LHoD Wave 1

As part of Genly Ai's mission to convince the Gethenians to become a part of the Ekumen, he must try to fit into their life and become more accepted into their society if he wants Argaven, the king, to trust him. One of the biggest reasons that this has been exceedingly difficult for him is because the Gethenians are majorly different from the people of Genly's home planet. For the people of Gethen their mentality, reproductive systems, and overall way of life is nothing but normal. On the contrary, Genly Ai and the reader can have extreme trouble at times when trying to understand all of this because unlike Genly and/or the reader, there is no gender on this planet, they have a life ruled by a monarch, their views on respect and being seen as foolish are almost completely different, and they love to take their time with stuff. I think the biggest thing that is the hardest to comprehend is this idea of Kemmer or "to pledge Kemmer." Because of the fact that both Genly and the reader come from gender based societies, it makes it exceptionally challenging to grasp the idea of how they reproduce and what exactly this whole "Kemmer" thing is about. But of course you have to keep in mind that this is the Gethen way of life. They don't see it as different. Genly is the outsider to them! So for both Genly Ai and the reader to try to get a better idea of how their life works, they must disconnect themselves from everything they believe to be normal and open up their mind to difference.