Random Essay? (Spoilers for Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness)
Hey, hey, so I wrote this essay in tenth grade... I remember that, while I was writing it, I was all excited over the story... And I finished the book in record time.
And then I was all upset, because all the predictions I made were exactly right and Ursula K. LeGuin is a meanieface. Only not really. But LHoD is the only book or story of hers that I've read with such an unabashedly depressing ending. So yes.
The Value of Secondary Characters
In books, it sometimes occurs that the main character is not the most interesting. One or several secondary characters always play a large part in shaping the story. These people can be virtuous, or have hidden intentions, but they always have some form of influence over main characters. In many cases, they don’t deserve to be called secondary characters at all. In Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, this character is the Lord Estraven. Despite his status as a secondary character, he is a deeper and more captivating figure than the main character, a man named Genly Ai. His motives are infinitely less clear.
In The Left Hand of Darkness, there exists a large trade federation spanning eighty planets called the Ekumen. Genly Ai is an envoy from this organization, sent to the country Karhide on the planet Gethen to convince the planet to join the Ekumen. From his arrival onwards, Therem Harth Estraven takes it upon himself to learn all he can about the envoy - and aid him in his endeavors. Therem gives Genly much advice, and uses his influence in court to help him get an audience with the king. The night before Genly’s expected audience, however, Estraven withdraws his patronage, giving little explanation. The next day he is announced to be a traitor, and Estraven is forced to flee to the neighboring country Orgoreyn. Some action of Estraven’s exhausts the patience of the ruler of Karhide for Genly Ai’s message, and the envoy also goes to Orgoreyn, hoping they may be more interested in joining the Ekumen. Upon running into Estraven in Orgoreyn, Genly finds himself believing that it wasn’t his own will that brought him to Orgoreyn at all - somehow, it was Estraven who led him there. It is at this moment that it becomes clear just how much Estraven is driving the story.
Genly does not have much liking for Estraven; he describes him as “… Like an electric shock - nothing to hold on to and you don’t know what hit you.” (Le Guin 132) After Estraven dropped his support in Karhide, Genly does not particularly trust him, either. Nonetheless, until his banishment, Estraven was the envoy’s main patron, so Genly did get to know him fairly well, if only on the superficial level. During that time, Estraven showed himself to be curious, conscientious, and diligent. In this way, some of his behavior is self-contradictory. He manipulates the people around him, and then turns around to protect his friends, even at his own expense - he seems to actively pursue political power, and yet expresses no disdain at spending an amount of time working a blue collar shipping job after his banishment. While he is eager to use Genly’s position to his own profit, he also seems to be sincerely fascinated by Genly’s message and alien status. I find him a very confusing character. The clouded nature of his motives make him feel genuine, though, and I find myself more interested in learning about him than following Genly’s mission. I also find myself wanting to trust him. His personality is so human - he isn’t as shallow as a character in a book. It’s obvious that LeGuin spent a lot of time on him. As he is a whole person, I trust that, in his role in the story, he will do the ‘right thing’, whatever that turns out to be. I have no such confidences in the main character. I can’t begin to understand Genly. Ironically enough, this confidence seems to mirror Estraven’s influence on others in the book. Estraven is a master of political intrigue, being both charismatic and quick to outmaneuver in a battle of wits. He is a master of plays of honor. Genly, on the other hand, has little patience for such things. Despite this, he is careful to tolerate it and to avoid offending the people he deals with. In this respect, he is a somewhat passive person compared to Estraven, despite his devotion to bringing the planet of Gethen into the Ekumen. To me, this makes him somewhat of a less interesting character.
