The Left Hand of Darknesshas a narrative invention for helping your brain suspend its tendency to judge.
“How does one hate a country, or love one? Tibe talks about it; I lack the trick of it. I know people, I know towns, farms, hills and rivers and rocks, I know how the sun at sunset in autumn falls on the side of a certain plowland in the hills; but what is the sense of giving a boundary to all that, of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply? What is love of one's country; is it hate of one's uncountry?"
Do you feel it?
The novel consistently calls into question what the narrator thinks they know. We, as readers, can only follow their lead: never resting in judgement, but continually gathering information and recalibrating what we think might be true.
You can learn more about Le Guin and the narrative techniques that help suspend judgement in chapter 21 of Wonderworks.
Imagine it: Washington DC, 1935. Fascism is breaking out in Europe. Democracy feels fragile. You occupy a unique position within the White House's inner circle— the only people who really know what's happening.
If you chose C, congrats! You have the kind of common sense to be the next Eleanor Roosevelt.
Commonsense is your ability to match the newness of your plan to the newness of your environment. In Roosevelt's case, the environment was very new. Her husband was up for re-election, democracy was under threat and war was looming in Europe. The country needed a new kind of First Lady.
In 1935, Roosevelt started My Day, a nationally syndicated daily newspaper column that welcomed readers right into the heart of the White House— peppering behind-the-scenes looks at reforms like the New Deal, civil rights, and domestic and foreign policy with details from her personal life.
Within a few years, Roosevelt had more than 4 million daily readers. She continued the column for nearly thirty years— confiding in her readers on hot-button topics as if they were her most trusted advisors.
What did you just do?
These prompts help you:
— identify emerging possibilities.
— develop your true EQ (hint: it's knowing what you feel, not deducing what someone else does).
— boost your commonsense so you get better at matching your course of action to the degree of volatility in your environment.
Missed an issue? They're all available in our archive.
