Myths of Gethen

Throughout this entire novel the Gethenian culture is much spoken of. The species of humans that live upon the surface of this planet are androgynous therefore do not have male or female sex organs. For a few years Ai lives upon the gethenian planet observing what life is like in attempt to learn politically based on their governing systems. Ai hopes the Gethen will join the Ekumund within 5 years time as told to him by the fore tellers who can see the future supposedly. There are so many stories of the Voluntary farms but soon Ai knows what they are really like which would be better described as a slave camp. Moreover the gethenians do not believe the Ai is really from space but the only evidence to back up his story would have to be his star ship.

stories of death/suicide

The stories and myths in certain chapters of the book tells a lot about gethen culture. For example, chapter 2 is about the two kemmering partners that when broken up after having a child, one commits suicide. For Gethen, suicide is a huge sin and so even the other brother, Getheren, is banish from there, leaving him in the ice and move to another part of town. Chapter 4 about Berosty and Herbor tells us the irony in the "prophecy" of the 19th day. After hearing Berosty will die on the 19th of any day, his kemmering partner seeks more from the fortune teller and ends up finding out Herbor will die before Berosty. Mad for not helping when Berosty will die, he kills Herbor and regrets and Berosty hangs himself on the 19th day. This story, like chapter 2, shows gethen culture to disapprove of death/suicide. The hanging of himself on the 19th shows the lesson in the story, that death should not rule their lives in gethen culture.

Gethen Myths

One myth that I found interesting is "The Place Inside the Blizzard" in chapter 2. This is because it illustrates how bad of a sin a suicide is considered by Gethenians, an example of how shifgrethor is valued, and what Gethenians believe about incest. Another myth that I found interesting is "An Orgota Creation Myth" in chapter 17. This is because it explains what is meant by some of the words that Genly Ai and the Gethenians use and why shifgrethor is so important to the Gethenians in the end of the myth, when all the sons are being followed by darkness, which is a shadow that represents death, since it explains where the shadow and death references come from.

Gethenian Culture

There are various myths and folktales sprinkled around the novel, and they give a lot of hints about how the Gethenians carry themselves in their world, just like humans carry themselves through fables and stories. One folktale, The Nineteenth Day,  is a Karhidish story about a man named Berosty who asked the Foretellers about when he will pass away. When he asked, the Foretellers answered that he will die on the 19th day of any month, which angered Berosty because it was not the answer he was looking for. Later, the kemmer of Berosty, Herbor, came and asked how long will Berosty live, hoping to cure Berosty of his sorrow, and they answered, "Longer than you will live." When Herbor told Berosty, he became very angry and killed Herbor with a stone. Berosty regretted his actions, and a month later, hanged himself, on the nineteenth of the month of Thern. This story explains a lot of how the Gethenians are content with living. They never wanted more or wanted less. In the folktale, it shows that death and suicide will come to people who ask for more, and both are frowned upon in Gethenian society.

An Orgota Creation Myth

In chapter 17, "An Orgota Creation Myth", discusses how the world was created. This chapter in my opinion was very important because it gave us a sense in how the people of Winter think. Just like we have our own creation stories, theirs seems to be similar. Just how we were created by one person, so were they except in their case, they were "born." Each of those children were set out to be followed by darkness which resulted in their region of the Ice.

Myths on Winter

One of the most entertaining parts of this novel were the chapters that would tell of myths. Having myths incorporated into the novel really did sell the idea that this planet really exists because many, if not all, societies have stories that get passed down that become sort of tradition as to explain their beliefs and customs. Though some were slightly confusing, the one I found to be the easiest to understand and the one that is in a sense my favourite, was "The Place Inside the Blizzard". Although in our society incest is greatly seen as something immoral and suicide can be slightly sinful, the story made a good job in showing how the people of Winter feel about these two issues. They don't mind incest yet they find suicide to be the worst possible crime. Another of my favourites was, "An Orgota Creation Myth" because it showed how some saw their world come to be. In addition to showing how a culture views certain things, these stories also served to connect things in the main plot of the novel, for example, Estraven having an incestual relationship with his brother,  and there being a story about a man who earned the name "Estraven the Traitor".

Asra's Stories

When reading the first chapter of the story, I was slightly lost, but the real confusion came when I had reached chapter 2. These offbeat chapters were getting to me, and after the first 3 sets of stories, I had to re-read them again. Until I realized that these stories contained something more than just random topics, such as in chapter 2, which explaining that suicide was the most unfavorable crime within Gethen, or even in chapter 7 that explains sex or kemmering within the Gethanian society by the first investigator. That's when I had fully understand why these chapters were put into the book. They were used to guide the readers or to foreshadow the events that may happen soon, despite that outlandish story in chapter 17, which talks about 3 shapes falling into an abyss. Then these shapes create life in different aspects from trees,water, and even people, this was by far the most confusing one of them all in my opinion. There might also be the reason why there are random stories in the book, when Genly was in the camp, he came across a guy name Asra. Now Genly and Asra were both in the Barracks, they both had plenty of time to accompany each other, so Asra had told tales and myths to Genly, and vice versa. Now this is where I believe the random myths are included into the story, it may seem far-fetched but it's just a little theory of mine. Also, if you guys have any assumptions or thoughts on these myths and legends let me know!