Estraven also has a very intriguing past, from what’s been seen so far. When he was fleeing from Karhide, we were introduced to his kemmering, Ashe. A kemmering is somewhat like a life mate; on Gethen, they don’t have the institution of marriage the way we do. Though they hadn’t spoken in years and their relationship appeared to be on the rocks, Estraven showed softness towards Ashe that hadn’t been seen in his character before. The bittersweet and regretful nature of their current relationship added a new dimension to the story that was being woven. This is important to me - the main character Genly has still yet to show any deep feelings about anything. While Genly’s more apathetic point of view makes him a good vessel for the storytelling, without Estraven’s actions and small details about people in individual scenes added to the mix, the story would begin to feel shallow. The question of Estraven’s family becomes more convoluted - it is later revealed that he was also in love with his brother, now deceased. This is an interesting character facet, and it ties in to chapter two, a folk tale about two brothers who vowed kemmering to one another. This is expressly taboo in Gethen’s culture, and in the folk tale, one commits suicide. The other tries to follow him, but changes his mind, reproachful of his brother for running away by killing himself. He lives out the rest of his days under a different name. It seems to me that this folk story was meant to tie in to Estraven’s own situation. The beginning of the tradition in Estraven’s homeland of naming children Therem is also connected to folktale. That story is also a sad romance, though slightly more political in nature. It almost seems similar to Romeo and Juliet. These stories reflect on Estraven. They provide insight into his character. As of yet, Genly has gotten no such thought.
Based on his attention in the story so far, I believe that Estraven is much more than just a side character. It is clear already how much influence he wields over the course of the story. It doesn’t make sense for LeGuin to give him such a full character development if the readers don’t need to have that understanding of his character to connect to the story. Another important role he may play in the second half of the book is one who gives insight into Genly’s character. Genly hasn’t said or though much about himself, but Estraven will be sure to examine his thoughts and personality - it’s in his nature, and he has been curious. I’m sure Estraven will be very important. His own tale is gripping so far, much more than Genly’s, and I can’t wait to find out what will happen next, especially given Estraven’s high-impact personality. He may be a secondary character, but there’s nothing secondary about him.
Right, so. After I finished the book and wiped my tears, I had to write another essay. I will post it in hopes that it will convince somebody to read this book. Left Hand of Darkness is a Hugo award winner! It kicks the butt of your favorite book!
Putting the Science in Science-Fiction
I’ve often found, in my experience, that the line between a fantasy novel and a science fiction novel can be very thin. Worlds of fantasy can be heavily based on scientific knowledge, and works of science fiction often rely on fantastical ideas rather than fact and extrapolation. It can be hard to distinguish one from the other, as the genres have a lot in common. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin is not one of these hard to distinguish novels. It is a science fiction novel in every sense of the word, as it uses many different fields of scientific study in a thorough and realistic way to create a complete fictional world based on scientific possibility.
Left Hand of Darkness is set on an alien world invented by the author. The planet’s inhabitants call it Gethen, but others have dubbed the planet ‘Winter’ for its harsh, unforgiving climate. Gethen is heavily glaciated, and gets its seasons not from a tilted axis, but from its orbit, which is more elliptical than our own. The result is that winter that is much longer than summer. On Gethen, the habitable zone encompasses only the thin band of land between the tropics. Actually, Gethen’s climate resembles that of Earth in the height of its last ice age. The connection between the elliptical orbit and the disparity in the lengths of the seasons is another detail that shows a lot of thought is given to scientific accuracy. For several places, the author describes distinct weather patterns. Winters are dry and summers are wet. The weather is shown to be fickle in the spring, much like many places in our world. In one passage: “The rain is gone, the sun shines on us, the splendid, radiant, traitorous sun of Winter. I remark to the person on my left, ‘It’s hot. It’s really hot.’” (Le Guin 4) Several pages later, this vein continues by saying “…Half an hour later it is snowing.” (Le Guin 7) Le Guin is also thorough in describing how Gethen’s unique climate affects the beings that live there. First, as far as mankind knows, there is nothing living outside the habitable zone. Life is hard enough in the tropics. The variety of plant life is not great, and Gethen certainly has no great grasslands or rich forests like those of Earth. As a result, no large herbivores or predators evolved. I particularly like the way these differences reflect on the Gethenian people. Because there are no large herbivores on Gethen, their main source of protein is egg. Their food is hardy, and they have to eat an awful lot of it to keep their energy up. Gethenians have a very different mealtime etiquette based on the importance of food. It is this ladder effect - in which fundamental conditions of nature define smaller details of a place completely and yet in a subtle enough way that one might not immediately recognize climate and geography as the cause - that makes a story science fiction. Unlike fantasy, you cannot rely on the metaphysical to explain the mechanics of the world.
