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.
Personally, I felt that this folktale was one of the more interesting ones because it shows how willing Gethinians are to continue feuds. They seem very unable or unwilling to work out their problems. We also see the negative effects of this as it can really tear them apart. It hinders the ability for more positive relationships to form.
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ReplyDeleteI agree it shows how Gethens can hold feuds with each other. This can relate to the feud that is happening with the Gethens and Genly's people. We can also see it in the feud between Karhide and Orgoreyn. We understand that it's hard for them to accept change as we see with the people of Karhide and Orgoreyn challenging change. We can see that from the folktale the Gethens culture doesn't change. it just stays the same.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! It also kind of relates to our life that constant feuds are happening around us and when something big happens, such as marriage, birth, or death, us humans are forced to draw ourselves closer to one another and we sort of appreciate life more.
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