Genly Ai is a Sexually Biased Character - Essay Example

Genly Ai is a Sexually Biased Character Science Fiction is a genre which very often and extremely innovatively manages to touch the intricate subject of gender-biases and stereotypical gender-identities. It can be said that by creating characters that defy the natural norms of gender identification and disregard gender binaries totally and willfully, the author especially female writers attempt to highlight the unjust nature of gender anomalies currently plaguing the world. The acclaimed sci-fi novel “The Left Hand of Darkness” authored by famous novelist Ursula K. Le Guin is one such attempt that unveils the hidden atrocities and hypocrisies of male gender. This novel was published in 1969 in continuation of Le Guin’s year 1966 publication the Hainish Cycle. The Left Hand of Darkness won multiple awards including the prestigious Hugo and Nebula, and is believed to at par with masterpieces like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Regarded as the first attempt of merging science fiction with feminist approach, the novel depicts a futuristic planet Gethen/Winter in Hainishuni verse, which is inhabited by an androgynous or genderless nation called Karhide. They welcome a heterosexual male Genly Ai from planet Earth/Terra as an envoy of Ekumen. The objective of this paper is to prove that Genly Ai is a sexually biased character who could not relate to the unorthodox idea of sexuality and gender mutuality that prevailed in Gethen. Le Guin’s Genly Ai is much akin to the typical chauvinist variety of males currently dwelling upon Earth. The stereotypical personality traits and biased thinking patterns of the protagonist Genly Ai has been presented quite straight forwardly by the author right from the first chapter. Ai considers female gender as superficial and his own as superlative and evidently thinks high of his gender that is why he initially thinks of all Gethenians as males. “Wiping sweats from his dark forehead the man—man I must say, having said he and his” (Le Guin4). This quote comprehensively explains that Genly Ai considers Gethend Wellers as male. He finds it extremely difficult to accept the idea that in Gethen gender division plays a secondary role and is not given as much importance as on Earth. In The Left Hand of Darknessthe gender biases prevailing in the mind of Genly are expressed through masculine pronouns. “You cannot cast a Gethenian in the role of Man or Woman, while adopting towards ‘him’ a corresponding role” (Le Guin69). This quote proves the excessive usage of “he” and “him” for Karhide nation by Le Guin in the novel. Genly is seemingly helpless in this regard partly because the customary male-female sexual and gender role duality is inextricably linked in his mindset and partly due to his biased nature. That is why he prefers to associate his own gender instead of the fairer sex to the people. Melanie Walser believes that Le Guin has deliberately used the masculine pronoun throughout the novel because of two factors: one, that she herself grew accustomed to the gender role stereotypes, and/or, two, she understood the mindset of her readers fairly well and therefore, had no choice but to address the Gethenians as males. This point out the fact that in a way, Genly’s character thinks and reacts exactly like any person from planet Earth would do in the 1960s since everyone has been brought up with fairly strict rules and laws that define gender binaries. As Le Guin herself mentions in the novel that the first question asked about a new born is the gender. The new millennium generations would also find these generic assumptions relatable given the fact that gender biases still exist and the concept of a world without any sexual tensions and the element of edginess in male-female relationship seems unreasonable. Pauline E. Spangler also highlighted the usage of masculine gaze in the novel and found it somewhat disturbing and problematic. However, she views it in a similar manner as Walser, and apparently Spangler is convinced that Genly is a sexually biased character. She however, confirms that “these biases become more comprehensible if we align Genly’s observations with those of a male science fiction reader in the 60s….it demonstrates Ursula’s awareness of the gender binary” (35). The Karhide, a race of humanoids,remain genderless throughout the 26 days of a month and develop specific gender characteristics only for two days when they enter “kemmer”, which is initially a shocking and later a disturbing revelation for Genly Ai. He just cannot endorse the fact that someone can be genderless because he hails from a society where stereotypical gender roles exist and are followed religiously. As he asserts that “Though I had been nearly two years on Winter I was still far from being able to see the people of the planet through their own eyes” (Le Guin 9). Since gender does not play a decisive