Known science influences the people of Left Hand of Darkness in other ways, as well. The world is shown to have several languages, each distinct. One language, Orgota, is described; “…This language suits a traitor better, I think; drips off one’s teeth like sugar-syrup.” (Le Guin 132) I find this to be remarkably thorough - many writers do not bother with multiple languages and reasons for knowing them. Like the Inuit of our world, Gethenian languages have many words for snow and ice - this is an interesting, realistic, and likely detail. In Left Hand of Darkness, however, language is superficial. Every nation and group has an entire social structure. These cultures are unique and often conflict, as several have entirely opposite ideals. The ways in which main characters Genly Ai and Therem Harth try to communicate despite their intense cultural differences. Genly, a Terran envoy whose mission on Gethen is to negotiate an alliance with the trade union he works for, has studied for years to understand these people. Therem is an intensely curious and open-minded person. The two of them share the same goal. Despite this fact, however, they can’t understand each other. Where Therem is the one person who completely trusts Genly, to Genly he is the one person whom he cannot trust. This is social science. Therem tries to be blunt, but to Genly his conversation is roundabout. Genly sometimes acts based on manly pride; Therem cannot understand this, as the Gethenians only have gender for a short period of time each month and, as such, don’t consider gender to be definitive.
While it is the above interactions that make up the meat of the story, it is not the extent of the science influence in Left Hand of Darkness. In one part of the story, an Orgota prison camp makes use of drugs that suppress hormones, fogging the minds of both the prisoners and the guards to keep order. In several others, characters make use of electric stun-guns. Gethenian technology is understated, but it is most certainly there, and its rate of growth matches the disposition of the Gethenians. They have invented a coating for sleigh runners, useful in Gethenian climates, and a sort of compressed, concentrated ration for emergencies and journeys. These are all things that are scientifically possible and probable, and make sense in the context of the story. It’s something to appreciate. Left Hand of Darkness also draws influence from less recognized branches of science, or pseudo-science. The people of Genly’s world and many others have the ability to communicate through mind speech. Genly says of the phenomenon, “The capacity, though it has a physiological basis, is a psychological one, a product of culture, a side effect of the use of the mind.” (Le Guin 251) It sounds pretty unscientific, but is still bound by scientific possibility in the bounds of the story. On the Gethenian side, one of their religions has somehow developed accurate prophecy. While that particular phenomenon is never explained, it is never properly studied, either. Nonetheless, it’s been tested with an uncounted number of trials for most of Gethenian history. That same religion also teaches a physical state called dothe, which, based on its descriptions, seems to resemble the body’s increased capabilities when running on adrenaline or acting on physical survival instinct. The longer one maintains dothe-strength, the longer they must rest afterwards, and while in dothe, the user must sustain themselves with large amounts of food.
The breadth and variety of science used in Left Hand of Darkness makes for a very interesting book, but that alone does not make it science fiction. The fact that the premise and entire storyline following are almost completely dependent on one form of science or another makes Left Hand of Darkness a work of science fiction. While most novels are about people, places, or things, science fiction is rooted in and grows from ideas. In Left Hand of Darkness, the purpose of the characters is to impart the ideas. While they are full characters in their own right, and very easy to become attached to, it doesn’t change the fact that their original purpose is to serve as the vessel for the concepts the story presents. Science, physical, mental, and social, is the subject of this novel, and that’s what makes it an excellent example of science fiction.