Monday, February 6, 2017
Good Question,Good Answer/ Dumb question, Dumb Answer
One folktale in The Left Hand of Darkness that stood out the most to me was the one about the fore tellers. It told a tale of a man seeking out the answer to when he was going to die. He asked the fore tellers when he was going to die, and they gave him the answer that he was going to die on the 19th day of any month. This was obviously not the answer he was looking for, so he became depressed and locked himself away. He waited and waited, but nothing happened, until his kemmering partner went to the fore tellers to ask when his partner was going to die. The answer he got was that he was going to die after his partner, which was also a horrible and vague answer. The kemmering partner then returns to him to tell him the answer he got. It still didn't satisfy him, consumed by madness he kills his partner, and then kills himself, on the 19th day. This helped Genly craft a question in which ensured that he got the answer he desired. This folktale shows that a good question will result in a good answer, and a stupid question will result in a stupid answer.
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I found it funny that a questions can be so unanswerable that it can render the Fore-tellers catatonic. The book never tells the meaning of life but suggest that the answer is beyond our comprehension. Ether that, or what ever the source of the foretelling is stumped about the question as well.
ReplyDeleteHey mark,
DeleteI like the point that you brought up about the meaning of life being unanswerable. I would think that the meaning of life is definitely above our level of comprehension but your other option makes a lot of sense as well! It is strange though that the simple question can have a detrimental physical impact.
I think the foretellers are basically like genies in that way because genies give you your wish but if it's not absolutely specific, they'll turn it into something silly that you never wanted. Just like how the foretellers will only answer as specifically as you asked.
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