The Left Hand of Darkness — Chapter-by-Chapter Notes
Use this as you read - important points and questions for each section
🏔️ Part I: The Kingship (Chapters 1-5)
Chapter 1: A Parade in Erhenrang
What Happens
- Genly Ai, the Envoy, observes a parade in Karhide. King Argaven XV is building a new gate.
- Genly has dinner with Estraven, the King’s Prime Minister. Estraven is cold and seemingly duplicitous.
- Estraven warns Genly that he (Estraven) is about to lose his influence and cannot help him anymore.
Important Points
- The Keystone: The blood and bone in the mortar represent the cost of unity.
- Misunderstanding: Genly misreads Estraven’s “shifgrethor” (honor) as “feminine intrigue.” This is Genly’s first major failure of perception.
Questions to Consider
- Why does Genly find it so hard to trust Estraven?
- What does the “keystone” represent in the context of the larger mission?
Chapter 2 & 4: The Myths (Part 1)
What Happens
- Myths about “The Place Inside the Blizzard” and “The Nineteenth Day.”
- These stories explain Gethenian attitudes toward suicide, ancestry, and the danger of knowing the future.
Important Points
- The Fastness: Foretelling is not meant to “give answers” but to show that questions shouldn’t be asked in the first place.
Chapter 3 & 5: The King and the Foretellers
What Happens
- Genly meets King Argaven. The King is terrified and “mad.” He refuses to join the Ekumen and exiles Estraven for treason.
- Genly goes to a Fastness to see the Foretellers. He asks: “Will Gethen join the Ekumen within five years?”
- The answer is “Yes,” but it provides Genly no comfort.
Important Points
- Handdara: This religion/philosophy values “un-knowing” and “ignorance” over certainty. It is the opposite of Genly’s scientific approach.
🌫️ Part II: Orgoreyn (Chapters 6-12)
Chapters 6-8: Exile and Crossing
What Happens
- Estraven flees to the neighboring nation of Orgoreyn.
- Genly realizes he is useless in Karhide and decides to go to Orgoreyn as well, thinking it will be more “rational” and welcoming.
- We get an anthropological record (Chapter 7) explaining Gethenian biology (Somer/Kemmer).
Important Points
- Karhide vs. Orgoreyn: Karhide is a messy monarchy; Orgoreyn is an “ordered” bureaucracy. Genly thinks Orgoreyn is better, but he is wrong.
- Biology: Understanding that there are NO wars on Gethen because there is no dualistic “them vs. us” gender system.
Questions to Consider
- Is Orgoreyn’s lack of a king a good thing for Genly?
- How does the biology of the Gethenians prevent them from being “aggressive” in the Terran sense?
Chapters 9-12: The Trap of Mishnory
What Happens
- In the Orgota capital, Genly becomes a pawn in a power struggle between politicians.
- Estraven is secretly working to help Genly, but Genly still doesn’t trust him.
- Genly is betrayed by the Orgoreyn government and arrested.
Important Points
- The Sarf: The secret police. Orgoreyn is a surveillance state.
- The Ansible: Genly’s communication device is his only link to “humanity,” but he can’t use it in prison.
Questions to Consider
- Why does Genly keep ignoring Estraven’s warnings?
- What is the difference between “treason” in Karhide and “crime” in Orgoreyn?
🧊 Part III: The Ice (Chapters 13-20)
Chapters 13-14: The Volunteer Farm
What Happens
- Genly is sent to a forced-labor camp in the frozen north. He is dying of cold and malnutrition.
- Estraven orchestrates a daring rescue, taking Genly out of the camp and toward the great Gobrin Glacier.
Important Points
- The Rescue: This is the first time Genly is completely dependent on Estraven.
Chapters 15-18: The Crossing of the Gobrin Ice
What Happens
- For 80 days, Genly and Estraven pull a sled across 800 miles of ice.
- They talk about everything: gender, the Ekumen, love, and “shifgrethor.”
- Estraven enters kemmer while on the ice. Genly finally “sees” Estraven as a being who is both female and male.
- They reach a state of total mutual love and trust.
Important Points
- The Bond: The “Left Hand of Darkness” poem is shared. They realize that they need each other to be “whole.”
- Dothe: A state of frenzied strength Estraven uses to survive.
Questions to Consider
- Why was it necessary for them to be alone on the ice for Genly to finally “see” Estraven?
- How does Genly’s view of “woman” and “man” change during the journey?
Chapters 19-20: Homecoming and Sacrifice
What Happens
- They return to Karhide. Estraven is still an exile.
- To protect Genly’s mission and reconcile with the King, Estraven “commits suicide” by skiing into a border guard’s line of fire.
- Genly calls his starship. Gethen joins the Ekumen.
- Genly visits Estraven’s home and meets his “hearth-kin” and child.
Important Points
- The Sacrifice: Estraven dies so that the King can accept the Envoy without “losing face.”
- The Legacy: The book ends with Genly trying to explain to Estraven’s child that his father was not a traitor, but a man of the planet.
Questions to Consider
- Was Estraven’s death truly a suicide?
- Why does the novel end with a child asking questions?
📝 Your Notes
Write your observations about “shifgrethor” and the dual nature of the characters here:
Chapter-by-Chapter Notes created: 2025-12-25
For Great Literature 101 - Book 9 of 10