Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand Of Darkness

The Effects of a Non-Binary Gender What would our world be like if gender was described as non-binary, with no male or female separation? The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin questions the ways in which society constructs gender. The novel constitutes feminist science fiction because it generates an examination of the effects of binary notions of gender on society’s thinking and structure. The novel explores how the elimination of binary gender has the ability to allow readers to see Gethenians as they are instead of projecting gender constructs onto them and in turn applying that type of thinking to our society.
Le Guin parallels modern patriarchal society by presenting a narrow-minded main character and shows how limiting such thinking can be. The novel begins with Genly Ai who has a strictly binary notion of gender because of the patriarchal culture he comes from and refers to gender with limited, restrictive, and sexist language. Regarding Estraven, Ai …show more content…
Without the presence of the phrase ‘male or female,’ Le Guin offers the possibility of men and women. Despite this factor, Le Guin states in her essay Is Gender Necessary that her use of “pronouns wouldn’t matter at all if I had been cleverer at showing the “female” component of the Gethenian characters in action” (Le Guin, 168). However, there are many implications of this if readers look closely. Also, Le Guin’s use of showing masculinity as well as femininity simultaneously in the Gethenians is the most important part, as it advances the main point, which is acceptance of a non-binary society. For example, Le Guin’s subtly in revealing the female aspect of Gethenians requires readers to think and analyze in ways that can allow them to progress as people and readers, which is one of the major themes of the novel; expanding the limitations of thinking within a patriarchal