Today we had a group present chapter 13. I thought our group discussion was really interesting because we discussed a question that i didn't even consider while reading the chapter. In our group and in the class as well, there was a pretty strong debate over whether Genly had killed the man that laid his head on Genly's knees. When i first read the chapter, i just thought that Genly was being a very nice person and he was providing comfort to a dying person - he was making the man's last few moments of life a little better. I thought he was doing a good thing so i was really surprised when one of the questions we discussed was whether or not Genly killed that man. I never even thought about but.. it was really interesting to hear what people had to say because I recall DiMarco thought that Genly killed the man in order to put him out of his misery and Aileen thought that Genly killed him because he thought the man was annoying because he was well ... choking and coughing up blood. To me though, i just thought Genly was being a good person and so that's why he let the man lay on his knees.
Also, when we were discussing Genly Ai's character, it was interesting to see that pretty much most of the class (or at least those who shared their opinions) thought that Genly was a genuine, nice, compassionate, and good person. I guess we all felt that he's demonstrated that he's a good person - one example that i gave was that when he was working at the farm, this guy kept ranting about his life and what not, and even though Genly thought that he was annoying, he still listened (i thought that was really nice of him - it shows that he's a patient person).
I had a question about this chapter ... Why did Genly get arrested in the first place? Why didn't Commensal Oblse do anything to help/save Genly when he knew that Genly was being arrested?
I guess this just shows that Orgoreyn is a fake place that Genly thought it was/could be.
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Jessi, you really do an excellent job synthesizing our class discussion here! These are some great questions -- many people are now questioning their opinion of Orgoreyn as a better place than Karhide. I encourage you to bring these ideas to discussion tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteObsle and Yegey knew about his arrest and afterwards left town to somewhat protect their reputation after supporting Genly.
ReplyDeleteHe was arrested because the Commensals didn't believe him. He was probably thought to be a spy or something from Karhide.
Or, perhaps, because the Commensals did believe him, and wanted to make sure he couldn't bring down his Star Ship on them as an invasion. They had to take his word for it, after all, that the Ekumen's mission was peaceful.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to sort out true from false in Orgoreyn.
I think there's no chance that Genly kills that man; he just supports him a little bit until he dies, that's all. But it's a good example of how different people interpret things differently, which is very relevant to the book's theme.
ReplyDeleteConsider Estraven's account of the scene where Genly gave him Ashe's money: "I have not often been so angry, and I insulted him deliberately [by giving him advice -- but Genly read his tone as "deliberate, harsh courtesy" in his version of the story]. He knew I was angry [did he? Genly says he "had no idea what it signified"], but I am not sure that he understood that he was insulted; he seemed to accept my advice despite the manner of its giving; and when my temper cooled I saw this, and was worried by it. Is it possible that all along in Erhenrang he was seeking my advice, not knowing how to tell me that he sought it? If so, then he must have misunderstood half and not understood the rest of what I told him by my fireside [....] When I thought myself most blunt and frank with him he may have found me most subtle and unclear. [Absolutely.]"