Monday, January 23, 2017
Genly's Perspective of the Gethenians
Genly has an extreme struggle seeing individuals as humans because it is a very different way of where he comes from, after all he is an alien. The individuals view life very differently then Genly does. The Gethenians are not really known as male or female because they have both traits of male and female which is very different then what Genly is used to. The people of Gethen only have sexual feelings during what they call Kemmer meaning anyone can become pregnant no matter the sex of that person. The Gethans share this feeling once a month as to where Genly can reproduce where he is from when he wants to which is a weird feeling for Genly to understand. Everything is very unusal for both the Gethens and Genly. The people of Gethen seem really overwhelming to Genly in a way that is very hard to comprehend and I noticed what made me really get a sense of that was when The King said "I don't know what the devil you are, Mr. Ai, a sexual freak or an artificial monster or a visitor from the Domains of the Void but your not a traitor, you've merely been the tool of one." P- 32. Genly's attitude towards the Gethans reveals that they are very weird in many ways but to the Gethens Genly is the weird person to them and has characteristics that both don't seem to understand. Genly then has a rep as being sexist because he refers to everyone as a "he" because the people where he is from have genders that are humanly understandable. But Genly's main goal is to expand the universe
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Hey Nick, I agree with you in the sense that Genly and the Gethenians live completely different lifestyles. Aside from it being very overwhelming for Genly, it can also be confusing for the readers; in other words, us. How I look at it is just how I perceive different cultures and traditions. So, just imagine you are traveling to a place you really want to visit, yet know nothing about (in depth), so you only know the basics. Well, how would you feel? Of course overwhelmed and frightened at times right? Well, this has been a significant tool I have used to help me throughout the book. Just picture yourself in Genly's shoes when he is narrating the story. I mean, if people treated you as Karhiders or Gethenians treated Genly, wouldn't you have the same thoughts, opinions, or outlook as Genly did?
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