The Left Hand of Darkness: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

Estraven’s cook wakes him in his home. There is a runner from the King’s house, who has a paper announcing his exile. Estraven had known this was coming, but did not know it was coming so soon. He is briefly overwhelmed, but gets in control of his emotions, and has packed and prepared to leave by the late morning.

Estraven writes to his old kemmering, Ashe, warning him not to contact him, and promising him some of his valuable belongings.

Estraven briefly considers returning home to his Hearth, but decides against it. He considers the three days he has left until his exile officially takes effect. Because he was given no warning before the notice was sent out, he knows no landboat or ship captain will dare to help him. Instead, he will walk to the Gulf separating Karhide from Orgoreyn.  

Estraven’s cook kindly left him food, so he is not hungry during his journey. He is reassured that one man, at least, doesn’t think him to be a traitor, and is surprised at how the label hurts him.

After three days of walking, Estraven arrives at the Gulf. At the gates is Ashe, his former kemmering, with whom he has two children. Although Ashe is now a Celibate Foreteller, the two still love one another.

Estraven wants to protect Ashe by driving him away, so he is purposefully cruel and bitter. Estraven accuses Ashe of breaking his vow, which Ashe denies breaking. Estraven then suggests it wasn’t a real vow, as he (Estraven) promised kemmering to another man (his brother Arek) who is now dead. Ashe, tearful, tries to give Estraven (whom he calls Therem) money, but Estraven will not take it, and walks away toward the harbor.

Estraven is concerned to see that the fishermen recognize him and will not rent out their boats to him. He sees that Tibe plans to keep him in Karhide for three days, after which his exile will truly begin, and he can be killed for a reward.

Estraven sits and thinks. He will have to take a boat to Orgoreyn, and will have to commit a crime to get a ship. He steals a rowboat, and begins to paddle out into the harbor. As he’s rowing, he is overcome by weakness and sickness. Two agents of Tibe, still on the shore, have shot him with a sonic gun on a lethal setting, a blast which would have killed him had he been in range. Although in pain, Estraven forces himself to keep rowing, knowing the agents will come after him in a motor boat to finish him off.   

After some time Estraven is pulled out of the water and onto a Karhidish patrol ship. Estraven is too weak to move or speak, but he can hear the captain arguing with someone. The captain insists Estraven’s exile hasn’t fully come into effect yet, and in response to radio commands from Tibe’s agents telling him to return to shore, the captain declares “The king exiled him, I’ll follow the king’s order, no lesser man’s.” Estraven doesn’t know why the man saves his life, but appreciates it.   

Estraven is dropped on the Orgota coast the next morning. He is weak but tries to walk toward the nearby town of Shelt. He collapses in the street, is found, and transported to a hospital some time later. Estraven had used dothe strength to row himself away from Tibe’s men, but had not sufficiently rested during the thangen phase, which led to his collapse and hospitalization. The doctor chastises him for putting himself in danger.  

After the doctor leaves, an Inspector comes to ask Estraven for his information. Estraven jokes that “behind every man in Orgoreyn comes the Inspector.” Estraven tells him he is from Karhide, but has lost his identification papers during his unconsciousness. He is briefly angry, and then laughs at the ridiculousness of his situation. The Inspector is angry, and thinks Estraven doesn’t understand the seriousness of his situation.

As an “indigent and unregistered alien” without papers, Estraven cannot return to Karhide, and the Inspector threatens to send him to a prison work camp. The physician recognizes Estraven’s name, and tells the inspector who he is—the former prime minister of Karhide. The Inspector, disappointed, softens slightly. No longer comfortable arresting him, he reminds Estraven he will have to apply for new papers and permanent residence in Orgoreyn where he can get a job and become a useful citizen. For the next few days, before Estraven is granted permanent residence, the physician keeps him in the hospital ward.

Five days later, Estraven sets out to Mishnory. He pays his way by working on a fresh-fish landboat. Once in Mishnory, Estraven continues to work with fish, even living in a boardinghouse called Fish Island. His work is smelly, but he likes working in a refrigerated room during the (relatively) warm summers.

Estraven spends his free time wandering the town, noting that although streetlights have been smashed by local residents, Inspectors patrol the area, depriving “poor men their one privacy, the night.” 

Later in the summer, an Alien Registry Law causes Estraven to lose his job. It takes him half a month to get reregistered, during which time he subsists off of fish stolen by his former coworkers. He likes these “hard loyal men,” but realizes they live in inescapable poverty, and he has political work to do which is impossible in the Fish Island. 

Estraven makes calls to some officials he knows in the Orgota government, who come the next day to collect him from his boarding house. Commensal Yegey takes Estraven in as his secretary, which makes him a dependent—a term he dislikes, but which is important to the label-obsessed Orgota. Estraven is made to wait for another month before he is finally allowed to meet with Yegey and Obsle, another Commensal.

Obsle and Yegey wonder how Estraven, known for his shifgrethor, was evicted from Karhide. Estraven explains that his fear of conflict in the Sinoth Valley outweighed his caution. Obsle wonders if Estraven liked “Karhide better than its king,” and Yegey suggests Estraven likes the Karhidish style of government more than the Orgata style, a more brutal and efficient regime favored by Tibe. Estraven confirms Yegey’s speculation.

Estraven confesses that he worries that if Karhide grows too powerful it will go to war with Orgoreyn. Obsle fears the same thing, as does Yegey. All three see the Sinoth Valley dispute as a potential catalyst for further conflict.

Obsle agrees the men must work together to prevent war, but first wants to know about the Envoy (through this Estraven infers Genly Ai has requested permission to enter Orgoreyn). Obsle waives shifgrethor and asks Estraven for the truth. Estraven confirms Ai is an alien being, not a man to be feared, but a man who can connect Gethen with the wider universe. Yegey is made uneasy by the idea of eighty extraterrestrial worlds, and Obsle is skeptical of a man sailing in on a spaceship. Estraven tells them that following Ai can lead Obsle to greatness. 

Estraven continues to praise Ai to the Commensals. He wonders, “How shall we deal with strangers, except as brothers?” and adds that if Ai “were one of us I should call him an honest man.” Estraven believes that terrestrial boundaries mean nothing in the face of extraterrestrial alliances. Yegey is convinced but Obsle remains skeptical. Estraven suggests letting them speak to Ai themselves. They admit he has requested permission to enter Orgoreyn.