How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Or, like Tumass Song Angot, did [the Hainish] consider war to be a purely masculine displacement-activity, a vast Rape, and therefore in their experiment eliminate the masculinity that rapes and the femininity that is raped? (7.22)
The Hainish experiment here leads to a thought experiment of our own: is war a man-only exercise? It's not pretty to think about, but sexual violence has historically been a key element of warfare. (And sadly still is, in some parts of the world.) Just one more thing to consider.
Quote #8
Of course there is no veneer, the process is one of growth, and primitiveness and civilization are degrees of the same thing. If civilization has an opposite, it is war. (8.11)
Is there any better definition for war than that?
Quote #9
[Edondurath] saw the others stirring and awakening, and was afraid of them when they moved, so he killed one after another with a blow of his fist. Thirty-sex of them he killed. (17.5)
Okay, this is odd. The whole book they say the Gethen have no concept of war. But, here, a well-known creation story has Edondurath killing everyone around him. Gee, that sounds a lot like war.