Wave 2

The constant cold of planet Gethen in the novel, The Left Hand of Darkness, contributes to theme of isolation and loneliness because it makes it hard for the Gethenians to socialize with each other. It's sort of ironic that Genly comes from our planet, Earth, that is social but travels to one that is not. Gethenians social life is similar to ours on a rainy day, nobody wants to go out and do things so we just stay home and isolate ourselves. Alright so imagine it rained everyday like it did last week forever, I wouldn't want to go out and socialize. I honestly don't blame the Gethenians. Genly is pretty much isolated from the Gethenians because nobody trust him. Through the eyes of the Gethenians, Genly is a perverted alien because he is unable to change genders like the rest of the Gethenians. This is another big reason why the Gethenians don't trust and isolate Genly. Being isolated on this alien planet makes Genly feel lonely. He's basically being left out of the Gethenian community. Gethenians lack of social life doesn't make them open to diversity and change, which is why they feel uncomfortable around Genly. In the beginning of the novel Genly didn't really trust anyone, I mean who would if you were on an alien planet. Genly was sent to help the Gethenians, but he can't help them when they both don't trust each other. Getting kidnapped and being sent to a work camp didn't help this whole trust situation either.

Gethen is planet that is not the usual. The people are not usual the weather is not completely barable. Genly Ai comes from a planet that as you would think is earth. There is genders and all. He left to Gethen to something he is not used to. Over time he has no one that he can trust and vice versa and the weather is something he can not seem to handle at all. He is all alone and does not have anyone but maybe that will change. Everyone trusts genly a little but he will not trust estraven for awhile.

Wave Dos

Gethen is a planet completely unknown to Genley and opposite to the one he comes from. Genley does not know what it is like to constantly battle the harsh, freezing environment all year long. The cold also doesn't help create a welcoming environment to the planet. When we think of the cold one of the first things that comes to mind is displeasure and discomfort that it brings to us. The arctic environment is a scary one and is seldom visited by people because they know how it can be dangerous. We think of places like Antarctica and Siberia where they are vast lands that stay uninhibited for the most part and you can find yourself miles away from anything. There is nothing more frightening that being by yourself to fight those tough conditions. Genley now has to deal with all this whether he likes it or not and there is not much that he can do to fight it. This also makes things worse in his situation where for a while there was no one he was able to trust and when he was imprisoned there was no one but him, alone in an unknown land in a foreign world with nothing to help him.

Waaaave 2

The cold has always been a symbol for things such as isolation and dismay. Le Guin cleverly (also kind of simply) capitalizes on this idea throughout the book. Genly Ai, a human, is an alien on the planet Gethen. He’s out of place and has the intention of getting nations to agree to join the Ekumen, an intergalactic United Nations. United Galaxies if you will?

On top of him not having interest in seeking comfort, no one wants to give him such a thing in the first place. The people of Gethen see Ai as a perverted alien that is trying to interfere with their lives, even though he only wishes to make things better.

With that exposition now said, you can still tell that the feelings of isolation are a bug. Le Guin shows this in the simplest of ways, really down to the basic anatomy of Ai in contrast to ordinary Gethen folk. Ai tends to have some silent suffering when it comes to the weather. Not necessarily in a persistent worrying way?

You can see this when (page 20, Chapter 1) Estraven asks Ai surprisingly, “You’re cold?”

Ai then states that this weather is normal for him. He’s used to this type of thing. Meanwhile, everything here is foreign to Ai. This weather is clearly not like his version of Earth. His shivering and big anatomy only make him more distinctive than the others.

Wave 2

Throughout the novel The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin the cold of Gethen contributes to the theme of isolation and loneliness by showing us how the people living in that society are very different from Genly Ai the new face on the planet. The cold really connects the readers to the setting and lifestyle on Gethen, allowing us to see how the harsh weather doesn’t affect the characters living on Gethen already but it shows us how judgemental they become to Genly, who is having a hard time adjusting. They simply try to ignore him due to the way he presents himself and due tot the fact that he does not change genders like the rest of society on Gethen. This shows how isolation plays a key role because of Genly feeling unnoticed and left out from the rest. He shows his loneliness throughout the novel by not being able to hide his gender which makes him feel more isolated. Because of this the Gethenians see him as a pervert and are very skeptical of his actions causing him to not be as social as others. The coldness makes him feel mentally and physically left out to the Gethinans, he almost feels lost. He doesn’t feel like he can trust anyone on the planet and tries to find ways to socialize with them but it just doesn't feel right. The only one that eventually starts to become close to is Estraven, and that is only because Estraven is excluded from society as well due to his behavior.

