Le Guin insists that androgyny is not the main theme of [The Left Hand of Darkness], the main theme being rather that of fidelity and betrayal. But, quite apart from the instantaneous response that the idea of the androgyne evokes in the reader's imagination, there has to be a reason, and a reason that makes good sense in creative terms, for using the androgyne as a term of reference for the discussion of fidelity and betrayal. The androgyne, simply by being presented as existing, looks to the trusting and warm-hearted reader like the answer to a question, and that answer looms so large that the theme of fidelity and betrayal tends to get pushed a little to one side. If one thinks about the androgyne for a long time and investigates the full implications of The Left Hand of Darkness, the theme of fidelity and betrayal does, in fact, have importance….
The androgyne looks to a lot of us like an answer. But, as the saying goes, "What is the question?" This whole issue of questions and answers is so important to Ursula Le Guin that she makes it a central feature of the Handdara, a mystical cult she has invented so that her androgynes can have a religion…. (p. 57)
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