In The Left Hand of Darkness, The Ekumen have been trying, for what seems to be a long time, to persuade the planet Gethen to join them. When the king of one nation on the planet, Karhide, is asked to join, he declines with a strong dislike of the representative. Although the reasons for joining the community are far better than the reasons for declining, the society of Karhide does not work the same way as the other planets' societies do. This brings up the argument over if Karhide's king made the right choice for his kingdom, even though they might learn new and exciting things and gain more knowledge than before. Many people have said that the King was foolish to decline, but I disagree. I think Argaven was correct in his decision to decline, because their monarchy might fall, and it might provoke the other nations on Gethen.
Monarchies are very delicate government systems, destroyed by the slightest rumor against the person in power. Out of the three, Karhide is the only one whose government system is a monarchy. The perfect Monarch has total control over his kingdom and has the love and respect of their citizens. However, the king, Argaven, seems to have only the image of power, and is only a placeholder. His status as king seems to be similar to the position that the queen of England. This perfect image would most likely crumble quickly if Argaven had agreed to join the Ekumen, which includes 80 other planets and 3,000 nations. It's already obvious that the Ekumen are a very big group. The group only trades ideas, physical supplies, and lets other species learn about the different cultures on different planets, but seems at a first glance like a large, united nation or collective.. Monarchs are a step below gods, and citizens would react badly to having their all powerful leader being shadowed by an 80-planeted collective. Many other people in power would disagree with the King, and with the power that those two groups of people have, they could begin a revolution.
Of course, a revolution would take much longer than the French or American revolutions of Earth. The Gethenians have evolved on an ice cold planet with long winters, where liquids would freeze over within a minute left alone. Even in the summer and other seasons, the temperatures usually stay below freezing. When something cools down, it moves slower, and this is no exception for Gethenian society. In chapter 5 of The Left Hand of Darkness Genly asks a driver why a cargo car isn’t going faster, and he says, “The people of winter feel that progress is less important than presence” (52). This society that has evolved in the slow manner would not take kindly to a swift change, and so much new knowledge or technology. The age of Invention has been happening in the nation for almost 3000 years, but the Karhidans still use fireplaces and lamps to heat and light their homes. Genly’s argument about obtaining new knowledge and trading materials makes sense to me, but wouldn’t make sense to the king, or anyone else who lives in Karhide.
The improvement might not be so good if the other nations on Gethen feel threatened. This would be something that has never happened before, because in Karhidish there’s no word that translates into “war” in english. There must have been some kind of disagreement between the nations, because there are words that mean skirmish or battle. Tensions between Karhide and Orgoreyn are already high because of a border dispute, and suddenly joining the Ekumen might cause a battle or war. Genly says in his attempt at persuasion that “The nearest [planet] to Gethen is a seventeen year’s journey in ships that go light speed,” and that “trade, however, is worthwhile” (36). There might be some agreement that this is a good thing, but I can agree with Argaven if he thinks that the statements are contradictory. Because of relative time, the seventeen year journey from the nearest planet to Gethen -in a ship that is traveling very close to light speed- is only thirty six hours. I can imagine the king thinking how easy it would be to send troops to take over the planet, rather than trading actual supplies. This would then cause a retaliation by Orgoreyn.
Regardless of the kings decision, Genly’s arguments are very logical and would vastly improve the lives of the people of Karhide, if they chose to take advantage of the new ideas and technologies. Strangely enough, I also agree with the king’s decision, even if I’d personally agree to the offer of joining the Ekumen. If I were trying to persuade the king to join the Ekumen, I would have taken longer and slowly introduced the topics to him one at a time; Having all of that information presented would make me concerned for my safety, too. With so many things to think about, I can’t help to wonder if Orgoreyn is similar to Karhide, or if Genly will have to try different tactics to get them to join the Ekumen.