Myths

  Throughout Left Hand of Darkness there are many folktales/myths that are displayed as little glimpses it Gethenians culture, belief system, and ethics displayed on the planet. From the totalitarian rule of Estraven to the semi- love story between two gethenians brothers that refuse to end their kemmer stage. The specific one I wanna look into is Chapter 2, although it is very early on in the book it is important for following chapters and in the story in general. The tale is a tape recording from the early days of Karhide when brothers who were in kemmering that stayed together after they had their child. In Gethenian law, after the child is born it is said they must immediately split apart no matter the condition. This of course was under the ruling of Argaven the 3rd who is said to be a troubled man who fears progressive as displayed in the novel. The chapter demonstrates how kemmering was allowed back then and after the accident which led to restrictions and serious perimeters after the two gethenians. Although this a tale it gives us a glimpse why kemmering became the way it is today. There's been many cases where sense AI our main character feels weird whenever around the genthians and has often labeled the people of planet as "feminine" relating to Earth human characteristics. This becomes a recurring theme whenever Ai describes the people he see's and some of the feelings he gets when he speaks about sex identification and kemmering.