Ying Yang Theory

The Ying and Yang that Genly brings up can be traced to many aspects of the novel.  It could be applied to the end of the story when it is revealed that Arek and Estraven have a child and the child can be considered a piece of the two melted into one, just as the ying yang symbolizes.  I also thought of the ying and the yang when estraven and genly decided to share mind speech.   Mind speech is a great sign of bonding as it involves letting a person into the mind, a place where all a beings secret’s are kept and a place where there Is nowhere to hide.  With those two being able to flow in an out of each other’s minds, it could be thought of as yet another parallel of the ying and yang where the two are now bound together through allowing the other entrance into themselves. 

                The Ying and the Yang also could be seen as connecting Genly to Karhide.  Genly at the end of the novel feels as though he is a native to Karhide , previously this had seemed unimaginable to him.  Through the course of his journey in which he encounters natives, customs and kindness, and through his visit to orgota he comes to see what Karhide is and what it has to offer.  He now carries karhide with him and has left a piece of himself there.

                The Ying and Yang most show itself in the dual genders of the gethenians.  Gethenians contain both male and female capabilities without having a set gender which ultimately showsthe idea of a little of each inside of a whole that the ying and yang represent.

Estraven and Genly on Their Journey

I feel the relationship between Genly and Estraven really hit its stride along the journey over 78 days, as one would expect.  I found a few things very interesting in the way that Genly changes his view of Estraven gender wise.  Genly still see Estraven as a woman primarily and it is easy to see why.  Like a mother would would for a child Estraven figures out how much food will be needed for their journey, he also takes into account how to make sure Genly is safe from cold.  To argue that though one could say that Estraven displays a "manly "quality in hunting and butchering food for them. 

Halfway through the journey Genly can barely cover any ground yet Genly qualifies that he could "easily pull twice as much as Estraven".  What we have here and throughout many phases of the book are attempts by Genly to assert his male dominance over Estraven.  He never wanst to cry in fronty of him, he wants to prove his strength and as he says in the tent "show his pride of being a man."  he continues to see Estraven as a female because frankly it's the only way he can see him, where gethenians have evolved past race Genly has not.  It is not until the very end of the book when Genly can fianlyy see him as a being, all along he knows Estraven is sexless but he never really gets it in my opinion until he speaks with the king and when he sees Estraven's child at the very end.

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