The Left Hand of Darkness

So we've read through about 5 chapters in The Left Hand of Darkness and I still am a little confused as to what is going on. I'm having a lot of trouble picturing what goes on in the story, especially the characters because they aren't conventional human beings or aliens (or are they?).

In chapter one for example, I had a lot of trouble figuring out what was going on in the parade because I simply couldn't picture the scene in my mind (but later on, I brought the question up in class and was able to picture it more clearly). I did find interesting however that the weather changed from being excruciatingly hot to rainy. At first I thought it could be the affects of global warming in the long haul but later I realized that it probably is just another characteristic of the Gethen world that I wasn't familiar with. I keep trying to figure out the theme to this Gethen world but I still can't really put my finger on it. It seems to change as I keep reading the book.

There was this one scene in Chapter 1 that stood out to me a lot because I could relate to it -the part where Genlry says, "I'm not much taller than the Gethenian norm, but the difference is noticable in a crowd ... more and more often I longed for anonymity, for sameness. I craved to be like everyone else." I understand his situation because I'm taller than the average student and although I am proud of my height, there are times where I just want to be like everyone else. I mean, I love being different but there definitely situations in which well ... being like everyone else just would seem more advantagous.

Anyways, throughout this book, Genlry constantly mentions "kemmering" but I'm still not sure what that is. Is that the whole idea of a fluid gender? Or is it something else? I just can't seem to understand it in terms of the story. Also, I'm not sure how Chapters 2 and 4 relate to the story. In Chapter 2, it mentions how Getheren was exiled from his land because the people blamed him for the death of Hode. But I don't really see how that relates to Genlry and Estraven and the rest of the story. Is the land that Getheren cursed the same land that the Getherians are living on now? Who was Getheren to have the power to curse the land anyways? And in Chapter 4, the author mentions Ashe Berosty, Herbor and the Foretellers but I don't see exactly how the story of Berosty and Herbor relate to the rest of the book. I mean in Chapter 5, the Foretellers are mentioned again because Genlry goes to learn from them but I still don't really see the connection. Maybe it was just used as an example of someone who asked a very vague question and got a very vague answer in return.