Monday, January 23, 2017
Genley Ai's struggle to relate with Gethenians
It is quite difficult for Genly to see Gethenians as they see themselves because the world is so different in many ways. The world he is forced to immerse himself in has a completely different biology and environment that Genly isn't accustomed to. This makes it difficult to relate with the Gethenians. First off their biology is different. The Gethenians are androgynous meaning that they can have physical characteristics of both sexes when in kemmer. It is shown from Genly the continued difference when he refers to characters as "he" when they have no specified gender. This is also shown when we later find out the king is pregnant which would make it confusing because he is referred to as a "he" because he is a king. It is also shown that he struggles to relate with Gethenians because of the environment. "They told me, keep the Envoy warm, he's from a hot world, an oven of a world, and can't stand our cold" (117). This quote displays how Genley has to adjust himself to the cold environment. " He fussed over my condescension in deigning to learn anything about his country... manners here were certainly different from manners in Karhide..."(119). This quote displays how Genly attiutde towards Gethenians displays how manners are even different in Gethen and he has to get accustomed to them. Genly Ai overall struggles to relate with Gethenians because of the different lifestyles. It is also difficult for Genly because he might not be as open minded. I think he is curious about Gethen but, he remains focused on the task at hand.
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I agree with you when you state that Genly Ai has some difficulty adjusting to the Gethenian ways and lifestyle. Ai is from Earth and is therefore accustomed to seeing a person and recognizing his or her gender immediately. Even though on Gethen no one has a specified gender, Genly still chooses to notice everyone as a male or a female because gender played such a large role in everyday life on his home planet. Additionally, I think the author demonstrates Genly's sexism by noting that Gethenians with tougher personalities are noticed as men, like the king, and those with a kinder and less harsh personalities are noticed as women, like the guards at the farm.
ReplyDeleteIt would be extremely difficult to go to a different planet and to get used to new traditions, customs, manners, and their own biology. We, as human beings, are so used to our ways that it's hard to understand that there are other ways of living out there. You can also see this in our world today, as people are struggling to see that there are different religions and traditions out in other countries that Americans may or may not be used to. It's something that we have to learn to accept, as well as something that Genly needs to learn to accept on Gethen.
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