role in social constructs on Grethen, Ai only considers those few individuals who remain in the state of Kemmer throughout their lives (due to permanent hormonal imbalance) as normal beings while the rest as abnormal. “Three or four percent of adults may be physiological perverts or abnormals— Normals, by our standard” (Le Guin47). He dislikes the King of Gethen, Argaven, and believes him to be incapable because heappears “volatile” and laughs “shrilly like an angry woman” (Le Guin23). Ai refers to those individuals who show some additional amount of sensitivity, compassion, warmth and consideration as womanly or feminine in nature, which shows that Ai has sorted out the differentiating traits of both genders quite strongly. Genly Ai explicitly shows repulsive attitude towards females, which becomes evident very often in the novel. For example, when he goes to dine at Lord Estraven’s place, he is utterly displeased because “at table Estraven’s performance has been womanly; all charm and tact and lack of substance, specious and adroit” (Le Guin 9). Genly perceives Estraven, who later becomes his savior, as female from beginning till the end because all those chores and traits that Genly’s has associated with females all along are present in Estraven. For instance, Estraven’s capability to calculate food rationing in a scrupulous manner makes him appear more like a “housewife” (Le Guin 191). However, Le Guin proves Genly wrong about Estraven later in the novel and shows Estraven as more courageous, fearless and determinant than Genly, which concludes that one cannot categorize a person based on traits or characteristics. Genly believes that the owner of the place where he stays is a “land lady” or a female because “he had fat buttocks that wagged as he walked, and a soft face and a kind, spying, ignoble and kindly nature” (Le Guin 35). Furthermore, he considers the prison guards of the Pulefen Voluntary Farm females because of their “gross, bland fleshiness and bovinity” and his fellow prisoners as “Eunuchs” that make himself feel like the only man around (Le Guin 127). Ai’s sexual biases become all the more firmly established from theseabovementioned examples in which he expresses his personal approach towards femininity. Genly Ai believes that women are fragile, weak, submissive, and deceiving and that they possess lack of substance. This becomes clear furthermore when Genly summarizes the concept of gender role in Gethen by admitting that “there is no division of humanity into strong and weak halves, protected/ protective” (Le Guin 68). Here separating female and male gender into categories like strong and weak, protected and protective display the biased mindset of Genly Ai quite convincingly. When Genly meets King Argaven in private, he founds him to be “less manly” and thus, “less kingly” and feels that the king is likea “she-otter in a cage” (Le Guin 23-26). This establishes the fact that gender-based disparity and stereotypical images of gender roles were deeply engraved in Genly’s mindset and he comprehensively endorsed these traditional assumptions as well. This novel’s themehas been the central topic of debates ever since it came out and various authors abide by the statement that Genly Ai is a sexually biased character. Melanie Walser writes about Genly Ai’s character that “in addition to originating from a society with very rigid gender roles, Ai is sexually biased, if not right-out misogynous” (7). Genly himself understands that he is being biased by thinking of “a Gethenian first as a man, then as a woman” but he cannot refrain from doing so (Le Guin 9). Derek Longhurst also is of the same opinion that Genly Ai is excessively biased and affirms “Ursula Le Guin is remarkable for her openness to criticism and self-criticism…this pro-male bias merely reflects the bias..or prejudices of the narrator of the story Genly Ai” (186). Thus, it can be stated that Genly Ai is a sexually biased character. The Left Hand of Darkness tackles the theme of gender identities in a unique manner. Le Guin has provided a rich textual account on the kind of world that may exist if people forget about the unnecessary gender stereotypes and focus on bridging the gap between humans by encouraging equality based relationships. She openly admits the existence of gender-based fixtures and stereotypes in contemporary society and attempts to highlight the gender biases that have permanently occupied a place in the minds of male gender through Genly. Works Cited Le Guin, Ursula E. The Left Hand of Darkness.Walker, 1969. Print. Longhurst, Derek. Gender, Genre & Narrative Pleasure RLE.Routledge, 2012. Print. Spangler, Pauline. Living in (IM) Material Worlds: Modes of Production and Consumption in Utopian Literature.ProQuest, 2009. Print. Walser, Melanie. In Her Novel the Left Hand of Darkness , Does Ursula K Le Guin Succeed in Depicting a Completely Non-Gendered Society?. GRIN Verlag, 2009. Print. Read More