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  

Forcing Gethenians Into Categories

Genly Ai continuously pushes genders and sexual characteristics onto the people of Gethen. I think that is his main problem in seeing the people of Gethen as they see themselves. He realizes this is a fault and that he is "seeing a Gethenian first as a man, then as a woman, forcing him onto those categories so irrelevant to his nature and so essential to [his] own" (pg.12). The people of Gethen are androgynous, only receiving sexual characteristics during kemmer. Anyone is capable of becoming pregnant and having children just as much as they have the chance of fathering them. They don't have any types of boundaries surrounding gender roles. On Genly's planet they obviously have these gender roles in place. Not only that, but by the way that Genly Ai addresses the more feminine characteristics in his inner monologue it is evident he deems them lesser than the masculine characteristics they possess. One example that sticks out to me is the way that Genly addresses his "landlady, a voluble man" (pg. 47). Genly believes them to be a lady because of their "feminine" characteristics, but still addresses them as a man. He continues his description saying, "I thought of him as my landlady, for he had fat buttocks that wagged as he walked and a soft fat face, and a prying, spying, ignoble, kindly nature." (pg.48). This shows how the way Genly thinks and addresses the character does not only conflict with the fact Gethenians are genderless, but also against his own views as male/female being two separate labels. He uses them as he pleases to fit into the categories that are in place on his home planet. 

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.

Genly's Attitude Towards Gethenians

Genly has a hard time to see Gethenians as they see themselves because they have a different lifestyle of which he is used to. Genly knows that Gethenians don't have a specific gender yet he as he describes them he always uses the pronoun "he" because likes us he isn't used to seeing "people" that don't have a gender. He also struggles because Gethenians function totally different to what he's been taught for example when Gethenians go into kemmer and things along those lines. The attitude that reveal about where Genly comes from is that he was raised to be sexist because he often describe some actions as feminine. Genly mentions, “I tried to, but my efforts took the form of self-consciously seeing a Gethenian first as a man, then as a woman forcing him into those categories…”(12)  in this quote he explains how he sees everyone as a male and later views them as a woman depending on their “characteristics” which seem to be sexist. I believe that Genly has a really has a hard time getting use to them because he’s not an opened minded person. “Some Gethenians, I thought, are like such animals, with deep bright eyes that do not change expression when you speak.” (15) Genly mentions that the Gethenian people don’t show a lot of an emotion so it’s difficult to know when they’re mad or upset because they show no gestures. Later on in the book he also states that Gethenians tend to be very sensitive and cry over simple things which kind of confuse me.

Genly Ai's Struggle to See Gethenians as He Sees Himself.

     His struggle to see these individuals as humans is quite hard due to their way of living.  Due to the different environment that these people live in, they have a different view in life.  As much as he'd like to understand them fully, it is futile to do so.  Since the Gethenians are gender neutral, it is hard to class them as male or female because in order to be one or the other, you need to have the gender's system.  So basically, this place is filled with beings that have some attributes of both men and women, some showing more than the other.  Genly, pronounced as Genry to them, describes a few people acting like a woman, but looking like a man.  When he met the king of Karhide for the first time, he stated that "He laughed shrilly like an angry women pretending to be amused." p-31  He can't really call the king a "he" due to the fact that these people don't have a gender at the very moment, but they are all basically refereed to as "he" because there isn't any other thing to call these people that look like a man, but have the gesture and grace of a women.  They only become fully male or female once a month while Genly is forever male.  The Gethenians find the fact that he's always male strange and perverted.  They do accept him as a person, but find him strange as he finds them strange.  If we were in his shoes, we'd feel the same way he is feeling in the story towards these people.  Even after all the time he has been on Winter, he has not fully understood their way of living.  It's hard to live a whole new lifestyle from which the one we are used to on Earth.  So if there comes a time that we can go to such a place, do pack a lot of supplies for the life ahead.  It sure is a cold and strange one to follow.

Genly's struggle to see Genthenians as they see themsleves.

Genly has a pretty difficult time seeing the Genthenians as they see themselves. One of the many reasons for this is by the way they live their life. On Gethan it is almost cold all the time there, so the Gethenians are adapted to that living style, whereas Genly is most likely used to warm temperatures. Also another reason for Genly's struggle is that the Gethenians are all androgynes meaning they can either be male or female. It is also possible for siblings to be kemmering with each other, so either one of them can sire and bear a child. To Genly, his views on the Gethenians are that they are unusual but to the Gethenians, Genly would be the unusual one. On Gethen. even the days of the months are different. Each day of the month has a unique name and the days are not grouped in weeks but the month is evenly divided in two halves of thirteen days. The Gethenians also divide each day into ten parts or hours and they start this time at noon. And this is strange and would get extremely difficult because back on earth where Genly is from, the days repeat themselves in the month and they would have the same names for the seven days of the week. Also on earth the days are pretty much grouped into weeks. Also another life style Genly had to struggle and get used to was the fact that the Gethenians only adopt sexual attributes once a month, whereas Genly can do it whenever.

AF: The Left Hand of Darkness - Wave One

WAVE ONE:

Discuss Genly Ai's struggle to see Gethenians as they see themselves. What do Genly Ai's attitudes reveal about the world he comes from?

Reminder, your post should be between 250-300 words long. Anything shorter will not be effective. Also, include page numbers when you reference the text.

Wave 1 responders, you have until 6:00 pm Monday, January 23th to post your response to this question. All other students in the class may comment on any of theLHoD posts at any time.

Who shall post:
Richey A., Jessica C., Seth C., Navid C., Ryanne C., Eugene D., Robert G., Nick G., Rachel G., Jose G., Khalil H., Mikayla L., Michael M.

Remember, anyone can comment on these posts.  The total requirement for this novel is ONE blog post and TWO comments, and as always, I hope some students will EXCEED EXPECTATIONS and go ABOVE AND BEYOND this 1:2 minimum requirement.