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Bobbie Lewis
Molly Fenn
English
26 January, 2014
Love is an Open Door
The Left Hand of Darkness is a science fiction novel written by Ursula K. Le Guin. It
follows Genly Ai, a human from Earth in the future, who goes to another planet called Gethen to
convince the people there to join the Ekumen. The Ekumen are a unified society that combines
the different knowledges of worlds. Throughout this book Genly Ai is found constantly trying to
convince people of his credibility and is perpetually avoiding the only person who believes him.
Coincidentally and, to be honest, a bit predictably, he ends up caring for this character very
much.
Throughout the book you get a lot of different themes: Political themes are strewn
around, about how corruption is found in even the most unbiased of places. When Genly Ai went
to Orgoreyn he found himself imprisoned and abused only because of the fear of the political
leaders. This theme is very apparent in the scene where he is stuffed into a truck with
uncomplaining, unhopeful people of Orgoreyn (Le Guin, 180). They were people who had done
something to threaten the government and, instead of fixing it, government officials decided to
sweep it under the rug. The clichd theme of not everything is as it seems subtly wedged itself
into the plot when Esraven turned out to be the good guy and everyone else was against Genly Ai
from the beginning. Genly Ai repeatedly ignored Estravens advice, but realized how wrong he
was when betrayed by Orgoreyn officials. The most frequent theme was ice. The planet was
called Winter, and was covered in ice and glaciers, and the whole cast of characters were

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regularly freezing. Just touching this book will make you cold with the authors obsession of
snow and subzero temperatures. To be perfectly candid, the only warm part about this book, and
coincidentally, the best and main theme was the thought that love comes in all shapes and
forms, shown in the two main characters friendship.
This idea reminded me of a movie with a similar theme. Although the genres are
different, the book The Left Hand of Darkness and the animated Disney movie Frozen are
extremely analogous. Sure, one is a complicated piece of literature that questions societies
sexuality and norms while the other is a childrens movie that sings about what's happening at
that current moment, but they both understand the same concept. The Left Hand of Darkness and
Frozen seem to grasp the fact that true love is a pure quality and cannot be limited by
romanticized norms.
One would expect a romantic and sexual relationship between the two characters-Genly
Ai and Estraven- due to the breeding habits of Gethenians. This is very much inferred and hinted
during the time they spend together traveling to Karhide. During the trip Estraven goes through
Kemmer, becoming a woman, and is very sexually turned on, for lack of a better term. Oddly,
this is how their friendship grew. During this rather awkward moment, Genly Ai realizes that
[from the] sexual tension between [them], admitted now and understood, but not assuaged, great
and sudden assurance friendship between [them] rose (Le Guin 267). The differences and
tension between them strengthened their friendship. They were so different in their culture,
sexuality and personalities. They accepted each others alien qualities when no one else would.
They opened up to each other: Estraven spoke about his past and beliefs while Genly learned to
trust him and taught him Mindspeak (where people telepathically communicate to each other). In
their exile they learned to not only rely on each other, but to love each other. Not in the way you

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would expect- romantically- but in true friendship. Their whole relationship represented the
theme that love cannot be limited to only romantic thoughts. Love is much more than than
relationships and sexuality; it is found everywhere.
In Frozen, the statement is the same, but the story is very different. Its story plot is about
a queen and a princess; Queen Elsa is struggling with keeping her magical ice powers a secret
while her sister, Anna, is a lonely princess that just wants attention from her. Once the word gets
out that the Queen has magical abilities, she runs, Anna running after her. After many life
threatening events, Anna finally finds Elsa, only to get ice shot into her heart (not physical ice,
just magic that affects her body). She learns that the only way to keep herself from freezing into
an ice sculpture is an act of true love. The prophecy states, An act of true love will thaw a
frozen heart (Frozen). Her first thought, of course, is to go off to her romantic interest for a true
love's kiss. But when her romantic interest is unavailable, she searches for another act of love,
but runs out of time. She's close to becoming another ice decor for her kingdom when her sister
is in grave danger. Her last act alive is to sacrifice herself for Elsa. Coincidentally, that also
becomes her act of true love.

ELSA
...You sacrificed yourself for me?
ANNA
(weak)
...I love you. (Frozen).
Even as a member of the audience I was surprised at the plot twist that "true love"
automatically meant "romantic love." In media, especially with Disney, we are continually
shown that true love connotates romantic love. Popular movies such as Beauty and the Beast,

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Cinderella and The Princess and the Frog (all from different time eras), had the element of true
love breaking a curse. None of these movies were left without a romantic solution. If there ever
is a challenge that must be corrected with true love its almost always romantic. The irony of
limiting love is that it is one of the most limitless aspects of our lives. According to the
dictionary, love literally means "a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a
parent, child, or friend" (love). So how did our idea of love get so monomaniacal? Not to say that
romantic love is the wrong way to think of it. Just the fact that it seems to be the only way we
think of it. It boggles my mind to realize that the word "love" is a limited idea in my own mind.
Love is not one thing, it is many things: complicated, beautiful and infinite.
Frozen shows that true love is pure between family and The Left Hand of Darkness
shows that true love can be found within friendships. They both force the audience into thinking
about love in only one way then reveal that all the romantic hints were a trick. That the love they
were seeing was not what they thought it was. Genly Ai and Estraven hinted that they would
have sexual relations during the time that Estraven was in Kemmer and tensions were high. But
instead, they took that time to get to know each other and truly start to care for each other.
Instead, they became friends and only friends. Anna had wanted to break her curse by having a
true loves kiss, but she, like the audience, realized that an act of love would not have to be
something as clich as that. Although a true act of love could be less dramatic than saving
someones life, the movie got the point across.
The Left Hand of Darkness found a way to make me feel the need to sleep every other
sentence and the need to thaw the pages over a fire. She talked about ice so much my fingers got
frost bite from turning the pages. Her writing had such complicated, running sentences that youd
have to reread it a few times to understand. In fact, the actual plot line did not hold my attention

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until the very end. Then once it got really interesting, she cut me off and ended the book. All I
wanted was the book to end so I would know what would become of our beloved alien(s).
Needless to say, its about the journey, not the destination did not apply to me. Despite my
animosity towards The Left Hand of Darkness, the moral of the story has a very strong scheme.
The fact that Estraven and Genly Ai did not form a romantic relationship together was probably
best. It made me think of all the media that continues to push the idea of romantic love as the
only kind of "true" love. Both Frozen and The Left Hand of Darkness promote the concept of
"love is love." Love should never be something we put limits to and constrain within our
thoughts of how it should be.

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Works Cited
Frozen. Dir. Jennifer Lee. Perf. Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, and Josh Grad. N.p., 23 Sept. 2013.
Web. <http://waltdisneystudiosawards.com/downloads/frozen-screenplay.pdf>
K., Le Guin Ursula. The Left Hand of Darkness. New York: Ace, 1976. Print.
"Love." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/love>.