Ch 18-20 More Quotes and Thoughts (LHOD)

First of all, I would just like to yell at Le Guin for a minute... The part where Estraven and Genly are on the Ice is my favorite part of the entire book.  I don't often read for plot (unless it's a murder mystery...but even then I'm so engrossed in trying to find the clues myself that I have to re-read the section where they say they catch the murderer), I read for emotional connections and philosophical/psychological statements.  Why did it take her until 2/3 of the book was already gone (chapter 15 in a 20 chapter book) to get to the climax?!? And even then it took about another chapter or so to get anywhere in the realm of discussion between the characters...Not going to lie, I hated most of this book (the thought experiment was cool, but I think it could have been done differently), I started LOVING it around chapter 16 or 17 and by that point it was over.

Okay, my ranting is finished and I have some real thoughts on the literary construction.  The first full paragraph of page 242 explains how the day usually went, with Genly waking up first, and after Estraven woke up they helped each other start to pack, ate breakfast when it was ready, then finished packing and went on their way.  It is all very methodical in the explanation of it, but it's almost as if this routine is the connection between the two men.  At first, they were struggling to work together, figure out each others weaknesses and how to compensate for them; now they work seamlessly together and without the other the journey would never work.  A page previous to that Genly describes waking up in the tent with Estraven and it being the only warmth around them, and outside of that tent is "the great darkness, the cold, death's solitude."  I didn't think much of this as I read it, but after reading how their routine fell into sync with one another, I realized that Genly explained his dependence on Estraven in that previous page the only way he knew how.

"The faint dampness and confining cling of my sleeping-bag; the sound of the snow; barely audible, Estraven's breathing as he sleeps; darkness.  Nothing else.  We are inside, the two of us, in shelter, at rest, at the center of all things.  outside as always, lies the great darkness, the cold, death's solitude."

This is Genly's way of expressing that Estraven, for him, means his life may continue.  Genly may not consciously realize this yet, but somewhere in his mind the idea is planted and it only continues to grow as he tells the story of how their travels work purely because they learned how to compliment and compensate for one another.


A quote from these chapters finished a thought from the previous set of readings for me.  The quote from page 199 that I discussed in my first blog of the week:

"I am the only man in all Gethen that has trusted you entirely, and I am the only man in Gethen that you have refused to trust."

Before Genly trusted Estraven, he did not allow himself to truly know/understand him.  Maybe this was a subconscious protection for Genly.  If Genly truly connected with Estraven, he may have thought that his connection with the world he left would disolve (this proves to be true, as we come to find out at the end of the novel when the ship lands on Gethen).  It also may have been something more innate that had nothing to do with the difference of species.  People who have been hurt, tend not to trust again very easily.  They have found that the more you put into a relationship (romantic or otherwise) the more you have to loose.

"But it was from the difference between us, not form the affinities and likenesses, but from the difference, that that love came: and it was itself the bridge, the only bridge, across what divided us....A profound love between two people involves, after all, the power and chance of doing profound hurt."  (p. 249)

Genly finally let himself care about Estraven here and realized that the differences in the two species were a good thing.  They were able to help each other out and compensate for the shortcomings of the other, as well as teach the other many things about their various cultures.  Also, Genly realized that he had put so much trust and care into Estraven that they were connected to a point that if something were to split them apart, he would be worse off than before he and Estraven became friends.  This is not a foreign concept to the reader; in fact, it is quite relate-able. Everyone we come into contact with and have some sort of connection to, changes us, for better or for worse.  In this case Genly realized that Estraven changed him For Good.

Ch. 14-17 Quotes and Thoughts (LHOD)

This section of reading was quite thought provoking (at least I thought so).  There are a few quotes that really got me thinking about things...

"I don't mean to be unjust, Estraven---"

"Yet you are.  It is strange.  I am the only man in all Gethen that has trusted you entirely, and I am the only man in Gethen that you have refused to trust." (p. 199)

I really thought about this.  How often does that happen in life?  There are people out there that have a hard time trusting others - for whatever reason - and there is always someone that comes across their life who trusts them wholeheartedly.  I have to admit that this has happened to me from both sides.  When I was on the trusting side I didn't understand why the other person would not let down their guard, nor was I angry that he wouldn't.  This is Estraven's view: he doesn't know why Genly doesn't trust him, but he is willing to be patient for as long as necessary in order to gain that trust.
When I was on the side of things where I didn't trust someone, I didn't realize the situation until it was over.  In the moment, I thought I trusted that person as much as they trusted me, but looking back on things I realize that while I trusted them more than I trusted others, I was no where near the level they trusted me in return.  I'm not sure if it is because I never let myself truly know/understand that person, but I believe that is why Genly does not trust Estraven to the level Estraven trusts him.

