Love Over Loyalty

In Gethenian culture, love is an incredibly powerful aspect of life. Whether it is the love for one's nation or love for another, it is a clear and established theme within the story as can be seen in various occasions throughout the story. However, there is a distinct difference between the love of one's nation and the love for one another, the latter of which is much stronger. This can be seen in the myth of Stokven and Estraven in Chapter Nine. In this story, we find two lords of opposing factions meeting one another by chance. Their interactions are short, lasting only a few days. But in this short time, they vowed Kemmer with one another; pledging eternal love with each other despite being of opposing factions-- not unlike our story of Romeo and Juliet. Which, I believe, is not a coincidence; I believe Le Guin purposely drew this parallel to emphasize the bonds of Kemmer. Soon after Estraven's death in this parable, we see that the Lord of Stok takes action against the men (?) in question-- men who were of the same faction as Stokven. From this action, we clearly see that the bond created by Kemmer is much stronger than that of the faction. Even years after the event, we see Stokven caring for his her Estraven's child, who had become the leader of Estre. This parable not only emphasizes the bond of Kemmer, but also the pointlessness of feuds between factions. It alludes to a  battle that hurts everyone, yet benefits no one-- just like the feud between Karhide and Orgoreyn.

Wave 3 post

In the novel, there was a variety of folkatales and myths presented throughout the book that were big in the culture of gethenians. The one that really encaptured my attention is chapter 9 Estraven the Traitor. This chapter really intrigued me because it is like a weird, modern day "Romeo and Juliet"  type scenario. This chapter showed Gethenian culture by presenting a monarchy between two rival regions, where two people of the opposing sides kemmered with eachother, which is seen as crime because they're disobeying the laws placed in their region. It also shows how the regions find "loopholes" to show their hatred towards other regions. It showed their loophole when Arek is murdered and Therem tells his soldiers to "dump the body in his own land so he can get a proper burial" knowing that the soldiers will be killed once they arrive with the body.

Estraven the Traitor

     In the Novel, The Left Hand of Darkness there are various parables presented to create a further connection or a symbolic connection towards the Gethen culture. An example of a parable that created a further connection to the novel is chapter 9 called Estraven the Traitor. In this chapter a tale is told about a kingdom in the Kerm Land that has a great blood feud between Domain of Stok and the Domain of Estre. One day, Lord of Estre gets into a predicament in enemy territory while skiing and is close to death. Until, he stumbles across Therem of Stock who will save him. These two mortal enemies create a close connection amongst which other which will later grow into a vowed kemmer. They realize the ridiculousness amongst the blood feud and, "Wish there might be peace between our houses." (129) However, the desire to create peace is ruined when Estraven is stabbed to death for entering enemy territory and making interactions with someone in Domain of Stock. Since they kemmered a child was born that would hopefully create peace in the Kerm Land.

     This parable alone summarizes the basic life of the major character Estraven from the novel. It is ironic that Estraven from the novel and Estraven from the parable both have the same name that will become the name of a traitor. They were also next in line to rule their home land until they betrayed it. They also vowed kemmer to someone from the enemy land. Lastly, the destiny amongst both Estravens' are the same. They both pay the consequences of a traitor with their life. 

WAVE 3

Ursula Le Guin wrote The Left Hand of Darkness in a very smart way by taking a break from telling the story and writing several chapters on myths/symbolic parables. The reason why I say that it was a smart thing to do is because it helps the reader understand the Gethanian culture. The book is already confusing enough so by getting these myths they help gain background information and they also foreshadow what is going to happen in the story. The very first myth, which is chapter two called “The Place Inside the Blizzard,” foreshadows the most. Chapter two is about these two brothers that vowed kemmer to one another and were commanded to separate. One of the brothers ended up committing suicide because he couldn’t live a life without his lover and the other ran away traveling over this glacier. This is significant because suicide is the biggest crime to commit on Gethen. However with that one brother committing suicide it was seen as a really powerful thing, because it showed how much love he had for his brother to want to die instead of living a life without him. With being said, this myth foreshadowed the love Estraven had for Genly Ai. Estraven not only got exiled for Genly but also committed, the second biggest crime, theft to get things that would help get Genly out of prison and help them get back into Karhide. The myth also foreshadowed the travel that Estraven and Genly would have to take on across the Ice by saying that the brother who ran away had to travel across a glacier. 

