Wave 3: Left Hand of Darkness

Here's the prompt for the third and final wave, which will be due on Tuesday, February 6 at 6:00 pm:

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?

The young writers and readers and thinkers who are posting to this prompt include Desiree, Brianna, Brooke, Faith, Margareth, Elijah, Brendan, Astrid, Natalia, Christine, Maya, Aijah, and Demetrise.

Wave 2: Left Hand of Darkness

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, 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.

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: Jaspreet, Jasmine, Alyssa, Andrew, Elena, Antonio, Ashley, Roshawna, Griselda, Peter, Jarrod, Sean, and Javen

Genly Ai Struggles

In the Left Hand of Darkness , Genly Ai struggles are mostly based on sex. He doesn't fully understand on how the Genethenians are who they are because they have no sex on who is a female or a male.  The world of Gethen is really different from his due to Gethenians having  no gender and Genly finds it hard to understand them. For, example when Genly refers to Estraven as womanly as he speaks and Genly seems to see him as a  woman  . Genly is conflicted by the actions , personalities and traits of the Gethenians  for having no sex. In other words Genly find himself confused at times on how he should really treat the Gethenians  for not knowing on what to call the Gethenians. The Gethenians seem to have no facial characteristics which I think could be a major problem in which Genly could actually feel comfortable around to to talk to. He soon later knows that Gethenians experience to be a male or a female is during kemmer.  Overall, Genly struggles seems to be by the sex and that affects him.

                                                       - Vanessa A.

Genly Ai’s Struggle

In The Left Hand of Darkness, Genly Ai is an alien from another planet who has been sent to the planet of Gethen.  While he’s there, he has a difficult time adapting to the Gethenians way of living because they are genderless.  Their relationships with one another are also different in that Gethenians go into what’s called “Kemmer” with each other.  Only during Kemmer is when Gethenians have specific genders due to their dominance or comfort with each other.  Ai constantly refers to all Gethenians as “he” or “him”, based on how he perceives the way they look or appear to him.  His actions and attitude towards understanding them reveals that the world he comes from is similar to ours in that everyone is born either a male or female and have relationships with one another as we do.  The world he comes from is most likely very specific to how a male and female should look and behave since he always makes the mistake of referring to all Gethenians males.

Gender Distinction

Since Genly Ai does come from a similar planet as us, i.e. Earth, it's human nature to have a mind state in which we like to make visible distinctions between people.  That is, of course, the male and female distinction in which Genly has a hard time adjusting to when it comes to Gethenian culture.  As we all know, for majority of the time that Gethenians are not in the state of "kemmering", they really do not have a gender that visibly consumes their identity.  Therefore, the idea of sexism, femininity, or male dominance doesn't really exist on planet Gethen because of that.  So in that case, it is very easy to understand the perspective of Genly because, just like us, he's also from a planet similar to earth.  Of course, on earth, the way we act when we first meet someone, stems from appearance, and those appearances stem from race, attractiveness, and obviously gender.  So the idea of visiting a planet where none of that exists, I would imagine, befuddles Genly.  Like the situation with Estraven, in which he exhibits some feminine and masculine characteristics, it is definitely interesting how Gethenians live as compared to us.  It seems as if all of their problems when it comes to sexism, is solved and that Gethenians can experience both sides of the male and female gender during kemmering.  So ultimately, Genly's struggle orginiates from the gender distinctions he has on his planet, and that is then reflected through his inability to fully understand the inhabitants of Gethen.
-LaVanton Gilmore

Sex Defines Us

Genley Ai struggles to see Gethenians as they see themselves, because sex is an important aspect of his society.  For example, the first characteristic we subconsciously notice of a person is what sex they are, so it's natural that Genley assigns certain genders to each of the individuals he meets.  It becomes complicated when he begins to note the qualities of each character as either womanly or manly.  In the case of Estraven, Genley observes that Estraven has a voice similar to a woman but a powerful presence resembling that of a man.  It's simple to understand his point of view, because we come from a world that thinks the same way.  The idea that a person could have features of both sexes is rather mind boggling considering that the way we think about someone is first determined by whether they're a man or woman.  If someone were to tell you the name of a person on Winter, it'd be difficult to imagine what they look like.  No longer would one able to assume the physical qualities of a person.  Furthermore, socially interacting with a person becomes more difficult.  Often times our interactions can differ depending on whether we're speaking to a man or woman, yet on Winter this would change drastically.  Assumptions can't be made at all without a certain sex for a person to identify as.  Therefore, on Winter a person can only be judged at the most basic level, which is a human.  This would be the ultimate goal for people on our planet; however, it's likely that it will never be achieved.

-Jaime Izabal

Genderless Gethenians

Genly's struggle to see Gethenians as they see themselves, genderless, originates from the planet he comes from, Terran. As in our planet, Earth, Terran has two genders, male and female. Being raised in a society where gender norms are established, he is constantly conflicted throughout the novel by the actions, personalities, and traits of the Gethenians he encounters. This can be seen within Genly's mistrust of Estraven in the beginning of the book when he states, "For it was impossible to think of him of a woman, that dark, ironic, powerful presence... yet whenever I thought of him as a man I felt a sense of falseness, of imposture: in him, or in my own attitude toward him?", in which his inability to see Gethenians as genderless is a result of his planet, like Earth, that attributes certain characteristics to genders creating certain stereotypes that link Estraven's kindness to being a woman and his power to being a man.

- Samantha Covarrubias

Genly Ai’s Struggle

Ever since Genly Ai visited the planet called Winter he’s had a struggle of not truly understanding who the Gethenians are. Natives of the planet Gethen are androgynous creatures who are neither female or male and only have genitalia of a women or a man during their time of “kemmer”, which is a period of time where Gethenians mate and reproduce. This means that during their time out of kemmer they have no gender and have no pronouns that are attached to them. On the other hand, Genly Ai only sees them all as males and identifies all of them as “he” or “him”, the only time he refers to them as women is when he sees them act femininely or when they “talk too much”. Genly’s failure to see Gethenians as they see themselves (genderless) reveals a lot about the world he comes from, it shows how being male is predominantly the gender that everyone is and that being a woman is only associated with weaker features compared to a man. I feel though this kind of thinking is just due to him being ignorant to the planet he is visiting, he has no true understanding of how the world of Gethen works and the people in it. Possibly later on in the book he’ll have a better understanding of the world and come to know and respect the Gethenians as they are.

- Jainah Fajardo

Left Hand of Darkness, Wave 1

WAVE 1:  Vanessa A, Narmeen A, Halla B, Roman B, Timothy B, Samantha C, Jainah F, Alex F, 

Michael G, LaVanton G, Thomas G, Jaime I.

Remember, these are the students who will be posting this first week, but ANYONE can respond.  Before the unit is over, you should have posted once, responded twice.

The Prompt:

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?

This wave of blogging will be completed by Monday, January 22, at 6pm.