Wave 2 Discussion

    The Gethenian cold makes it impossible for the people in the story to cooperate and socialize with others, leaving them stranded in one place, without much to go to.  The truth is that this particular topic can also be referred to in real life by particular scenarios.  First, the cold weather makes it hard for people to travel.  Just like snow that blocks roadways or pathways to walk or drive through, much of the snow being told in the story is very evident in the hardships the people face.  The snow keeps the people from entering or exiting places, and can give them a very hard time to get them out of the way.  The cold makes people freeze once they are outside.  The harsh weather occurring would prevent people to even go outdoors because all they could feel are frostbites.  It is as if the cold is biting on their skin with so much effort that they would make them unable to move.  So in short, without the use of traveling and even going outdoors, the weather has forced the Gethenians to stay in one place for a very long time.  The people are stuck either with valuable items to invest on for survival, or even without anything to thrive on.  If this occurrence would last for a much longer period of time, then everything would just be out of hand for the poor victims; thus, loneliness is present.  Without anyone by their side or anyone to rely to, it is sometimes hard for the Gethenians to know what is going on on the "other side" of the story.  Just like in real life, when someone is trapped in a cave filled with snow, that person would not be able to know if any rescue is coming because he either doesn't have a cellphone, or there is absolutely no service inside the cave.  Isolation and loneliness is very hard to thrive into, because it will take a few times to get used to these feelings.  The cold and snow in the story do not just play a role as a weather phenomena year round, but rather as a force that separates regular activities and changes them into difficult tasks to fall onto.  This also indicates that Gethenians live a hard live when it comes to the winter season.

Cold and Alone

When one thinks of the cold, they think of places like Russia and the Arctic; places where the population of people is extremely low. Gethen is no tropical island where people go for vacation. It's a cold, harsh, desolate wasteland where the people have just recently evolved to just be able to survive in the weather.

Genly coming from an Earth-like planet where it is warmer, is obviously not adjusted to the climate of Gethen. This, in turn, leads him to need extra clothing, blankets, and heaters. Since he reacts differently to the weather than the natives on the planet, he is considered even more of an outsider. Not only do the civilians of Gethen already think Genly is "perverted" due to him being in constant kemmer, his natural reactions to the weather separate him from the Gethenians even more.

At one point in the book Genly says, "I was alone...in a strange snow-changed city, in the heart of the Ice Age of an alien world." (18) The fact that he mentions the climate of Gethen demonstrates his feelings about the world. No matter how hard Genly tries to fit into society, he'll always be an outsider.

In chapter 13, when Genly is being transported to the farm in the van, he is again unintentionally isolated from the rest of the prisoners, but not in a negative way. Genly, along with an old man and one with a bad cough were seen as "being least resistant to the cold, and... each night were at the center of the group," (170). In this case, him being different gave him kindness instead of scoffs and looks of disdain.

All in all, the constans, harsh weather contributed to the theme of loneliness and isolation by continuously singling out Genly from the rest of the Gethenians.

[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 30.  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:
Adela Kaiser, Jessie Lazo, Simeon Lewis, Ezequiel Linares, Tristen McGee, Brooklin Mize, Ashley Montes, Eddie Perez, Sigmund Perez, Johlyn Poli, Myles Purnell, Walter Ramirez

Wave One: Genly Attitude

                In the LHoD, Genly Ai see everything different than Gethenians because he comes from a world with gender, getting your choice in love, and not a dictatorship. He see Gethenians as people who follow the rules and not try to get banish from their country. When Genly first got to Karhide, he was confused about the whole ceremony and how cold it was there. I think Genly attitude change when he realized about the king and how he live in fear. When Genly heard that the king lives and rule his nation with fear, he was pretty mad because Genly is trying to have Karhide in their “NATO” life. Unfortunately, the king doesn’t even want to be in “NATO” because the king doesn’t want monsters coming to his country and “destroy” it. The king had an attitude with Genly about that, because Genly had also told him about the traveling by light. So, the king was soooo turned off by that, and just was like “Naaah bruhh, we cool on y’all”. I belive that was a second attitude Genly had caught when he was there.

