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?
Coming from this question I feel that Genly Ai's struggles to see Gethens as they see themselves because where he comes from (earth) in our society we have labels. That's probably why in the book he always has a gender prefrence?(which is always a "he"). It kind of reflects on him of what our society does to others. Organizing one by one into categories. I maybe wrong but it's an opinion. On the other hand his attitude is always sort of questioning. What I mean by that is Genly is always observing the culture on Genthen life, and sort of announcing to him self that there culture is totally different from Terran life (or what I like to call Mid-Guard/Marvel reference). It sort of reveals that humans can be misogynistic, that we are cruel and demanding in different ways. Others can see that in chapter one when Genly is having dinner with Estraven.
Going back in with Genly's struggle I want to maybe address that it might come from him getting use to Karhide. It's almost like a kid entering a new school, or that saying "old habits die hard" you hardly even recognize that your saying or doing things because its a habit. Then his attitude could also be on the way he was raised?(I really don't know by this point I have run out of ideas. This is also my attempt of getting 250 words on a screen.) Then there is this random point I just got in my head right now is that maybe people around him on earth might have influenced his attitude/ struggle and outlook on life.
Thoughts?
I agree that the reason Genly Ai struggles to see Gethenians as they see themselves is because of gender labels. In a way Genly comes from a world very similar to ours where there are females and males. Where as in Karhide they are completely genderless until they reach a certain stage of kemmer. Although Genly might not look so different from the outside from Gethenians, you would be able to point out his differences underneath all the clothing. I also think he struggles to relate because Gethenians consider him a pervert because where he is from they are essentially always in kemmer.
ReplyDeleteYes. I completely agree that the reason Genly has difficulty to see Gethenians as themselves is that he can't relate to them due to his permanent gender. It is a concept that us as readers struggled to understand, imagine actually being in the situation Genly is in. He was part of a world that, like you and me, lives everyday distinguishing a person and assigning their identity with a gender. Being put into a situation where you have to live in isolation as the only "pervert" would be extremely difficult. The appearance of Genly may not be much different from the appearance of those from Karhide; however, the title "pervert" can't help but make Genly feel more isolated from the group that he feels he can't relate to. I also feel that Genly felt some guilt for not being able to perform kenmer with the individual in the truck and felt it was the "one time any one of them asked anything of me, and I couldn't give it". He just wants to do the job that was asked of him but his struggles to see Gethenians as themselves may somehow get in the way of that from happening.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, the end of your post made me laugh. Second, I agree with you that the reason it’s so hard for Genly to see Gethenians the way they see themselves is because he comes from a world so different from theirs. In his world, there are labels and everyone has a group or something they belong to. I think it would be hard for anyone who’s use to a certain uniform system to be thrown into a world so completely opposite from their own. It is like a kid going to a new school, everything is strange and foreign. As for his attitude, I think it just bothers him that he is so alone. There’s literally no one else on that entire planet who is like him. That’s a reasonable reason to be upset but he shouldn’t take that out on the Gethenians.
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