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?
Winter is a place where every human is genderless, so Gethenians find it normal to not have any set gender. In my opinion, Genly Ai struggles to see Gethenians as they see themselves, because he is permanently a male. Where he comes from, every human has a set gender and can not switch off whenever there is sexual arousal. Genly Ai is seen as a pervert on Winter, by King Argaven, because he has a set gender. Gethenians only have a gender when they are going through kemmer or are sexually aroused. This might make Genly Ai feel a bit strange and out of place, because he is not like the rest of the humans around him. He does not mean to offend anyone by permanently being a male; in other words, he unintentionally seems like a pervert. He is also used to referring to humans as he or she, but he has to go through the struggle of not knowing what to call Gethenians, because they have no set gender. They could be a male or a female when they go through kemmer. Genly Ai's attitude reveals that the world he comes from is more like the world we are from, Earth. We, as readers, can connect with Genly Ai and can understand how he must be feeling because we are more alike to him than we are to Gethenians. Where he comes from, everyone has titles and are known by them. Also, Genly Ai makes it clear that where he is from it is not always cold like it is on Winter.
I agree that we can feel for Genly easier than some of the other characters in this book. It helps us as readers to have a character that we can relate to because this book can get confusing with trying to understand kemmer and all. While having a character to relate to, we can try to understand how things work from a human beings perspective that is similar to ours. Also, it helps our imaginations flourish because we can try to imagine what Genly is going through and that helps us to continue reading this book. I bet it would be one crazy experience if we could see what Genly was experiencing.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you on us being able to better connect with Genly since he is a human being with a set gender. Like Nick said, as we read and struggle to understand half the things we are reading, it is nice to be able to see someone's perspective that is similar to ours and the way we think. We can also feel for him and understand how he feels especially when everyone thinks he's a pervert for having a gender even though he can't control that.
ReplyDeleteGenly is the easiest character to connect with because he is from Earth, as we are. His attitude of confusion and desolation on a planet he is not familiar with and a people that are strange to him put him in an awkward situation. He is as you put thought as a pervert because he is permanently in kemmer which to Getheninas is weird and out of the ordinary. I think that his reasoning for not knowing what to call the Getheninans doesn't purely come from that reason alone. I believe it also stems from the fact that he doesn't even know what to call himself. He is alone on a planet where not one person is like him. He finds himself an alien among aliens, all trying to figure each other out.
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