Lie

Today we had a group/class discussion about Chapter 15. So far, i actually think that this chapter has been the easiest to understand. Everything is very straightforward - when Genly wakes up from being nauseated by the injections, he sees Estraven for the first time as just a simple "human being" as oppose to anything he had thought before. Genly and Estraven starts to develop a connection, or "friendship" (i'm reluctant to say friendship because Genly mentioned that he didn't want to be friends) and Genly teaches him mindspeech. They travel together in light snow, in which they make the most progress, and in the rain in which they make the least progress and this is when Genly begins to feel sick, possibily from the food. Then they gradually travel to Gobrin Glacier.

So actually, something that came up in our little group discussion was the possible "attraction" that's developing between Genly and Estraven. Our group felt that perhaps Estraven had crush on Genly because he was willing to risk his life for pretty much a complete stranger he'd just met. I brought up the idea that their conversations also always seems very intimate. Like the way Genly describes how Estraven was sleeping. I guess the comparisson that comes to my mind is that like he's the boyfriend and he wakes up next to his girlfriend and for the first time in a very long time, saw her for who she is. Just the way he described it felt very intimate. And i remember near the end of one of the other chapters, Genly mentions that he only traveled all the way to Orgoreyn for Estraven (he needed to give him the money) and i thought that foreshadowed a possible love story between them? We'll see. Oh, John also brought up the fact/idea that everytime Genly and Estraven talk, there seems to be some type of "touching" going on. We discussed this with Ms. Aaland and she pointed out that the touching could be a cultural difference between the Gethenian and Genly. She also hinted that it could just be flirting, haha.