Different kinds of Inspectors appear throughout the novel. All of them, however, have the same kind of job. They are police, border agents, security officers, and law enforcers, committed to making sure everyone in Orgoreyn has their papers in order, and is in the place they are supposed to be.
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Inspectors Term Timeline in The Left Hand of Darkness
The timeline below shows where the term Inspectors appears in The Left Hand of Darkness. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6
After the doctor leaves, an Inspector comes to ask Estraven for his information. Estraven jokes that “behind every man in Orgoreyn...
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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...
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...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.”
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Chapter 8
At the border, the Karhidish bridge-keeper happily lets Ai cross, whereas the Orgota Inspector reviews his documents for hours. His passport is eventually taken for further inspection and Ai...
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...known, recognized.” He is taken to the Local Commensal Farm Centrality, which is filled with Inspectors who recognize him not as the Envoy, but as a “distinguished person.” They help get...
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Chapter 10
...translates to sarf. They act as a secret police force, and control some of the Inspectors. Ai finds this idea sinister. He wonders what Gaum’s end goal is.
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Chapter 15
...across the glacier for six hundred miles, then southeast. They’ll stay off roads and avoid Inspectors. It is a plan Ai admits is both “practical” and “insane.” It seems impossible to...
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Chapter 19
...ski to the border, where they hide and watch guards, who Estraven assumes are Tibe’s Inspectors, patrol.
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