen is very different and hard to understand compared to us. At the same time, if an Alien like Genry was to land on Earth I highly doubt that he would be treated as fair as he was on Gethen. Gethen is neither like Earth nor an Utopia or Dystopia it is simply put, its own world.

So I just finished The Left Hand of Darkness yesterday, and gave myself the night to sleep on it. The more and more I think about it, to me it seems that this story is centered around Estraven and his character. I’ll go into my reasons further down below but to start I would like to reference the ending. We see that Genly takes the journal that Estraven has written in (and has at times narrated events to us) to the land of Estre where as Estraven explained previously that it would be interred with other information regarding Estraven’s life to be available to his son. Now looking back at the story we see that it has all been Genly’s recollection of events, we know this by certain passages alluding to the future “they were experts at starving themselves as I would come to know,” as if he’s telling his story (“I would very much like to hear that” -Lord of Estre pg. 324). This story is also supplemented with passages from Estraven’s journal which is in Genly’s possession but never Estraven’s direct recollection of events.

The one piece that I found strange are the tiny anecdotes throughout the book gathered from history and other sources. However, I think that these tales were compiled by Genly and others because they are massively important in understanding Estraven’s past, motives, and character. There were two specifically that had the most impact.

First we have the story of incest between two brothers. I would say this is the most important one because it taps something that the book only alludes to and that is that Estraven was required to kemmer with his brother Arek and produce a son (who we see at the end with the name Harth meaning it was Estraven’s son of the flesh, and he only ever sired sons with Ashe), we also get hints that their relationship was much more and they indeed tried to stay together, such as Genly’s (his new love) voice in mind speak was in “truth” the voice of Arek to Estraven (while on the ice much like the story), Estraven also mentions that he was promised to another before meeting Ashe and therefore cheapened their bond, it would also explain why Estraven was exiled from Handarratta in mirror of the story.

The second was the story of Estraven the Traitor (that one was handed to us), I like many of us was upset with the ambiguity of the Kings hedging answer when asked to lift the exile, and sadly it probably never will be as this story shows us the original Estraven betrayed his people by loving Therem Stok (both namesakes of our Estraven) however in doing so he saved his people and brought peace. He like our Estraven will always be remembered as a traitor.

Finally, while Genly and Estraven are on the Ice, Estraven reveals through a poem that “the left hand of darkness is light.” I believe Estraven to be the Left Hand of Darkness that this book is named after. Throughout the story he has done things that his people find most abhorrent. He holds on to an incestuous relationship with his brother, he is taken for a traitor and exiled, he disregards shifgrethor to warn/advise Genly, and also steals to keep him alive. I would also go so far as to add that he commits suicide at the border. Estraven showed how well he understood the political machinations of his world and knowing how desperate Tibe wanted him dead, he willing sacrificed himself to eliminate the threat to Genly’s mission (Tibe only resigned once he got word of his death). Suicide under any circumstance being the end all be all sin for Gethenians.  However, all of these things so regarded as wrong and left and dark by his people were done to light their way into the new age within the Ekumen.

One of the biggest things that stands out in the Left Hand of Darkness is the gender (or lack of) of the people living on Winter. For me this was the first time coming across any kind of american literature that addressed such topics. It may be that I am not incredibly well read in american works, however I think it is also the case the topic of transgender (or genderless) people has historically been somewhat taboo in american writing, and even television (you don’t see any transgender characters in Harry Potter). It has just been recently that transgender issues (and even homosexuality) has become acceptable to be expressed in popular mainstream television, thought it has obviously bene prevalent in less popular works for years. Modern Family and Orange is the New Black are two popular shows that come to mind initially.