Wave Three

     In the novel, “The left hand of Darkness,” there are many myths and folktales presented throughout the book expressing Gethenian’s culture. The one that caught my attention the most was the folk tale in chapter two, “The place Inside the Blizzard.” In this tale it highlighted the Gethenian’s expectations of their society, which was presented with the story about two brothers who vowed kemmering with each other. When the town folks found out about their doings, “the Lord of Shath commanded that they break their vow and never meet in kemmer again(p.22)”. The lord of Shath made this decision, due to incest being considered a high crime, this resulted in one of the brothers committing suicide due to him not having no support after he had his child. After his death the town folks chased the other brother out of  their city, since suicide is seen as an immoral crime.
     Incest and Suicide are seen as high crimes in Gethenian culture because of the high mortality rates they experience due to harsh weather. Having a child under incest puts the child through many birth defects, which will either make the child suffer its whole life or it shall die young. While with suicide they’re seen just wasting the gift of life, that others don’t get to see due to the climate. So both of these doings shows an act of an Gethenian being inconsiderate, when it comes to their circle of life.

Wave 3

 In the novel, “The Left Hand of Darkness,”  there are many folktales and parables spoken throughout this book.  One folktale that really stood out to me was in chapter 9 titled, “Estraven the Traitor.”  In this folktale, it talks about a character named Estraven (different than the one we know about), which he was called Therem of Arek having a blood feud with the Therem of Stok.  According to the folktale, these two kings and their lands have been in a blood feud.  One day, Lord of Este is skiing and he falls into some ice is about to freeze to death.  As he tries to find help, he stumbles across a house and asks the person living in the house for help.  The two people soon fall in love and kemmer.  Later, Lord of Estre later finds out he fell in love with Therem of Stok, the arch nemesis of Arek.  So they continue their relationship then Therem of Arek gets killed by soldiers of Stok.  The Therem of Stok soon gives birth to their baby.  The baby soon goes back to the cabin and finds his birth parent and they have a peace agreement together.

This myth shows us how the Gethens are when it comes with blood feud with other lands.  It’s like the feud won’t end until something big happens that will make the two lands come together in peace.  These folktales/stories function in a culture because it shows how people thought in their time.  

The Third Wave

Each parable has its significance to The Left Hand of Darkness. The Nineteenth Day shows how the Foretellers interact with society and provides context to the weight asking the Foretellers a question is. When reading the novel, the concept of the Foretellers seems like a fairy tale, where its use in the story is similar to a song in a musical—just a cheap way to pass the plot along and allow Genly to receive his answer and provide for some hope and meaning in the story. But, this idea is changed with the introduction of the story of The Nineteenth Day. The Nineteenth Day is somewhat chaotic, but in the end, it shows how important it is to ask the right questions. Genly realizes this and asks a somewhat specific question, if Gethen will join the Ekumen in five years. Genly received a favorable answer from this, and this is the rare parable pertaining to Genly. Most parables apply to Estraven, but this one is special.
This myth also tells how high Gethenians have expectations for each other, especially in kemmer. While in modern-day society, with divorce at about a fifty percent marriage rate, marriage is taken lightly and not entirely as a lifelong vow. This is contrasts with kemmer, and in Gethen, kemmer is a very serious vow two must not break. The Nineteenth Day and The Place Inside the Blizzard show how serious Gethenian culture take kemmer which provides detail on the severity of Estraven’s kemmer vows. Since Estraven broke his vow of kemmer to his brother and broke another vow of kemmer to Ashe, these parables provide context for the vows of kemmer.