Estraven = the Bad Guy…?

During the first half of The Left Hand of Darkness, I pictured Estraven as the traitor and the bad guy. However, my viewpoint of him changed drastically after reading Chapter 14. The first sentence of Chapter 14 (written from Estraven’s viewpoint) really got me thinking about if he was truly the bad guy in the book. Page 185:

“When Oble and Yegey both left town, and Slose’s doorkeeper refused me entrance, I knew it was time to turn to my enemies, for there was no more good in my friends.”

As I was reading further into the chapter, I was thinking, ‘What in the world is he going to do?’ And then I realized that Estraven is going to bail Genly out of the Pulefin Farm. Then I thought, ‘Hey Estraven may not be such a bad guy afterwhile’. During this chapter, Estraven pretended to be a guard and acted like Genly was dead to take him outside where he then took Genly away from the Farm. The whole time while I was reading this scene, I was thinking to myself, ‘this guy spent most of his money and time to save Genly and HE’S being called Estraven the Traitor. That is crazy!’ Just think about it, a person that many of the Gethenians called a traitor and Genly, himself, never fully trusted Estraven, just broke him out of jail and saved his life.

 So, maybe the next time you met someone named ________(insert name) the Traitor, you might think twice about NOT trusting him/her. They could help you plan your jailbreak.