Genly had so many attitudes and different perspective on certain stuff that was happening. Like, foretelling and going to see the foretellers. Genly was happy to see them but had an exciting attitude especially when he seen Faxe the Foreteller, he was amazed by that BEAUTY. Another one, is Estraven leaving him, he was pissed off. Pisssseedddddd. I can understand his feeling, because it’s his first friend and also the first person to ever tell Genly about the life here. Genly felt as if, this is what he had done and why didn’t he get banished.

Wave 1 Genly Ai's Perspective

 The Left Hand of Darkness is a novel which intelligently demonstrates how hard it can be to accept people for who they are. This novel reveals many struggles us humans face in real life; the struggle of fitting in. Ursula K. Le Guin uses her protagonist Genly Ai, to give us an idea of how hard it is to accept others who aren't like us, and who at the same time see him as the outcast for being an alien. Genly comes from a patriarchal society that has genders and gender roles while Gethen, a genderless society, does not. Ai can not accept the fact that these Gethenians do not have a gender, and has a hard time trying to understand their nature. Genly clearly demonstrates his discomfort towards these people when he is near Estraven or Faxe, because he feels confused and can not accept that they have a different genetic background. Not only can Genly not accept them, but he also deals with the struggle of feeling like an outcast. Everyone in that planet sees him as a pervert, and/or judges him for being a person with a permanent gender, "'They're all like that-like you?'[...] 'So all of them, out of these planets, are in permanent kemmer? A society of perverts?'" (36) This proves that even though Genly sees the Gethenians as the odd ones, the odd one here is really him. Not only is Genly an outcast for having a permanent gender, but also because of the knowledge he poses. He has very advanced technology that many Gethenians do not understand; For example, when he tries to teach the King of Karhide how to send messages to other planets (38) or when he tried to have mind speech with Faxe (68).  This clearly demonstrates that Genly's world is extremely advanced and still a very gender influenced Earth. He clearly shows how he wants to implant some of his Earths gender rolled ideas into this world. He does this by putting "Feminine" traits into these Gethenians like, "I thought of him as my landlady, for he had fat buttocks that wagged as he walked, and a soft fat face, and a prying, spying, ignoble, kindly nature." (48) which demonstrates his Earthly implanted ideas of what a woman would look like in Gethen according to Genly. Over all, Genly's struggle to see Gethenians as they are will not change any time soon, but he is learning to become accustomed to them slowly.

LHoD Wave one Discussion Question

In the Left Hand of Darkness Genly Ai is a man on a planet called Gethen. On Gethen Genly struggles to see the Gethenians as they see themselves because Genly is not from Gethen. He is from Earth. On Earth everyone has a gender. Gethen is a planet of genderless beings. So it is understandable why he would have trouble not being able to see these people and not try to give them a defining gender because in his mind having a gender is normal. Whereas, on Gethen he is abnormal because to them he is in a constant state of kemmering, which is the only time Gethenians have a gender. To them Genly is a pervert. So it is only natural for Genly to struggle with accepting the Gethenians for what they are. When interacting with the people of Gethen he cannot help but pick out traits that would file them into a specific gender. Such as when Genly talks with his "landlady" or when Genly sees Faxe as a women. Genly continues to do this with many other people in the book. This shows that on Genly's planet people might have a hard time accepting those who are different. In Genly's mind these people are abnormal and strange. To the Gethinians Genly is a strange pervert. It is all a matter of what these people are used to and what they have grown up with. Genly grew up in a community of people with genders and the people of the planet of Gethen grew up without genders. 

