Wave 2: Cold, Lonely Genley

 This specific theme is involving the cold temperatures of Gethen and how it's being compared to the people, or even Genley and how it effects him on a personal level. Gethenians live in a cold world and are used to the weather, but not Genley since he comes from Earth. This can relate to them and not Genley because they're considered as "cold" and the way their lifestyle is. In the book, The Left Hand of Darkness it states, "And in the end, the dominant factor in Gethenian life is not sex or any other human thing. It is their environment, their cold world. (96)" This brings up how Gethenians are not to be described as humans with emotion, and the cold weather is what describes who they are as individuals. They're a sexless and genderless specie and can only become a gender when going into kemmer. This to me showed how they're cold on the inside and won't show emotion to their significant other unless when kemmering. Unlike us, we show our emotion by meeting someone and being attracted to them for their personality. Gethenians can also be compared to animals because dogs, for example, don't have emotion and don't really know anything except for just producing pups. Then there's isolation and loneliness and that's what Genley feels in this place. He's in a different environment with different customs, like the cold weather he despises. Plus, he's the only one with a permanent gender and is known as a "pervert" in their world. No one really understands him and where's he's coming from; he's the alien in their world.