The Collateral of the Cold

Genly Ai is already an outsider as it is, from a planet not nearly as cold as Gethen. Throughout the novel, Genly struggles to “fit in”; he is darker and taller than Gethenians and belongs to “...a society of perverts” (38). His mind is already conditioned to see only male and female, despite his years of educated research on genderless beings of another planet. Moreover, Genly finds it difficult to withstand the numbing cold of Winter, which in theory, makes him feel even more lonely and isolated from the people of Gethen, because Gethenians are able to endure the weather in Winter without the need of extra clothing or Chabe stoves. Although, it is not only Genly that feels isolated and alone. Estraven’s exile was a measure that pushed him towards a life of solitude, which is a pretty brutal sentence on a freezing cold planet, and since when one is in exile, it is prohibited for another man to help an exile flee or give an exile shelter. When Estraven fled Karhide and settled in Orgoreyn, he was an outsider, a Karhidish man surrounded by Orgota men. Later in the novel, both Genly and Estraven “...are equals at last, equal, alien, alone” on their three month trek through -40 degree weather, blizzards, and crevassed areas on the Gobrin Ice (251). On the last stretch of their journey, a monstrous blizzard left them trapped in their tent. Genly noted that “outside, as always, lies the great darkness, the cold, death’s solitude” (258). This line illustrates the collateral of the planet’s heinous weather, forcing people to stay inside, isolating them from the rest of the world.

Jasmine Kim