Wave One Blog Post- LHoD

In the book The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin the main protagonist, Genly Ai, is visiting a planet where he has a hard time blending in and getting used to the inhabitants. Genly Ai encounters a species that is different from him, while Genly comes from a planet that is much like earth, where the people who inhabit it have genders, this new planet, Gethen, has people who have no genders unless they are in the state of "Kemmer" which is how they reproduce. Genly has a hard time wrapping his head around this idea and finds it difficult to fit in while on this planet. It is important for him to adjust because his mission is to get the planet to join a group called Ekuman which is like the United Nations but for outer space. Since Genly struggles to see the Gethenians as they see themselves he is often referred to as a lonely outsider. Gently Ai's attitude reveals that the world he comes from places a large emphasis on gender roles and social statuses. For example throughout the book Genly makes many sexist comments that are most likely very common on his planet but don’t really make sense to the Gethenians because of their lack of permanent genders. On Gethen all the people are treated as equals there is no weaker half of the population for example Ursula K. Le Guin emphasises this when she writes, "Consider: there is no division of humanity into strong and weak halves, protective/protected, dominant/submissive, owner/chattel, active/passive. In fact the whole tendency to a dualism that pervades human thinking maybe found to be lessened, or changed, on Winter.” (Ch.7, pg 94) This shows that perhaps the lack of genders plays a role in the way Gethenians can easily see each other as equals. Since Genly was raised on a planet where there are strong gender roles he has a difficult time accepting the way the Gethenians live.

Wave one LHOD
       Genly Ali comes from a planet like that earth . Where Genly comes from there are genders on his planet . His planet is not just cold it is hot as well.  He was sent to winter for a mission to get them to join the other planets or nation or whatever you want to call it. When he was there he met a Gethenian named Estraven . AS the story goes on Genly  felt like Estraven betrayed him, but I'm actually reality he did not. Estraven was trying to help and protect Genly. The king felt Estraven was a traitor to Kharide so he exiled Estraven. Estraven went to Orgoreyn. Chapter 6 is where they talk about Estraven fleeing to Orgoreyn. I believe the planet we're Genly comes down Men are superior to women because so far throughout the chapters 1-14 Genly references negative comments about women . In chapter 5 you can find a lot of negative comments Genly says about women . It’s hard and confusing for Genly to understand that they have no gender because he always refers to the as a “he” but they are not really “he’s or she’s” they are neutral until they are in kemmering. Genly was attracted to a Gethenian named Fauxe. Genly describes “him” as the most beautiful person he has ever seen . Genly masculine mannerisms causes communication barriers between him and certain Gethenians. He struggles to trust them . He also gets tired of trying to fit to their shiftgothor or however you spell it . He also is over he little they want to change . In kharide they are not really willing to change . Their cars or whatever they use only go 25 mph, once Genly even said he rather get out and walk .

Parental Possession

So it's pretty clear that Genly still doesn't really understand the Gethenian way of life. He may be able to read about them and see their rituals, but Genly will never be able to truly empathize with Gethenians because he is an alien. I mean it makes sense, being that he is from a completely different planet, but I think that some of Genly's misunderstanding comes from his ignorance as well.

So far we've seen a lot of his thought process involve offensive ideas towards women, especially when he meets a new character and tries to categorize them into genders. But one part that really struck me was in Chapter 8 when he was discussing parental instinct on Gethen. He says "I never saw a Karhider hit a child... Their tenderness toward their children struck me as being profound, effective, and almost wholly unpossessive. Only in that unpossessiveness does it perhaps differ from what we call the 'maternal' instinct." (99-100)

From this quote, we can see that Genly is actually very surprised that Karhiders treat their kids so nicely and respectfully and not as possessions. This shocked reaction gives commentary that Earth is the exact opposite. Genly is used to humans who are very controlling of their offspring to a point where it is actually ineffective, but humans don't think it's ineffective because they don't know any different.

He also later makes a comment comparing the words "maternal" and "paternal," saying that "the parental instinct, the wish to protect, to further, is not a sex-linked character" (100). This goes along with the book's theme that gender is not something that really changes people but it is just a way of perceiving people. It does not matter whether one is a mom or a dad because either one can equally give good care to a developing child; an ideal that is not understood on Earth.