I found it very interesting that as a kid I never came across any american works that dealt with these issues, but I have seen and read various Japanese anime/manga works that talk about these issues. Off the top of my head, Yu Yu Hakusho and Cowboy Bebop both have transgender characters that appear, Tokyo Ghoul and SAO both have characters who’s gender expression is not aligned with their sex. What was intriguing  to me is that these are popular shows targeted towards teenagers, and some of them were even around in the 90s. From this I have garnered that at least in Japanese Anime/Manga (and possibly the culture overall) the issues of gender were much more acceptable to be discussed in popular works and weren’t restricted to more obscure works.

Perhaps the most interesting piece of work where this appears is in Knights of Cydonia, an animated Netflix Original Series modeled after Japanese Anime. It is actually set in a somewhat dystopian society in which humans have almost been brought to extinction, and has a bunch of cool stuff going on (we’ve genetically changed ourselves to be able to photosynthesize so that we can conserve food resources). People still maintain male and female as the two genders, but there is also a 3rd neutral gender. Someone who is of the 3rd gender can choose to be male or female based on their partner. The series isn’t clear if this is a one time change, or if they can fluctuate back and forth. I thought this was pretty cool and was possibly even inspired by Left Hand of Darkness.

A cool map of Gethen ^

I found the concept of “shifthregor” that Ursula K. Le Guin presented to be one that is all too familiar. Genly describes shifgrethor to us very early on in LHoD as “prestige, face, place, the pride-relationship, the untranslatable and all-important principle of social authority in Karhide and all civilizations of Gethen” (pp. 14).  Does that sound familiar to you at all?  Le Guin makes a big deal about shifgrethor being a driving factor in how Gethenians, and particularly the Karhidish, live their lives.  It isn’t something that should be new to us though – we have our very own shifgrethor that dictates lifestyles on Earth (or Terra as Genly likes to call it).

We see it in many aspects of our lives – our politicians are very proficient in the practice shifgrethor.  In some cultures, things such as marriage and familial ties can be decided based upon pride and prestige. Marry someone in a caste below you? Shame! Family members or friends might not talk to each other for years because of such trivialities.

Shifgrethor is ingrained in our lives whether we like it or not – I have difficulty imagining life without it. It determines what decisions we make and how react to certain situations. It’s inherent to human nature, whether on Earth or Gethen or any other planet in the “Known Worlds.”  Le Guin does a wonderful job of bringing this trait to the forefront for us to acknowledge within ourselves.  It makes me wonder if there are any other inherent traits we have that drive us that we don’t ever think about on a day to day basis.

One of the things that surprised me the most as I was reading this book was the weird lack of conclusion to the huge “romantic” build-up between Genly Ai and Estraven. It seemed to follow the classic formula. You find out pretty early on that Estraven is pining over Genly. (“Why can I never set my heart on a possible thing?”) Genly Ai doesn’t seem to trust or like The Mysterious Stranger. But then Estraven saves him and they have a Bonding Experience on the ice, and they’re Alone Together and there’s this moment of Awkward Sexual Tension. It’s every young adult romance, slowly building up through the book.

And then it sort of fizzles out. They can’t cross this barrier of “alieness”. Even their mindspeaking, which certainly has some romantic/sexual/bonding undertones (especially given the way Genly reminds Estraven of his sibling), ends in discomfort/fear for Estraven and deep confusion for Genly.

I don’t know why this was initially so disappointing. I hate that sex is the end all be all of our society and I appreciated that Genly and Estraven were able to push through their differences and experience the joy of their journey with a strong platonic love instead. Perhaps I’m just so used to seeing it pan out that way.

Maybe it is also unsettling because this instance presents the only duality (Genly and Estraven) in the book that doesn’t seem to come together in the end, after being at odds earlier. Light and darkness come together on the ice (sun and shadow are both needed to cross safely), as do fear and courage, and cold and warmth. Estraven’s masculinity and femininity finally come together and make sense for Genly and their two races eventually unite at the end.

