I say "superficially" because this book really has nothing to do with any of those things at all. They are merely the framework that Le Guin uses to arrange the true story upon.

The Hainish people, Ai's people, are human as we would recognize them. Le Guin's future universe is populated by the Hainish and non-Hainish, and her best work is typically a story of what happens when Hainish ambassadors go into the field -- become "Mobiles" -- as first contacts to non-Hainish worlds. The Left Hand of Darkness is no exception. The true story is how the experience of immersion in a wholly different culture transforms the Mobile.

Le Guin's worlds are intricately drawn and usually radically different from our own. Gethen, or, as the natives call it, Winter, is an aptly named frigid planet which endures 1

For along with all this philosophical and sociological debate, there is quite a bit of plot and action. The two do not sit around discussing politics forever, although at first it might seem that way. The pacing of the story allows us to absorb details about Winter's culture without feeling rushed, but also without becoming bogged down. The story draws you along, and once past any initial hesitations, it moves at quite an appropriate pace.

It is a classic tale, two opposing characters forced to work together for their survival or enrichment. Estraven was a powerful man and has much knowledge, but in the end the two men must rely on each other through severe physical hardship. Except that Estraven isn't a man, and that causes no end of headaches, and perhaps some heartache, too, for Ai, as he tries to truly understand what it means, to be neither one thing nor the other, most of the time.

Some topics in this essay:
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