Genly Ai

Genly Ai has trouble seeing the Gethenian's as they see themselves because they have no gender. From the world he comes from he calls people he or she and the Gethenian's are neither he or she. His attitude about where he comes from reveals that he comes from a world similar to our world. Where the Gethanians come from they all are similar to one another and understand each othe where as Genly has trouble trying to see things the way they do. Even I had trouble trying to understand how you could be niether man not woman. Where Genly comes from it is normal to call someone he or she, but at Winter most of them are neither he or she. I think later on in the book he will eventually be able to accept and understand the the Gethanians live. 

Sugar and Spice and Everything Gethenian

To Genly, the Gethenian's world is mind boggling. Genly can't seem to wrap his head around the androgyny of the Gethenian people. This reveals a lot about the world Genly comes from. We know from the book that in Terra, everyone is either male or female. Because of this, Genly is constantly trying to mentally label people as one gender. He also recognizes certain male and female characteristics traits in androgynous people. A great example of this is when Genly goes to Estraven's home for dinner. Genly describes Estraven's table manners as "womanly, all charm and tact and lack of substance, specious and adroit" (12). He also comments on Estraven's "dark, ironic, powerful... masculinity" (12). This juxtaposition of male and female traits, as is seen in Estraven, confuses Genly. 
We can further take from the text that beyond having clearly defined gender, Genly's world has defined gender roles in which men are more important than women. We can infer this from a variety of subtle comments Genly makes about women and sexuality. He mentions disliking Estraven's "soft supple femininity", and also comments that "[The Gethenians] lacked, it seemed the capacity to mobilize. They behaved... like women" (12, 49). These quotes seem to reveal Genly's opinion that men are the ones meant to lead, conquer, war, and provide. Genly also refers to all people that he meets with the pronoun of "he", which I find interesting. This might also indicate the dominance of men in Genly's society. Even in regards to his "landlady", who he describes as a "a prying, spying, ignoble, kindly" woman, the pronoun he is used (48). 
The very fact that Genly is so bothered by the Gethenian's sexuality also tells us that Genly's world does not have the kind of egalitarianism (in regards to gender) that Gethenians have. In Genly's world, whether a person is male or female matters. Women have certain roles, and so do men. In Gethen, there are no such roles, and "nobody [in Gethen] is quite so free as a free man anywhere else"(94). With the label of "Male" or "Female" comes attached gender roles. In Terra, women bear and raise children; in Gethen, every reproductive age person can become pregnant, and children are cared for in big groups. In Terra, males protect and provide for their families; in Gethen, a lack of gender means everyone has the opportunity for every job.The world of Winter is a place where "there is no division of humanity into strong and weak halves, protective/protected, dominant/submissive, owner/chattel, active/passive" (94). 
Thus Genly is trying to live in a confusing world where all gender inequality is torn down, and he is left to ponder if this is for better or for worse. 

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?

Genly Ai being form a different planet where a human is categorize as male or female, faces a challenges being on the planet Winter. Genly is so used to looking at someone and calling them he or she because on Genly’s planet that’s the norm, you are either male or female 100 % of the time. On Winter the humans there aren’t female or male most of the time. Genly hasn’t really gotten over the matter of looking at Gethenians and not worrying about calling them a male or female. He hasn’t gotten past looking at them and just accepting it, he wants to be about to categorize because that’s what normal for him. But for Gethenians they don’t see each other as female or male until their kemmer season, they see each other as humans. They look pass their gender and look more at each other, like looking at a soul. Not being able to accept this causes a culture board for him in a sense, but what also cause a culture board is the fact that Genly seems to be more like a real life human (like from our reality, you know from Earth) which causes Gethenians to also not accept him, they see him as a pervert because he’s a male full time. Genly’s attitudes reveal about his world is that it’s more like ours and that their used to identifying each other as male or female. Calling a female she and male he, identifying them so Genly knows how and what to talk about with them.

Genly Ai's struggle to see Gethenians as they see themselves. What do Genly Ai's attitudes reveal about the world he comes from?

Genly Ai has trouble understanding the culture of Gethenians for various reasons, and the most apparent is the inability to identify with the gender of Gethenian citizens. This gender instability makes it impossible to understand if certain citizens are male or female, which makes it even more difficult for Genly to relate to any Gethenuans, let alone speak to them. This distorts his understanding of them, and it shows that he comes from a world much like our own (a world where gender is not interchangeable). Gender is a way of identifying on a more mental and emotional level with your peers. Genly was sent on a mission to convince the royalty of Gethen to join his alliance of space, but not being able to identify with the Gethenians on a more personal level makes it harder for him to communicate with them and negotiate their terms of commitment to his space alliance. 

LHoD Blog Topic, Wave 1

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 Wednesday, January 13th to post your response to this question. All other students in the class may comment on any of theLHoD posts at any time.

Who shall post:
Michelle A, Mackenzie B, Alexis C, Neill C, Tyler D, Kaila D, Jacob E, Joe E, Lulu G, Sam G, Brian G, Ronnie G.

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.

LHoD Blog Instructions

Hi students! Here's the formalized posting for this unit on the blog ...

The class will be divided into thirds; three groups of responders: Wave 1, 2, and 3. For this blog session (meaning, by January 25th) each student will be expected to post 1 response and 2 comments total. -- Of course, you are always welcome to comment more than the required amount :]

Each wave of blogging will involve responding to a thought- provoking question that I will post to the blog related to LHoD. The students assigned to that group are expected to respond before the deadline, which will be posted along with the question. Everyone else is expected to comment twice over the entire blogging period for this unit.

Here are the deadlines:

The first question--the one that Wave 1 participants will be expected to respond to--will be posted to the class blog by Saturday afternoon, January 9th. Wave 1 responders will be required to post their responses by Wednesday, January 13th.

The second question--the one that Wave 2 participants will be expected to respond to--will be posted to the class blog on Wednesday, January 13th. Wave 2 responders will be required to post their responses by Tuesday, January 19th.

The third question--the one that Wave 3 participants will be expected to respond to--will be posted to the class blog on Tuesday, January 19th. Wave 3 responders will be required to post their responses by Friday, January 22nd.

When it is not currently your wave, you should be reading responses and commenting along the way.

Wave 1 Participants:

Michelle A, Mackenzie B, Alexis C, Neill C, Tyler D, Kaila D, Jacob E, Joe E, Lulu G, Sam G, Brian G, Ronnie G.

Wave 2 Participants:

Jazmine H, Robin H, Briel I, Leslie L, Devon M, Marissa M, Alexis M, Jessica N, Johnathan O, Sandra O, Sarah P.

Wave 3 Participants:
Caleb Q, Michelle R, Heidi R, Rebecca S, Dominic S, Victoria S, Alyssa T, Chris T, Brennan V, Marquis W, Monet W, Annalise W.

LHoD Vocab, First Batch

This is the first 12; the next round will have 8, and you will choose 4, for 24 words total, or 3 pages of vocab -- entirely appropriate for a novel.