Of course, all these things are a result of Genly and Estraven’s trek across the ice, which is successful because love finally bridges their differences, even their physical ones. Maybe the whole situation is just pointing out the unimportance of sex in trust and success and unity, which would be awesome, given how centered on sex the rest of Gethen’s culture seems to be. Keeping their relationship away from sex or even romantic closeness also keeps it from becoming too heteronormative and expected. We, as readers, are still in this world were sex and romance and gender are different. They’re not going to follow our formula, but instead define a new one.

Also, people have made playlists for, like, background music?! the Internet is an amazing place.

All of chapter 16 was told from Estraven’s POV, which I found really interesting; it forced the author to describe a human being from the point of view of an alien. She did a great job in choosing which characteristics Estraven should find peculiar or wonder about, all of which seem completely normal to us as readers. Those passages where Estraven was contemplating the peculiarities of Genly’s (mankind’s) quirks or values were very good at making me think objectively about why we do the things Genly, as a representative of our species, did.

The part that most forcefully got my attention was when Estraven noticed that Genly seemed to be ashamed of crying. He mentions an irony that he had noticed; Genly’s last name, Ai, sounds like a “cry of pain” when spoken aloud, and this was the first thing Estraven thought about Genly when he heard about him. Genly, however, is ashamed to cry in front of Estraven. Le Guin seems to be suggesting that Estraven sees this as Genly being ashamed of his own identity.

I haven’t really been able to figure it out completely, but maybe this is a metaphor for how Genly feels being the only one of his kind on the planet. Maybe the idea is that Estraven exposed a deeper insecurity or inadequacy that Genly feels in his observation about Genly’s shame in crying. Maybe?… or maybe not.

Also, #KeepPounding

I found that the Ai’s adventure in The Left Hand of Darkness is quite similar to Klaatu’s in Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).  More specifically, I think both of these stories share a narrative flaw which preventing me from enjoying either.

Like Ai, Klaatu is sent by some galactic peace-keeping organization in order to convince a world to pursue a course of action that would benefit its civilization. Predictably, both end up running into some unexpected obstacles and suffer at the hands of inhabitants who, surprisingly, don’t trust an alien asking them to make significant changes. Of course Ai and Klaatu manage to make some allies who support their efforts, but ultimately, neither parties really succeed in their story’s timeline. Yes, Ai’s prophecy claims that Winter would join the confederation and it can be assumed that Klaatu’s final warning towards the human race would have struck some chords, but these victories seem to have taken too much time. Ai and Klaatu didn’t need to suffer the way they did.

The solution? I don’t understand why space governments have some sort of love affair with one manned missions to clearly hostile worlds, but that is clearly the issue. I know the purpose of only sending Ai in The Left Hand of Darkness is to prevent sending an “invasiony” vibe, but why send anyone in the first place? These space governments must have a better way to demonstrate their presence and ideals without slamming some poor guy on a planet’s surface.

Ai had his ship orbiting nearby and Klaatu had his electricity depriving device, but neither of these resources were applied until the relative ends of the stories. It seems as if the authors simply kept things that way in order to create a sense of danger and powerlessness, which is necessary in adventure driven stories, but unnecessary in these situations. If envoys must be sent, Ai should have landed with his alien friends originally (not much of an invasion) and Klaatu should have shut off the electricity immediately. I understand that these galactic organizations want their planets to willingly comply with their requests, but they should really be looking out for their own as well. Sometimes, a little more power and intimidation is necessary to get things done, and ultimately leads to less violence. It’s hard to connect with a main character when the reader is convinced that his entire plight is unnecessary.

