Sunday, September 4, 2011

Darkness...

More on The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin.

SPOILERS

 "So that the intimacy of mind established between us was a bond, indeed, but an obscure and austere one, not so much admitting further light (as I had expected it to) as showing the extent of the darkness" (255).

Sometimes you expect something to enlighten you, but it doesn't.

Unshadow -- pgs 260-67

I might want to examine this more closely later, but the gist of it is that you can't see anything if there aren't any shadows.

"Fear's very useful. Like darkness; like shadows" (267).

I'm not sure if Therem is comparing fear to shadows here. Both subjects were already under discussion.

"It is yin and yang. Light is the left hand of darkness . . . how did it go? Light, dark. Fear, courage. Cold, warmth. Female, male. It is yourself, Therem. Both and one. A shadow on snow" (267).

Emphasizing duality.

"Through the opened door-valve the sky's brightness shone. It lightened the heart, though we were too rundown to be able to show our relief in alacrity or zest of movement" (268).

So, light can be lightening on the spirit, or heart.

"Is that a light?" (271)

The end of their journey across the ice is signaled by a light.

" 'It's well known that honorable men come to be outlawed, yet their shadow does not shrink,' [. . . .] The king shortens no man's shadow, though he may try,' " (273).

Discussion of honor and shifgrethor, I think. But they talk about it in terms of shadows, and shadows cast.

"I remember him standing there in the shadows of the firelit room [. . . .] his face was burned by cold almost as by fire. He was a dark, hard, and yet elusive figure int eh quick, restless light" (274).

The play of dark against the light...reminds me of the volcanoes, almost. Hmm...

"[...] from the sulphurous fire and dark of the pass between Drummer and Dremegole [. . . .] of the shadowless weather, of the night's darkness. I listened as fascinated as all the rest, my gaze on my friend's dark face" (276).

He's not able to describe the journey without talking about light and dark. And again, he describes Therem as dark.

I would love to hear Therem tell the story. Just the description of his story telling sounds fantastic.

"It had come on to snow hard, and I had to spend the night in town, not knowing the roads well enough to want to set off on them in the snow and dark" (281).

 ...

"A sunlit sky, a white world, and we two strokes of shadow on it, fleeing" (282).

Not sure what to make of this.

"You'll have to wait till dark, Therem" (282).

Not safe to cross the border in the light.

"The darkness seemed to take forever coming on. In the late blue twilight we left the dell and went creeping behind trees and bushes over the hill till we could make out the line of the border-fence, a few dim dots along the pallid snow. No lights, nothing moved, no sound" (283).

Again, not sure what to say about this.

"I think they shouted warnings or orders to halt, and a light sprang up somewhere [...]" (284).

Not sure what to say, again.

"[...] I going to prison and he into the dark" (284).

So, death is also darkness!

"Some shadows got shorter and some longer, as they say in Karhide" (288).

Shifgrethor.

"I was met by a person in a white heib [...]" (289).

Faxe! Again, dressed in light. Sorta.

"I sat down across the hearth from Argaven, and saw his face in the light of the flames" (291).

Huh...so his Argaven's face light, or dark?

"On the screens, coming in, the crew must have seen the terminator lying clear across the Great Continent along the border [. . .] for it was twilight when we, looking up, saw the one star descending" (295).

Not sure what to make of this. It looks like the coming of the Ekumen brings balance between light and dark?

"From the lakeshore looking up southward at hte hills I saw a light I knew: the blink, the white suffusion of the sky, the glare of the glacier lying high beyond. The Ice was there" (298).

Not sure what to say. But it reminds me of the light they saw when they finally found people when getting off of the ice.

"But the young one with a sudden movement came out of the shadows into the light between the window and the fire, a bleak uneasy light, and he spoke harshly [...]" (300).

Not sure what to say here.

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