Ai and Estraven, along with the rest of the people of Gethen in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, struggle at times to understand each other's different genders, sexualities, and cultures. Ai’s sexuality and gender are the same as the average human on Earth, while the people of Gethen are androgynes and only have a gender during their one week mating period, called kemmer, each month. Le Guin is using Ai, Estraven, and the people of Gethen to illustrate how people with varying genders, sexualities, and cultures can learn to understand others and treat them equitably.
Ai is the only person from a world with genders on all of Gethen. He is treated equitably by most of the people of Gethen, even though they do not comprehend or understand …show more content…
They accept each other's dissimilarities, but understand that these differences need to be addressed in certain situations. For example, Ai is naturally bigger and stronger than the Gethenians, but he is not adapted for the extreme cold on Gethen (Le Guin 245). Estraven, however, is smaller, adapted for the cold, and has a much higher endurance (Le guin 245). Estraven and Ai’s differences really come to light during their journey across the ice. Ai is better suited to pull the sled quickly for shorter periods of time, while Estraven can pull the sled all day at a slower pace. Estraven admits that while Ai is much stronger than him, “this slow, hard, crawling work we have been doing these days wears him out in body and will, so that if [Ai] were one of [Estraven’s] race [he] should think him a coward, but he is anything but that; he has a ready bravery [Estraven has] never seen the like of” (Le Guin 245). Because Ai is larger than the Gethenians, Estraven even gives him a larger food ration than he gives himself, because Ai needs more calories to function at the same level as Estraven. Although their rations are not equal, Estraven does not complain because he understands that for them to perform equally, Ai must be fed more, and this idea of equity is what Le Guin wants to be seen and
Ai is the only person from a world with genders on all of Gethen. He is treated equitably by most of the people of Gethen, even though they do not comprehend or understand …show more content…
They accept each other's dissimilarities, but understand that these differences need to be addressed in certain situations. For example, Ai is naturally bigger and stronger than the Gethenians, but he is not adapted for the extreme cold on Gethen (Le Guin 245). Estraven, however, is smaller, adapted for the cold, and has a much higher endurance (Le guin 245). Estraven and Ai’s differences really come to light during their journey across the ice. Ai is better suited to pull the sled quickly for shorter periods of time, while Estraven can pull the sled all day at a slower pace. Estraven admits that while Ai is much stronger than him, “this slow, hard, crawling work we have been doing these days wears him out in body and will, so that if [Ai] were one of [Estraven’s] race [he] should think him a coward, but he is anything but that; he has a ready bravery [Estraven has] never seen the like of” (Le Guin 245). Because Ai is larger than the Gethenians, Estraven even gives him a larger food ration than he gives himself, because Ai needs more calories to function at the same level as Estraven. Although their rations are not equal, Estraven does not complain because he understands that for them to perform equally, Ai must be fed more, and this idea of equity is what Le Guin wants to be seen and