"The Fiction of Ideas" week 10- March 21, 2018

"The Fiction of Ideas"
Week 10
March 21, 2018



I read a few chapters into the book, "The Left Hand of Darkness", by Ursula K. Le Guin.  Upon reading i started to realize what kind of book this was, which is a feminism science fiction book, where the main character is a person named Genly Ai, a guy sent to Gethen to get the Gethenians to join the Ekumen.  On the land of Gethen, the people there are androgynous beings which means that they are neither male or female, which made this book a bit different from the typical things that I read. 

Upon reading the first chapter, it opens with a parade in Karhide, talking about colors, instruments, marching, and all of these beautiful things, but Genly Ai was not on the planet Gethen to take in the Macy's Day Works. King Agraven is not there at the parade just for show, but he is the one who puts the keystone in with his bare hands.  Estravem, the King's prime minister.  For Eukmans, a universe wide-nation government, shows their power subtly, while on this planet, it is a very show off kind of power that boasts about the power.

Understanding and navigating the Gethen social mores and politics are rather difficult for Ai to understand.  Ai later journeys on to Fastness of Karhide and meets a person named Faxe the fortune teller, when Ai asks if both Ekumen and Gethen will join together in the future and the guy with his magic 8 ball says yes, so now Ai feels like he has to redo his mission all over again to try to get a different result.
A character named Estraven has been paying attention to Ai because he has so many friends that are higher up in the government, because there is a war between Karhide and Orgoreyn.  Towards the end, Estraven was betrayed by a friend while escaping back into Ogoreyn and learns the truth about his friends sacrifice. 

I personally thought this book was interesting. Just a little too different for me. Meaning these species would change body heat which would change their sexual orientation, which means they are gender neutral, and they can mix things, like a utopian idea. I found it hard to stay a little focused on this book, i kind of just read it to read. it was not a, oh i want to finish this now, kind of book. I got lost quite a few times, but that may be because i wasnt so into it.  More of a if I have time, we will see kind of book.  Its one I can forget about.