-We see in the beginning of book that Gethen is considered an ice land. Which is why Genly Ai gives Gethen the name Winter. The cold in my opinion foreshadows Genly's state of mind. "The rain is gone, the sun shines on us, the splendid, radiant, traitorous sun of Winter. I remark to the person on my left, 'It's hot. It's really hot."(4)We can see in this passage that Genly starts to feel comfortable while he's in the parade. But when Genly starts to realize he can't trust Estraven, "the world's sun dims between clouds regathering, and soon a flaw of rain runs sparse and hard upriver..."(7) We can see as the weather changes he starts to feel out of place. Every time Genly mood changes we can see a shift in how the weather does too. Genly is changing the environment from cold to warm. This can foreshadow a major change that will happen. Possibly war or Gethen's slowly becoming like Genly's world.
-The weather can also foreshadow how the Gethians feel about Genly being there. When he gets arrested the weather was cold which is normal or good for the Gethen's, So when it became warm everything goes good for Genly and then when it gets cold everyone goes downhill. The cold plays on what the Gethien's are used to, and the warmth is what Genly Ai brings to there world. In my opinion I feel the weather plays along to Genly's mood and the Gethien's when something goes wrong for Genly the weather shifts to dark, cold, or rainy. It always foreshadows a major problem or change coming.
I love how you compared the weather to Genly's mood. I never realized this and this helped me see the weather as more than just a regular everyday thing. Now I will be paying more attention when they talk about the weather and try to relate it to the way that Genly is feeling.
ReplyDeleteI like how you said the weather foreshadows Genly's feelings when he's in Gethen. I've also never thought about how in the first chapter the weather starts to become warmer, and how it also foreshadows change in Gethen.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you referenced the first chapter and that quote to point out how the weather is an effect of the character’s current mood. Now that you point that out I now realize why Le Guin would describe the weather so much throughout her book. Also, now I realize that you really have to pay close attention to every detail told in this story, because no matter how unimportant it may seem it really is giving hint or new information to something.
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