Beyond He and She: Gender and Its Transformation in Selected Works by Ursula K. Le Guin

The aim of this thesis is to examine the changing portrayal of gender and its significance in Ursula K. Le Guin's fiction. Two books are analysed closely: one of her most well-known novels The Left Hand of Darkness and her collection of five novellas Five Ways to Forgiveness, published later in her career. The thesis first shortly introduces women writing in the context of science fiction. Then the two books are addressed closely with the focus on the depiction of gender, its fluidity and its relation to social structures and patriarchal traditions. First book to be analysed is The Left Hand of Darkness. The thesis focuses on the character Genly Ai and his role as an envoy of the Ekumen and as a narrator. Le Guin's choice to use masculine pronouns and present Gethenians as heterosexuals is discussed alongside her own critical essays and her later change of these choices in her short story "Coming of Age in Karhide." Lastly the first chapter also examines how child-rearing is presented in the novel and in the short story. The second chapter is dedicated to the collection Five Ways to Forgiveness. The planets Werel and Yeowe, where the five novellas take place, and the social structures on these planets are described. Then the position of women on these planets is addressed using the extensive notes...