Can someone help me understand something about "The Left Hand of Darkness?"
In the beginning of the book, there’s a miscommunication between Estraven and the protagonist about a complication in the way of the protagonist’s mission, and the protagonist starts to suspect that Estraven has been using him in some power struggle the whole time. It all sets up this tragic story with a very moving scene involving Estraven near the end.
The problem is that re-reading the book (and I remember feeling this way the first time I read it, to be honest), I find that even when I take the miscommunication into account, Estraven's intentions seem sincere to me. Even if you’re not familiar with the culture, you wouldn’t hear what he says and attribute ulterior motives or foul play to him. I get that the protagonist feels like Estraven was sorta leading him on for a period of time, but at worst it feels more like a “Dude, you kinda blew it” thing than a “You were using me this whole time” thing.
Is there something I’m missing here? Can someone explain this to me?
https://redd.it/hu9eys
@r_books
In the beginning of the book, there’s a miscommunication between Estraven and the protagonist about a complication in the way of the protagonist’s mission, and the protagonist starts to suspect that Estraven has been using him in some power struggle the whole time. It all sets up this tragic story with a very moving scene involving Estraven near the end.
The problem is that re-reading the book (and I remember feeling this way the first time I read it, to be honest), I find that even when I take the miscommunication into account, Estraven's intentions seem sincere to me. Even if you’re not familiar with the culture, you wouldn’t hear what he says and attribute ulterior motives or foul play to him. I get that the protagonist feels like Estraven was sorta leading him on for a period of time, but at worst it feels more like a “Dude, you kinda blew it” thing than a “You were using me this whole time” thing.
Is there something I’m missing here? Can someone explain this to me?
https://redd.it/hu9eys
@r_books