Struggles of Genly Ai

    As we read throughout this novel, we realize that Genly struggles to visualize the people of Gethen as how they see themselves and how they should be seen by others, which is genderless. He often identifies them with “him” and “her” and refers to masculine or feminine traits that one may have, like how he calls Estraven a “he” and points out Faxe’s feminine characteristics. Genly just wants to fit in with the unfamiliar society of Gethen. In chapter 1, he mentions how he wants to go unnoticed and blend in with the crowd, for he is different than everyone else, coming from Ekumen, which is like Earth..kinda. I point this out because although he wants to fit in, however he can’t help using gender to identify people and understand the culture of the people of Gethen.
      Gender isn’t the only struggle Genly is having in this new world. We see on page 8 that he also receives negative vibes and attention because of the way he looks, causing him to feel even more foreign. While Genly can’t get used to the gender, different religions, and “kemmer,” the Gethenians have a hard time adapting to Genly and his lifestyle. So it goes both ways. To add, since Genly comes from Ekumen, which is like Earth, it causes the reader to more understand his lifestyle and view the planet of Gethen as foreign, confusing, and completely different than our way of living.
     In conclusion, Genly has lived in this planet-in this world, for some time now, but the lifestyle is hard to adjust to, so it is difficult for him to live his new and different life on Gethen comfortably, as he lives on Ekumen and as we, the readers, live on Earth.

Genly Ai struggles to understand Gethenian culture because they are genderless. However, when experiencing kemmer, one Gethenian develops a female sexual characteristic and the other develops a male characteristic resulting in an offspring, and then they convert genderless again. Which is one of the things that Genly being from planet Terra, similar to Earth where they characterize themselves with genders, struggles with because he is used to seeing and talking to others using a pronoun he or she. After two year, Genly is still not able to get over the fact that Gethenians are unlike him and automatically wants categorize them. Which is still a struggle because he wants to assume their gender based on traits and descriptions that he would categorize female or male. On the other hand, Gethenians also can't over look Genly's differences thinking he's a pervert because he's a male at all times and to top it off, he stands out in a crowd (8). Genly Ai's attitudes reveal that the world he comes from is like Earth, full of diversity, specifically, a gender categorized society. As we read, we, humans, can connect with Genly's confusion because we are raised in a society where people have a set gender and are referred to as either he or she. Also, if humans where to come in contact with "aliens" we would understand the curiosity Genly has for Gethenian culture and vice versa. For example, when first reading the novel I imagined the movie E.T. and how when the alien reached Earth and Elliot took "him" home, (now I feel what Genly feels because I am unsure as to how to categorize E.T.) everyone had a reaction and then resulting in the government tracking him down. Overall, Genly tries to categorize Gethenians but since he is in their planet, he will always be considered the odd one.

Jenna Desmond - Wave 1

It's very obvious that Genly Ai is having a really hard time seeing Gethenians as how they should be seen, genderless, and his constant placement of genders on these people begins to taint how we see them as well. Genly's struggles remind me of the modern equivalent to people not being able to respect those who are non-binary or transgender. He is constantly describing the people as being either feminine or masculine, when in reality, they are neither of them until they are in kemmer.

To explain the modern struggle of those who are transgender, there are an estimated 1.4 million adults who identify as transgender and still people wrongly assume genders. No matter how many times someone may tell another what they identify as, they still decide to ignore these wishes and call them by the wrong pronoun. Genly does this often, usually describing a person with "he/him" pronouns which are seen as more fluid, but he also uses feminine and masculine in a description to put these characters in boxes of female or male. For example, when Genly is talking with Estraven, he states "it was impossible to think of him as a woman [...] yet whenever I thought of him as a man I felt a send of falseness, of imposture". (12)

However terrible it is to see Genly misgender these people, he knows what he's doing isn't right but he can't help it. "Though I had been nearly two years on Winter I was still far from being able to see the people of the planet through their own eyes." (12) Hopefully he will begin to reprogram his mind the longer he stays there so he can begin to truly fit in with the people, as he wanted from the beginning.