I am going to focus on random aspects specific to the end of the novel rather than the novel in its entirety.
First off, I cannot believe Estraven died. Also, the fact that it is never officially stated whether or not Argaven withdrew Estraven’s exile is frustrating. Especially considering the way that Estraven died, taking into account all the turmoil he went through to help Genly, it would have been nice to see some justice thrown his way. The entire journey through the ice was stressful to read. I was constantly convinced that someone from the prison farm was going to pop out of nowhere and arrest both of them and ruin everything. I certainly did not think that the two of them would make the journey all the way through, both still alive.
Can we talk about Genly and the whole ship escapade? He called the ship down and then commented about how strange everyone was to him, but I hadn’t thought he had been on Karhide/Orgoreyn that long. I expected him to be relieved to see women and men sharing his human characteristics, so I was rather surprised when he was more or less made uncomfortable by them. Plus, the whole ordeal was way too abrupt for my liking. After Estraven and Genly get back to Karhide, Genly summons his ship and is suddenly introducing all the members of Karhide to the Ekumen in a matter of pages. The rest of the novel seemed slow to progress compared to the ending. Also, are the Ekumen from the ship and Genly planning on just chilling there on Karhide? Are they never going back to their families? Because, the ending of the book made it appear as though they were all going to hang out for a while, having been placed in homes and what not, and then Genly made the trip to visit Estraven’s father, which would have to take a while. I thought that once the job was done, all of those involved would want to go back to their own planet to be with their families and friends. The entire event struck me as rather peculiar.
Oh! Can we also discuss how strange it was that Faxe is now in an office job or whatever and no longer a Foreteller? That was crazy bizarre as well. I don’t really know what twist that was intended to serve other than just being strange. Plus, I am a bit let down that more wasn’t elaborated upon regarding Faxe and Genly’s friendship/relationship. I thought they had something special.
The Left Hand of Darkness was a great read, for sure. I found it to be a bit confusing at times, mostly because of the names, but the events kept me on my toes and I loved being forced to constantly conjure up ideas about how difference scenarios would play out. The character development was interesting, to say the least. I’m going to say one and a half thumbs up.

As America has been bombarded with political ad after political ad after another endless political ad the past year, it is interesting to think that LHoD doesn’t want to promote a single entity in the form of politics, but rather is actually interested (or at least Genly’s people are) to learn more about what political parties are out there, which ones work, which ones don’t, and most importantly: why?

Although there are an eclectic array of political structures within the nation of Gethen there doesn’t seem to be any omnipresent political motive taking over faction by faction (such as democracy has in most “first world” countries- not that this is a negative thing, just stating a fact) but each nation respects the other nations as far as the reader is concerned, and there aren’t any wars over which political ideology is superior to which.

Then again, I do think it’s mentioned that perhaps the people are too cold to fight, which, as this cold as this past weekend has been, I haven’t even wanted to venture out to Franklin Street to get food, much less worry about taking over another nation for political differences.

If I could tweet this, it would say “I can see why people love LHoD, but I almost dropped this class because of it.”

That seems a little melodramatic, but it’s true. Le Guin explores very cool hypotheticals, such as what would happen if people were sexless and how adaptable people can be in seemingly uninhabitable conditions. I particularly like the way that Estraven thinks about patriotism:

“What is the sense of giving a boundary to all that, of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply? What is love of one’s country; is it hate of one’s uncountry? Then it’s not a good thing. Is it simply self-love? That’s a good thing, but one mustn’t make a virtue of it, or a profession (Le Guin 212).”

I think Donald Trump could benefit from pondering this quote and reconsider his immigration policy (as well as his attitude towards non-Americans in general).

This is not to say that he is particularly patriotic, by the way, but seeing as his platform was built around patriotism, I thought it was apt.

Why I didn’t like this book: the names were extremely confusing. It was weird that Genly Ai called Therem Harth “Estraven” at times (which was the equivalent of calling someone “American” in my mind, so I was never sure if he was calling Therem or the people of Estra at any point in time). Also, every other person was named Therem, which seems unnecessary and distracting. Maybe there is a reasoning behind all of this, to somehow symbolize the solidarity and lack of individuality between the people of Karhide. I still think that this could have been done in a less annoying way, such as a uniform hair color.

I constantly questioned who was being talked about and where in Gethen they were or speaking about, which took away from the story.

All in all, an interesting read. I don’t regret reading it, though I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone besides maybe Trump.