such an abrupt ending

We have just finished reading The Left Hand of Darkness today and I have to say that the ending of the book was the part that made the most sense. Throughout this book the language was a little unusual and hard to understand. Unlike the other chapters, the last couple of chapters were very straight forward and the language was easy to understand. At the end of chapter 19, Homecoming, Estraven is sadly shot to death as he headed down the mountain. As Genly is holding Estraven right before his death, Genly reveals that he loves Estraven, although not verbally. Personally, I did not expect Genly to feel that way towards Estraven. I thought the two would just be very good friends. Also, I believe that Genly saw Estraven as a man, even though he was androgynous, which is what made Genly’s love a bit surprising to me. In chapter 20, A Fool’s Errand, Genly’s ship lands and a woman steps out. The woman didn’t even recognize Genly after all this time. She was also the first woman that he has seen in three years, so I can understand the awkwardness of the situation. I believe that Genly’s view of men and women will never be the same again after spending three years on Gethen and with its androgynous inhabitants.

everlasting darkness

In chapter 15, To The Ice, Genly mentions how the first Envoy to a planet always comes alone; if two came, it would be like an invasion. I completely agree with this reasoning. If a planet has never had an alien from another planet come by, the inhabitants may be weary of having one come over, but likely will not be too afraid. However, if two or more aliens show up at once, the inhabitants may become afraid and fear a possible invasion. If a group of aliens were to ever come to earth, chances are the scientists and science fiction fanatics will welcome the aliens and try to learn as much as possible about them. However, most humans will be afraid of the aliens and won’t even bother with trying to give them a chance. In chapter 17, An Orgota Creation Myth, it tells a myth about how Orgota was created. In it, when the world was first created, it was all pure and innocent and peaceful. However, when the humans were born, darkness was introduced to this new world through death. In the end of the chapter, it said “‘Why are my sons followed by darkness?’ His kemmering said, ‘Because they were born in the house of flesh, therefore death follows at their heels.’” I believe that this quote is trying to say that humans will always bring darkness into the world. By darkness, I mean characteristics such as greed, lust, and dishonesty. Even without such characteristics existing in the world, humans would still bring darkness into the world through death. No matter what happens, all humans will eventually die. Even natural deaths will sadness to the world.

false arrest

In chapter 12, On Time and Darkness, the first sentence is “Meshe is the Center of Time.” According to the chapter, it seems to me that Meshe is some kind of powerful being that exists outside of time and space and looks over everything. That may be how he can possibly see through time. However, because a man from Sheney came and spoke to him, it seems unlikely that Meshe exists outside of time and space. In the beginning of chapter 13, Down on the Farm, Genly Ai was arrested and I wasn’t quite sure why. At first, I thought I just missed the reason, so I reread the section. However, it didn’t say why, so I assume that maybe it’s because Genly is starting to become a bit of a suspicious figure. Not only was Genly arrested, he and a group of people were locked naked in the back of a truck. Inside the truck, a man died in Genly’s presence, and Genly wore his blood as “clothes.” Personally, I am disgusted at the thought of a body covered in blood. I cannot stand the thought of someone covered in someone else’s blood; excessive blood and bodily injuries are two things that can really disturb me. Also, the jail that Genly was brought to reminded me a bit of concentration camps. In class earlier today, Vincent mentioned how the jail made of him think of communist Russia. In a way, I sort of agree with that perspective as well. However, the thing about chapter 13 that bothered me the most was Genly being arrested for some reason that I don’t understand and having to go through what he did, particularly the man dying in his presence.

sex & treason, not in a way someone would expect

Chapter 7 of The Left Hand of Darkness was definitely an interesting chapter, one that really caught my attention. The chapter was called The Question of Sex. It talked about how the Gethenian sexual physiology could have possibly come about. According to the book, it was an experiment gone wrong and then abandoned. This is something that I would expect to be involved in a science fiction book, experiments that most humans would find either fascinating or disturbing. Personally, I would be one of the disturbed people. The experiment seems like something a mad scientist would do. Also, in this chapter, the Gethenian sex cycle and “laws” regarding sex were explained. For a while, I was unclear what “kemmering” meant. According to the sex cycle, individuals who enter kemmer are “sexually active” and are either male or female. This stage of the cycle only lasts about a couple of days. The “laws” of kemmer were also explained. “Incest is permitted, with various restrictions.” I found that to be very repulsing. If a child is born through incest, then there’s a possibility of genetic abnormalities. However, I’m not sure if this applies to Gethenians. Maybe there’s no such thing as genetic abnormalities and that’s why incest is permitted. In chapter 9, Estraven the Traitor, Therem was called Estraven the Traitor because he gave up half of the land that was disputed over to the other domain. Land was viewed as a sign of power. Although Therem gave up land and “power,” he did bring peace between the two domains. For that, I do not believe Therem should have been called Estraven the Traitor. Nowadays, that would most likely be viewed as a peace treaty instead of an act of treason.

what a strange beginning

The book I am currently reading is The Left Hand of Darkness. I find this book to be pretty strange because I usually don’t read books about aliens, other worlds, and a lot of made-up words. Not only am I unfamiliar with this genre, I also found this book hard to understand. The first chapter of the book, the one about the parade, was hard to understand because of the language and exotic words to start off with. However, the next chapter, the place in the blizzard, was much easier to understand. A word that stood out and is repeatedly used later on is “kemmering.” At first, in the context of the chapter, I thought that word meant an attraction, a relationship, possibly sexual implications. Also, because “kemmering” was used involving brothers, a thought that came to my mind was incest, and I was repulsed. However, as I continued to read this book, later chapters made it clear what “kemmering” was; the last couple of days where you’re either male or female. I no longer have a bad connotation of that word now that I know what it means in the book’s context. In chapter four, the nineteenth day, foretelling was introduced, the ability to tell the future. Initially, my first thought about telling the future was Bead Women. In class, we recently read Bead Women, a story about women telling the future through beads and patterns. However, I found it strange how the first question asked to be answered was “on what day shall I die?” Personally, I would not want to know when I am going to die or any other information relating to that topic. Death is a sketchy topic to me that I am not comfortable talking about. Also, I thought the last question asked at the end of the chapter was a little weird. Instead of asking when someone is going to die, the question was “how long would the person live?” To me, that seems like the same question is being asked, only phrased differently.