Genly Ai in a Different World

     It becomes clear at the very beginning of the novel that Genly has quite a difficult time understanding the people that inhabit the planet of Gethen.  In the middle of the second paragraph on page 8, we see that he is not used to the environment yet.  He mentions how he tries to lose himself in the crowd and is uncomfortable with how much he sticks out.  The one thing he wants the most is to go unnoticed.  This can be seen as a foreshadow to Genly further struggling to learn the main characteristics of Gethinians.  Another early example of this is how Genly constantly assigns the Gethinians genders while he is narrating.  For example, he usually calls Estraven "he", as seen in page 7.  Also, when he meets Faxe, Genly refers to the character's more "feminine" traits.  The reason that this is important to mention is that Gethen is a genderless society, yet Genly can't stop using gendered pronouns to refer to others.
     There are plenty of examples of Genly's confusion throughout this story, but what do they mean?  It seems like these moments are meant to show that Genly comes from a very different society than Gethen.  While gender is non-existent on Gethen, it must play a very important role in Genly's society.  Maybe it determines people's roles in his society, since he clearly tends to view certain traits as masculine or feminine.  Another difference between the two societies is that Genly's is probably not a monarchy, as he is unable to reason with King Argaven in Chapter 3.
    In conclusion, the reader can use Genly's lack of understanding of Gethen to determine many differences between the two societies.  Structure of the government and use of gender are probably only some of the differences between them.

Ai's Alienation

As readers, we immediately recognize how much negative attention Genly gets because of his physical appearance (8), which makes him feel like an alien; even more so when he is so used to his own personal habits and societal norms from Ekumen. Genly Ai is an obvious outsider in Gethen, and never really gets used to the foreign culture on the planet - the androgynous humans, the ~spooky~ religions, and especially the act of kemmer. Simultaneously, the native Gethenians never get used to Genly either. They constantly give him a hard time because of his “foreign” ways, and never understand him just as he will never understand Gethenians. Just as the Gethenian lifestyle is foreign to Genly, it is foreign to us readers as well. The world that Genly comes from is one that is similar to Earth, so as readers we can feel the discomfort that Genly goes through while he’s in Gethen. I think that the world that Genly comes from is more diverse in all aspects of life, so when he goes to Gethen he feels a bit suffocated because of how uncomfortably similar everyone is. The author allows us to experience the foreignity of Gethen with Genly. Even though Genly has lived in Gethen for some time, the Gethenian “normal” never really becomes “normal” throughout the book, so there is a constant struggle for Genly to live comfortably without judgement. I think the theme of alienation is a common theme for science fiction novels, but it is even more prevalent to the reader because we are in the same shoes as Genly, and can easily understand how strange Gethen is to him.

Joshua Cabebe- Wave 1 Responder

 I think Genley Ai's struggle to see Gethenians as they see themselves is a situation comparable to transferring to a new school. I have personal experience as I went into Valley Christian a predominantly super occupied white school. It was easy to spot the short Filipino boy. Like I said, this is comparable to Mr. Ai's mission as he is used to certain aspects one obviously being a single gender rather than a sexless species. Since he is a human there are other features that make him very distinctive from the Gethenian world like for one he is noticeably taller(Page 8). He comes from a world like ours where we have certain views because of our gender based society. It also reveals how judgemental people can be looking at different people. He is used to seeing people have a certain gender and other traditions like perhaps the music that he mentions is "discordant"(Page 4). We are already introduced to him while he is 2 years into his mission. He's been there 2 years already and still he struggles to observe the Gethenian lifestyle. There are many little things that he tries very hard to see, like determining if they are a he or a she. However, he can't do that because they are gender less. Someone could be feminine but display other traits of masculinity. If there is anything that he might be along the line with is the planet's form of love, kemmer. He actually gets a little whipped when he meets the weaver, Faxe(Page 58).

[KC]: LHoD WAVE ONE Discussion Question

WAVE ONE:

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?

Reminder, your post should be between 250-300 words long. Anything shorter will not be effective. Also, include page numbers when you reference the text.

Wave 1 responders, you have until 6:00 pm Monday, January 22nd to post your response to this question. All other students in the class may comment on any of the LHoD posts at any time.

Who shall post:

Erandi Alvarez, Kenny Blackston, James Brashear, Joshua Cabebe, Jenica Chua, Abigail Cooper, Chelsea DeLeon Syyap, Jenna Desmond, Sebastian Eastin, Lauren Freeman, Darian Gomez

Remember, anyone can comment on these posts.  The total requirement for this novel is ONE blog post and TWO comments, and as always, I hope some students will EXCEED EXPECTATIONS and go ABOVE AND BEYOND this 1:2 minimum requirement.