"...if he could lower all his standards of shifgrethor, as I realized he had done with me, perhaps I could dispense with the more competitive elements of my masculine self-respect, which he certainly understood as little as I understood shifgrethor..." (p. 219)

I saw this section of the text as the first bit of Genly's true understanding of the people of Gethen.  Sure he did not understand everything at this moment, however, he was willing to realize that for his entire trip he had been trying to force the new culture he was immersed in, into concepts of his own/old culture.  As cliche as it is, 'the first step is admitting that you have problem'.  Genly would never have been able to make progress and connect with Estraven (or anyone on Gethen for that matter) unless he realized what he was doing unconsciously for his entire journey.
That concept connects to the part of the story on page 232 where Estraven explains that they are completely alone on the Ice; there is no one else of either of there species.  This led to a thought experiment: power and superiority has happened arbitrarily in the world.  If one person of each race/ethnicity/religion/etc. was placed out on the Ice (or somewhere equally remote) no one race would be superior.  To me, this is quite obvious in everyday life, but taking it down to the bare bones, placing the situation somewhere that there is no culture (at least in the sense we know it), between it hasn't had time to form between people of different groups, allows me to not only view differences as being inconsequential, but to view an entire world where this is the case.

The last part of my "deep thinking" that I am going to highlight here is the concept that the journey is equal to, if not more important than the end.  It is sometimes hard for the American culture to wrap their minds around that concept.  When I think of it, I view it as a good book.  Loving the resolution of a story does not matter if it was torture getting through the first couple hundred pages.  Likewise, loving every page turn until the last chapter is quite disappointing.  However, there are quite a few books that I remember not liking very much while I read them, but when I went to my class the next day and had a wonderful philosophical/psychological discussion about the text, I gained a new appreciation for what I had previously read.  The process of getting through a book is much more amazing than closing it up and putting it back on the shelf!

Ch. 8-13 A few questions...(LHOD)

I am rather surprised at how well I am understanding this book.  Of course there are a few hitches as I go, but for the most part I think I have the just of it down as I am reading... this is a very good thing considering the first 50 pages I thought that my head was going to explode.

As for those hitches I was talking about, in the reading that was due on Thursday (2/2/12) I came across something that I'm not quite sure if I should be confused about of if I'm just missing something.  On page 108 towards the bottom (continuing to the top of page 111) the text reads as follows:

       "As everybody in Siuwensin appeared to have gone to bed directly after supper, I did the same.  I fell asleep in that utter country silence that makes your ears ring.  I slept an hour and woke in the grip of a nightmare about explosions, invasion, murder, and conflagration.
       It was a particularly bad dream, the kind in which you run down a strange street in the dark with a lot of people who have no faces, while houses go up in flames behind you, and children scream....
       ...I was bare-legged and barefoot, in my shirt, without breeches, hieb, or coat; but I had my pack....
       ...We soon came to a communal farm-center, where we were halted and interrogated.  I tried to attach myself to the group I had followed down the road, but no luck.... They, and I as a foreigner without passport, were cut out of the herd and given separate quarters for the night in a  storage-barn....
       ...The door squealed open and it was broad day, sunlight like a knife int he eyes, bright and frightening.  I stumbled out behind the rest and was mechanically following them when I heard my name...
       ..."Please come this way, Mr. Ai," said a hurried person in red, and I was no longer a refugee."

After that the reader is placed in the story that they continue to read for the rest of chapter 8 and pick back up again in chapter 10.

I suppose I'm just confused as to if this is really a nightmare.  If so, where does it end?  If not, is the word nightmare used to describe to the reader how horrible the situation is and how Genly, as the narrator, is surprised and did not expect the events he woke up to to be taking place?


My second question is one that requires less explaining and textual quotation.  It is simply this: What is going on in chapter 9?  I understand that this is a Karhidish tale that has been told over the years.  I am having a very hard time keeping all of the Estravens and Therems straight.  Is anyone in this tale supposed to be the Estraven that the reader meets in the first chapter who helps Genly in Karhide?  I am leaning toward 'no' as the answer to my last question, but if that is the case a second question comes to mind: Why did we need to hear the story if it does not connect the Estraven the reader knows.  Lastly, Estraven is a title as I have learned in this section of reading, what does it mean?