The Mote in Gods Eye and The Left Hand of Darkness - Essay Example

The Mote in God’s Eye” and “The Left Hand of Darkness” To begin with, both the stories are set in an atmosphere beyond our reach, but the point is whether both the authors have reached their intuition as exactly what they had in their mind’s vision. There are similarities in both the fictions, they are [1] science fictions, [2] planned on circumstance with future connotation, in the sense the focus had been on a future human race and society. The argument is whether both the authors have treated the concept justifying what opinion they had over the issues of the contemporary society, for example Le Guin’s analysis and treatment of the gender roles and human relationships and Niven and Pournelle’s ideologies over the Cold Wars. The Moties are certainly a fantastic contribution to the world or fiction. The first contact between man and aliens takes place and the rest of the fiction revolves around the secrets of the life of Moties, in their technological as well as the genetic reasons of their breeding, such as Motie species bread for specific reasons. Both the humans and the aliens, while meeting try to learn what they require form the other, but at the same time maintaining the secrets, there the diplomacy of both Moties and the human race. The theme is whether the Moties are a threat to the human race or whether they have learnt the secrets of the interstellar travel, a well known innovation of human scientists. While reading through both the stories it becomes quiet clear that both the fiction reflects a sort of threat face by human race in future, and one more notion would be that no one, either a human or an alien could become a ruler of his own thoughts. A shifgrethor, to say precisely in the words of Guin. In The Left Hand of Darkness, Genly Ai, and Estraven, are found to live as aliens in the planet called Gethen. Genly Ai, is portrayed as an envoy from earth, travels Gethen to find out their reply to join with the coordination of planets, what ever he narrates from his point of observation made in the unknown planet. The result structures the story on what are the studies he had made about the culture, gender roles and the customs of the population in the planet. As a result him mind travels through lot of ambiguities as to either he could accept the Gethens as aliens or human beings. Particularly the concept of shifgrethor, which means all are individuals and every one sustains their pride, prestige and relationship with others. This seems to be an innovative system not only for Ai but also for the readers too. Where as the myth is concerned, Ai and Estraven unfolds themselves unknowingly through every myth and legend that they learn form Gethen. The myth of the two brothers and the theme suggesting that love is forbidden and betrayed is reflected in the travel made by Ai and Estraven. The myth says that the two brothers lived loving each other, where one goes out for adventure the other remained at home, one of the twos life comes to an end until they give birth to a new , during the particular month where all the inhabitants become neutral in sex. At this instant the question of gender becomes irrelevant to Ai. But he realises slowly that the myth makes a meaning in his life too after he meets Estraven and develops a special sort of love towards him. As far as and Estraven are concerned they become neither or the two genders, but the personification and the adventurous travel they carry out reflects them more as males than the other sex. The love that develops between them is exactly that of same which the legendary brothers had, and her one point should also be mentioned that Estraven looks at Ai as a substitute of his own brother. So there chance of looking with the intuition of the other from other’s perception begins from here. Estraven visions through the eyes of Ai and Ai through Estroven’s. There lies the intervention of the myth in the miniaturized sense. He learns from Estraven that light of mind and speech possibly reflects the depth of sorrow in the same mind. Even the travel made by Ai through the ice landscape to discover what he had in mind undergoes lot of difficulties, because every setting created by Guin reflects white, so the possibilities of detecting wrinkles or cracks in such a place covered only by white snow. Ai undergoes a tough time to understand the mystery behind the land he travels, here the travel is compared with what he had understood form the planet of Gethen. The theme that light without darkness is nothingness, and reality becomes tricky to understand with, becomes the highlight of the scene. The theme that life becomes uncertain in the hands of love and sorrow is understood by Ai, only after the death of Estraven, who has been betrayed by Thessicher, the one Estraven trusted the most. The journey of Ai ends in a sorrowful way, leaving Ai behind analysing the real pain and sorrow, he was made to realize what could be real depth of sorrow, her too he meets the influence of the myth that he is living upto his individuality, the shifgrethor of Gethen’s belief. Estraven’s death is not exactly a suicide but the death eliminated to its intensity and intuition of love that existed between Ai and Estraven. The most important reason would be that Estraven substituted Ai in the place of his brother. On the whole it should be mentioned that death of one person does not require another but realization of love and sorrow in terms of its depth individually could give way for others to contemplate the death as a suicide. Coming to The Mote in God’s Eye, the first contact becomes a threat to the human race that the Moties might learn the secrets of the human community. The Moties are portrayed as innovative in scientific methods but they lack the knowledge of interstellar travel. The destruction of the cruiser Mac Arthur, due to the intuition that Motie could learn the secrets of the human beings seem to be unacceptable. In this sense it appears that Moties are more innovative than human, as human race readily commits disbelief towards their own community. Where as the inhabitants of alien land were characterised in such a way that they are breeders, having technical abilities to exemplify in every special breed they bring out. The population explosion seems to be unimaginable among the breeds of Moties. The empire of man suspects the intervention of alien ship sent from the Mote a star where aliens inhabit. They send two cruisers Mac Arthur and Lenin to invade the Moties before they come and learn the secrets of human techniques. The threat was that Moties are enormous in growing their breed or population they are miniature in size when compare to the human race, and another threat would be that if they learn the innovations of the human race they could control the Earth. But in actual when the war was rages against the Motie, the Mac Arthur is sent with Rob Blaine as the leading person provided he should not unfold the secrets to Moties. To supervise him Lenin, another cruiser is sent behind the former, when the Moties system is reached by Mac Arthur and hic crew, a battles starts in progress by the intrusion of the watch makers, another breed of Moties, they multiply in number enhances the threat to human race as a result Mac Arthur has been ordered to get destroyed before the Moties completely learn the secrets of human scientific innovative methods. The destruction of Mac Arthur seem to be unfit at this instant because of two reasons, one would be that it carried lot of scientists and crew men, and another would be the fluctuation shown in faith by the powerful human of the Empire, before they come to a conclusion that Moties had really known the secrets or not. This shows that human race seem to have mental blocks than the Moties, as they struggle to have constant belief in their own community. In other words the mental block is found in human than in the Moties as the human beings react in such a way that they never mind loosing their crew of men sailing inside the Mac Athur, when then question of revealing the interstellar secrets becomes threatening them. Where as the Moties are positively living through harmony and are multiplying in large numbers. Though the Moties may be a threat on one side they should be appreciated for their breeding into multiplicity to protect them from human race and learn innovative ideas. They do not seem to think of loosing their group like what men in Linen were planning about. Read More