Overview: “The Left Hand of Darkness” by Ursula K. Le Guin, is a science fiction novel about Ganry Ai, an Earth native, who travels to a new world of people, whom of which can be of both genders. The book follows Ai and others as he travels from place to place in this strange world, trying to seek believers of his story, as to form an alliance between this world and his own. Ai goes through many hardships and trials while also facing betrayal and prejudice as a being of only one sex. The only believer of his story is Estraven, the person Ai trusts the least. However, Estraven may be his only way of surviving in this androgynous world.
Analysis:
“The Left Hand of Darkness” was Le Guin’s first novel in the science fiction genre. As a way to let her novel stand out, Le Guin used different techniques of point of view to make her novel an interesting one. Le Guin used point of view in this text to allude to past stories that connects to the main plots, that adds depth and information to the story while using multiple perspectives to move the story along and connect the subplot to the main story.
…show more content…
The first instance of this was chapter 4, which was a story of male seeking answers from the foretellers about his death. This chapter was followed by Ai going to the Foretellers himself for answers to his own questions. Another story happens in chapter 17, about the creation of the androgynous people and their “kemmering periods”. In the next chapter, Estraven takes on features that are of a woman, signaling his own kemmering period. These stories though may be seen as pointless, connect certain parts of the story together and gives background information on unexplained