Wave 1

Genly Ai has a hard time seeing the Gethenians as they see themselves because of the world he is brought up from. Like Earth, our reality is like Genly's reality. We categorize sexuality rather than looking past someone's identity like the Gethenians. Genly is so used to calling everyone by their sex such as "he" and "she" so it makes it difficult more him to look past the people of this planet, Winter. In chapter one, detail explains how Genly uses these pronouns. "Wiping sweat from his dark forehead the man--man I must say, having say he and his-- the man answers, 'Very long ago a keystone was set in with a mortar of ground bones mixed with blood. Human bones, human blood. Without him the bloodbond the arch would fall you see. We use the blood of animals these days.'" (Chapter 1 page 5) Gethenians don't settle down each specific gender until kenmering season. That's where they begin to justify each other. Genly sees the Gethenians as aliens because of his attributes and the Gethenians see Genly as an alien as well because of their attributes. "So he often speaks, frank yet cautious, ironic, as if always aware that I see and judge as an alien: a singular awareness in one of so isolate a race and so high a race." ( chapter 1 page 5) Thus, the communication between one another is rather difficult because since their views are different, it becomes harder to communicate.