The Left Hand of Darkness
By Ursula le Guin
Rating 5/5 💘 💘
Genres : 2021-read, science fiction, classics, gender assignment, fiction, aliens
Such a marvelous read! This is my first book by the author and I love the writing style of Ursulawhich has a flowy, lyrical style to it. 💘 Its a deeply intuitive and explorative story where a human being from Earth is sent as an envoy to an alien planet which is covered in snow and ice most of the year and people there are genetically engineered to be gender neutral. What does gender neutral mean? Well, a person cannot be classified either into a man or woman but is rather both at the same time. How can that be? Well, the Gethenians - Gethen is the planet name - are sexually inactive and insipid most of the month and for a week or so they go into a phase of kemmering - just like it happens with several species of animal kingdom - during which they mate and either of the partner can become male/female and carry a child.
Gethenians,as a result,are not violent or aggressive and have a sort of feminine tenderness and an uninhibited quality in expression of their feelings. They have not focused much on scientific innovation and when the envoy/emissary, Genry Ai, pays a visit in his rocket ship and makes claims of an alien society called Ekuman which coordinates people of 80 planets and would want the Gethen to join the fray, some trust him completely (Estraven) while others distrust and oust him from their land (people of Orgoryen). Ai is locked up and left to die so that his reality or his perceived lies don't reach people. Estraven risks his life and everything to rescue Ai from the prison farm and they chart a harrowing, next to impossible eighty day journey covering over 800 miles of ice,snow through rain and with limited food supplies to get him back in contact with his spaceship and build an alliance with the nation. Estraven sacrifices his life in an ultimate bid to save Ai and his mission - is this his patriotism or mere love for Ai? Does an inseparable bond form between two different people - each alien to the other - without physical relationship? Ai teaches the art of mind speech to Estraven where in they communicate with each other without words and each other's truth is completely exposed to the other. Why did Estraven risk so much to save Ai and what has he got to earn in the bargain?
The left hand of darkness is light, the right hand of light is darkness - just like yin and yang, light and darkness co-exist. My understanding of this title for the story is that a light is brought into the realm of Gethen which is literally in darkness covered by snow by the coming of Ai and Estraven facilitated the union of both - through sheer will and self sacrifice.
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