So this book was a treat to read. There is no free online copy that I can recommend (legally, that is), and so I will simply tell you a story, the story of Gethen and how it came to become a part of Ekumen, a sort of United Nations on a planetary scale in the Hainish universe. And then I will study one aspect that this tale that stood out to me. Capisce?
Quick Summary
The book begins on a planet in the middle of its ice age, called Gethen. Genly Ai is an alien who is there to represent the Ekumen - an intergalactic coalition of humanoid worlds - and get the sexless androgynous Gethen world to join the collective. As an envoy of Ekumen, he has the ability to speak telepathically, sort of, only to find that the natives on the planet he calls 'Winter' cannot. He lands in Erhenrang, the capital of Karhide, a nation on Gethen, he manages to convince the prime minister, Estraven, that he is truly an alien, and even convinces him of the value of joining Ekumen - technology, knowledge, trade etc. Estraven promises him a meeting with the king of Karhide, but on the night before Ai's first meeting with the king, he begins to doubt the prime minister because he finds him effeminate and ambiguous. The next day, when he meets the King, Ai learns that Estraven has been charged with treason, and exiled to a neighboring country, Orgoreyn. The king rejects his invitation to join the Ekumen, and Genly leaves to explore Karhide. He meets a group of Foretellers who predict that Winter will be a member of the Ekumen within five years and decides to continue his mission. Later, a Foreteller leader tells Genly how Foretellers perfected their art: to prove the uselessness of knowing the right answer to the wrong question.
While Karhide's societal behaviour were dictated by Shifgrethor, which is an intricate set of unspoken social rules about formal courtesy, Orgota are very technically organized and a practically logical people. They provide Ai with comfortable living quarters and ask direct questions about his being an alien and his mission. He presents his invitation to the Orgota leaders, believing he has nearly reached success. At the same time, Ai senses an unspoken aura of fear, especially when he meets Estraven again, who warns him not to trust the Orgota leaders. He ignores both his warning and the premonition, and is blindsided again, as overnight he is sent to a far-northern 'volunteer' camp to meet his death by cold, labor, and drugs.
To Ai's surprise, just when he is nearly dead and given up all hope, Estraven - the person Ai least expects or trusts - goes to great lengths to save him. After breaking out of the work camp, the pair brave a brutal 80-day trek across the Gobrin Glacier back to Karhide with scant resources, where Estraven still believes they will be able to maneuver the king to accept the invitation. Only when they work together, learn to trust and accept one another's differences, are the two of them able to succeed.
At one point, Estraven enters kemmer - the period of the month where an adrogynous native takes a gender and goes into heat - and becomes "female". Ai, who still thinks of Estraven as more male than female, essentially ignores the implications of the kemmer. When they finally reach Karhide, Estraven gets killed, and Genly realizes he has lost a beloved friend. Estraven remained loyal to Ai's mission till the end - prioritizing the greater good of universal humanity over and above the personal or patriotic. Through Estraven and Ai's collaboration, and the powerful political fallout caused by Estraven's death, the mission of the Ekumen is accomplished. Karhide will join the Ekumen, followed by Orgoreyn.
Final Thesis
Sexless androgyny in The Left Hand of Darkness serves as a commentary on the notion of sexuality as we humans view on the whole, and the attributions we make to any sex assigned.
One basic fact that separates us from animals around us is our acute awareness and comprehension of our sexuality. Animals go into heat once in a while, and in most species do not mate for life, but we claim a higher position in the world because we are aware of our sex, our sexuality, and integrate it with our community. We hold ourselves above animals because we develop societal concepts of monogamy and associate concepts such as love to sex. We also define roles and character traits as masculine and feminine and cannot separate that from our understanding of individuals. LeGuin reverses the equation with the introduction of a character of sex in a society of sexless and androgynous humans, who hold themselves above him because they view sex as a functional tool and do not let it affect their sense of society.
The story of Hode and Getheren shows that in their society, mating incestuously is fine for purposes of procreation during Kemmer but the concept of mating for life, or love, is an unthinkable offence that leads to one being removed from the society. In fact, when Genly Ai is being held prisoner, the guards look down on him and call him a pervert for perennially 'being sexually active'. Ai is suspicious of the effeminate ambiguous behaviour of Estraven, whom he assigns as male. He is shocked that his landlord has sired four children.
Only when Ai comes to terms with sex as external and unrelated to character attributes and motivation on Gethen that his mission actually succeeds - a parallel that LeGuin draws to comment on our intricate relationship with sex attributions and sexuality, and its futility in building a successful society.
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