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.