Wave 1 LHOD Response
 Genly Ai basically comes from a planet where there  are genders and he is stepping into something that he doesn't fully understand. Stepping into it he had became acquaintances with Estraven who he took to be a trust worthy person. After he felt that he was betrayed his out look on the people in Karhide had changed. So he ventured off and went to Old Karhide, in my opinion this is where i think Genly Ai struggle om figuring out the  Gethenians as they see themselves became much easier. He seen them at there most peaceful. The old Karhid etaught him about the things that they usually did with little control over them. He also got a glimpse of kemmering while at a fortelling where he recieved his answer.  Genly Ai's attitude toward certain things for example when a man came and asked about Estraven his whole mood changed.Especially here, "my helpful expression must have changed.There was a little pause, after whuch the stranger said, 'Estraven the traitor. You remember him perhaps?' Anger had displaced timidity, and he was going to play shifgrethor with me. If i wanted to play ,my move was to say something like, 'I'm not sure; tell me something about him.' But i didnt want to play and was used to volcanic Karhidsh tempers by now." I believe this a great example to say that Genly is kinda over the whole trying to get Gethhenians too become one with his because he knows one day with in five years they will be as one. I feel that this shows that his world could be presistent at times but gets feed up aftter a while. Then just lets thing play out like they are supposed to.

* P.S i probabbly did this completely wrong i dot get this book at all so yeah :)*

[KC]: LHoD WAVE ONE Discussion Question

WAVE ONE:

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?

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.

Wave 1 responders, you have until 6:00 pm Monday, January 23th to post your response to this question. All other students in the class may comment on any of the LHoD posts at any time.

Who shall post:

Ashlei Armstead, Taylor Aune, Mariah Avery, Alex Bonilla, Kiara Caldwell, Serenah Clark, Allyssa Diaz, Kelvin Diaz, Lissette Diaz, Brooke DiPaolo, Tammara Flores, Ace Garcia

Remember, anyone can comment on these posts.  The total requirement for this novel is ONE blog post and TWO comments, and as always, I hope some students will EXCEED EXPECTATIONS and go ABOVE AND BEYOND this 1:2 minimum requirement.

[KC]: LHoD Blog Instructions ...

Hi students! Here's the formalized posting for this unit on the blog ...

The class will be divided into thirds; three groups of responders: Wave 1, 2, and 3. For this blog session (meaning, by February 6th) each student will be expected to post 1 response and 2 comments total. -- Of course, you are always welcome to comment more than the required amount :]

Each wave of blogging will involve responding to a thought- provoking question that I will post to the blog related to LHoD. The students assigned to that group are expected to respond before the deadline, which will be posted along with the question. Everyone else is expected to comment twice over the entire blogging period for this unit.

Here are the deadlines:

The first question--the one that Wave 1 participants will be expected to respond to--will be posted to the class blog by Tuesday afternoon, January 17th. Wave 1 responders will be required to post their responses by Monday, January 23rd.

The second question--the one that Wave 2 participants will be expected to respond to--will be posted to the class blog on Tuesday, January 24th. Wave 2 responders will be required to post their responses by Monday, January 30th.

The third question--the one that Wave 3 participants will be expected to respond to--will be posted to the class blog on Tuesday, January 31st. Wave 3 responders will be required to post their responses by Monday, February 6th.

When it is not currently your wave, you should be reading responses and commenting along the way.

Wave 1 Participants:

Ashlei Armstead, Taylor Aune, Mariah Avery, Alex Bonilla, Kiara Caldwell, Serenah Clark, Allyssa Diaz, Kelvin Diaz, Lissette Diaz, Brooke DiPaolo, Tammara Flores, Ace Garcia

Wave 2 Participants:

Adela Kaiser, Jessie Lazo, Simeon Lewis, Ezequiel Linares, Tristen McGee, Brooklin Mize, Ashley Montes, Eddie Perez, Sigmund Perez, Johlyn Poli, Myles Purnell, Walter Ramirez

Wave 3 Participants:
Favian Real, Kyle Regaliza, Maria Reveles, Jazzminne Reyes, Andrew Rivas, Zoei Rojas, Ruben Ruiz, Melissa Ruvalcaba, Christy Sam, Vivian Shepherd, Joel Torrecillas, Breyonne Williams