Winter May Be Cold, Yet I Can Feel The Warmth

From touching on this theme, I began to see how Gethenians truly express their interest of love and heartfelt connections. We can see that in Winter there is a ceremonious occasion called "vow kemmering",  this event seems to be very similar in both structure and basis to what we consider marriage here on Earth. In chapter 7, page 92, we get a full understanding of vow kemmering when Genley states "The furthest extreme from this practice os the custom of vow kemmering, which is to all intents and purposes monogamous marriage. It has no legal status, but socially and ethically is an ancient and vigorous institution." To have a couple that would dedicate themselves to such an establishment must mean that they must share a general feeling of love and compassion between the two Gethenians. We also see that, despite of the planet being in subzero temperatures, the general, or physical, feeling of warmth is not needed to feel enticed, it is mentioned that the fire in Karhide residences are to warm the spirit, not the body, and to have the hearth of each home within each household be aflame, could tie to the fact that there is a deep, yet not necessarily tangible, feeling of love within each Gethenian of Karhide; this could also point to a more meaningful love between partners as they have a much smaller and yet more intense attention to show their emotions. There may be those couple or groups who also join in kemmering, yet they usually have a consistent partner or group of partners they partake this mating ritual with. Lastly, vow kemmering is a very ingrained ritual in Gethenian society, its ancient laws dictate that, "one can only vow kemmering once" (92). This ritual does show that Gethenians, at least the Gethenians of the distant era, had a very affectionate love they would have with one other being, and following the death or separation of their partner, the law suggests that those bereft of their lover would be so distraught that they would not remarry, or go back into a state of vow kemmering. Genley being in a state of isolation from his own kind, seems to be alone on this cold planet. He has been introduced to many, the mad king most notably displays an innate fear of Genley, and this feeling would probably be shared by the rest of these Gethenians. Although Genley may seem like a total loner to keep to himself on his mission to observe Winter, he has found the only other outsider he may relate to, Estraven. Estraven and Genley seem to be very close even though they aren't of the same kind; almost as if they may be friends. They teach each other through means of how each would follow through customs set on each of their planets, and further more, Estraven demonstrates to Genley on how to survive outside the city, in the desolate wilderness of Winter. Even though these two may be different physically, in spirit they are one in the same.