LHD--reading
Reading and Discussion Questions
on the Left Hand of Darkness
• This story must be pieced together
from various points of view -- much as the anthropologist, Genley Ai, has to
piece together his understanding of Gethan culture and politicas. Basically,
the story alternates between the perspectives of Genley Ai, the Gethan
Estraven, and the gnomic mysteries of Gethan myths, with one interpolated
report from a visiting team of anthropologists.
• Genly Ai narrates Chapters 1, 3, 5, 8,
10, 13, 15, 18, 19, 20
• Estraven narrates Chapters 6, 11, 14,
16. The shift of narrators in Chapter 6 is quite disorienting.
• Various Gethan myths and legends are
presented in Chapters 2, 4, 9, 17 12. See below for suggestions to help with
interpretations.
• The Gethan sexual arrangments are
explained by the Report in Chapter 7.
• Notice how Genly Ai's and Estraven's
Chapters are paired against each other; often they represent different
interpretations of the same events. Estraven's version often clarifies matters
which had confused Genley Ai (and us).
☯Thematic Structures
• Le Guin's Intro brings up a number of
issues that are crucial to the novel. In particular, the dichotomy between
truth and lies in which lies turn out to be truer than truth, sets up a pattern
of oppositions which deconstruct each other that is a major theme throughout
the novel. Other dichotomies which line up in this way include: light/dark,
male/female, spring/winter/ yin/yang, kemmer/somer, shiftgrethor/mind speech,
Karhide/ Orgoryen, Handara/Yomesh.
• Notice how many of the dichotomies/
paradoxes are set up in the first chapter.
• Notice how the two governments seem to
have opposed identities, an opposition that is almost gendered: the yin of
Karhide being opposed to the yang of Orgoryen. How does Genly Ai relate to
these two ways of operating? How is he mistaken about which is truer, lighter,
more honest, safer?
☯The Hero's Journey
• Like most of the books we've read this
semester, this novel is a Bildungsroman. In this case, however, there
are two parallel comings of age: the private journey to knowledge of Genly Ai
is paired with the public journey of the planet Gethan towards membership in
the Ekumen.
• Chart the plot out in terms of
Campbell's hero's quest, noting the relationship between Genly's progress and
that of the planet. This can be quite complex as you could also layer in
Estraven's arc and the archetypal situations brought up in the various myths.
• In this novel, coming of age means
building bridges -- arches to the Other, arches whose keystones must be set in
blood. How does this initial image (in Chapter I) reverberate throughout the
novel? How does it echo the shape of the hero's journey?
☯Sex and Gender
• What's the point of the
Gethan's ambi-sexuality? We can deduce from Le Guin's Intro that it's a
metaphor -- if so, what's it a metaphor for?
• How does this novel critique
contemporary gender roles?
• How does the Gethan's bisexuality
affect the structure of their society? In particular, what do you think of the
connections between lack of war and rape and lack of gender roles?
• Is this novel a romance in the sense
of a love story? Is the novel homophobic? (A charge often leveled against the
book. )
• Does the use of male pronouns make the
book androcentric?
☯Deciphering
the Myths
• Basically, what you have to do is take
each myth as a little symbolic parable and ask -- what does this myth tell me
about Gethan culture? However, some of the myths do have direct connections to
the plot, especially the ones about Estraven.
• Chapter 2: The Place Inside the
Blizzard -- This first myth explains the Gethan's great taboo: their
equivalent to our prohibition on incest. The two brothers refuse exogamy,
refuse exchange with the Other; paradoxically this is bad for the community.
Why is suicide so bad on Gethan?
• Chapter 4: The Nineteenth Day
-- This story presents an opposition between Foretelling and nusuth; it is about the folly of trying
to know too much. Notice that the price for knowledge is paid in blood-- like
the arch of the bridge. Why does this story come at this point in the
narrative?
• Chapter 9: Estraven the Traitor --
This myth is about the person for whom our Estraven was named. It seems to be
little like our Romeo & Juliet. What possible parallels are there between
the two Estravens?
• Chapter 12: On Time and Darkness
-- Here we get a glimpse into the Yomesh religion of Orgoryen. How is this
outlook different from/ opposed to/ yet linked with that of the Handarrata?
What does this myth tells us about life in Orgoryen and Genly Ai's situation
there?
• Chapter 17: An Orgota Creation Myth
-- This is their equivalent to our myth of Eden and the Fall. What
opposites does their myth delineate; how is their myth different from ours? In
particular, do they have a different attitude towards what Christians would
call evil? How is this attitude related to Taoism and Jung?
☯The
Gethan Language
• A very important part of understanding
a culture is learning its language. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis -- often invoked
by anthropologists -- holds that every culture's reality is at least to some
degree created by their language; among other things a language shows what a
culture thinks is important enough to name. (Inuit Eskimos have 30 different
works for snow, for example.) So, understanding the meaning of key Gethan terms
is crucial to understanding their culture.
• The most important word/concept for
Genly Ai, and us, to master is shiftgrethor.
References to this idea of
pride, place, self-image occur on pp. 7, 11, 13, 14, 16, 32, 40, 48, 70, 79 ,
in the beginning of the book. Note all further references to this key term and
begin to explain what all it means.
• Keep a list of other important Gethan
words. LeGuin tends to use Gethan words when they describe something that is
not translatable, that is unique to that culture -- so these words are
important keys to the difference between Gethan society and the world of the
Ekumen.
• The culture of the Ekumen is not
exactly the same as ours -- even though they are biologically heterosexual.
What words/ concepts help us to understand the Ekumen?
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