Dawn, written in 1987 by Nebula and Hugo award-winning author Octavia E. Butler, chronicles the journey of Lilith Iyapo as she negotiates post-war Earth and her new existence among the Oankali. A group of humanity must be led by Lilith back to Earth, so they can learn how to live in their new normal.
Dawn is divided into the “Womb,” “Family,” “Nursery,” and “The Training Floor” portions. The truth comes out gradually. And the same inquiries are made. Then, although they behave decently, she is visited by humanoid creatures whose appearance terrifies her. She discovers that the Earth is no longer habitable as a result of the nuclear war.
1. “In a very real sense, she was an experimental animal. Not a pet.”-Narrator
This quote is spoken by the narrator in part as “family”, and in this quote, Lilith discovers that she is not seen as an equal by the Oankali as she starts to live among them. She realizes this the most when Nikanj takes her out to introduce her to its pals, who touch and prod her without her consent and request that she remove her clothing through Nikanj.
We see, that she initially feels like Nikanj’s pet as a result of this experience, but she subsequently comes to understand that her relationship with the Oankali is more like that of an “experimental animal” than a pet. Her independence is taken away by the Oankali so that she will follow their instructions. They want her to procreate and bring a new hybrid race of half-human, half-Oankali beings to Earth.
Read Ahead…
Lilith is powerless over the situation. She is being compelled to do something that will “advance” the existence of “humanity,” similar to how we push nearly extinct animals to procreate in zoos. She has no voice in this situation; she is as helpless as a speechless experimental animal.
Lilith recognizes the similarities between her situation and those of other animals that have been forced to procreate in captivity in the past as she worries about what will happen to her at the hands of the Oankali. Humans have treated captive breeders in this way, she observes, “all for a higher good, of course” (58). The “greater good” that drove humanity was to prevent the extinction of some species on Earth.
Genetic engineering and the interchange of genetic materials with humans are the Oankali’s “higher good.” In the name of their “greater good,” they will aid in the demise of the human race.
2. “You’ll have a daughter,” it said. “And you are ready to be her mother. You could never have said so. Just as Joseph could never have invited me into his bed—no matter how much he wanted me there. Nothing about you but words reject this child.”
“But it won’t be human,” she whispered. “It will be a thing. A monster.” -Nikanj and Lilith
This quotation is said by Nikanj and Lilith in part “Training Floor”. Lilith was impregnated by it without her awareness, according to Nikanj, who recently told her. The child is a mix-up made up of both humans and Oankali. Although Lilith finds the idea of this growing inside of her repulsive, Nikanj insists that she genuinely wants the child. Here, the central subject of consent is resolved.
Lilith didn’t express verbal consent to getting pregnant, but Nikanj read “signals” from her body and assumed she did. By repeating that Lilith does not actually have a choice in the situation, it emphasizes the influence it has over her: The novel comes to a terrifying conclusion with this realization. Lilith has clung to the belief that at some point after the humans arrive on Earth, they would be able to flee the Oankali throughout Dawn.
They could reconstruct humanity there. But Nikanj has just told Lilith that the Oankali has sterilized the humans, along with the news that she is expecting. Without Oankali’s help, they are no longer capable of reproduction. Additionally, they find each other’s touch repulsive, making it very impossible for them to attempt reproduction without the ooloi. Lilith is aware that this signals the end of humanity.
3. “And in spite of all that,” Lilith said, facing Tate, “I’m a prisoner just as you are.” “More like a trustee,” Tate said quietly. -Lilith and Tale
Tate is the first additional human that Lilith has awakened in this quote. Take is initially suspicious of and hostile toward Lilith when she awakens. She trembles as she observes Lilith force Tate’s hiding place against the wall and closes the plant. Lilith attempts to explain in the text above that despite her enormous strength, Tate and she are in a similar predicament. In order to highlight their lack of autonomy on board the Oankali ship, she refers to them as “prisoners.”
Tate is less certain that she and Lilith are on an equal footing after witnessing Lilith manipulate the ship with her own hands.
In her response, she suggests that Lilith is more like a “trustee,” operating on behalf of the Oankali. Lilith is a prisoner, and she has very little agency, so Tate and Lilith’s claims are both correct in a certain sense. She has no choice but to follow the Oankali’s instructions. Despite this, she has adapted to the Oankali way of life and is now working with them to subjugate the other humans. Though she lacks total authority, she nevertheless has more power than the other humans who will Awaken.
4. “He stared at her for several seconds, and she feared him and pitied him and longed to be away from him. The first human being she has seen in years, and all she could do was long to be away from him.” -Lilith
This statement was made by Lilith under the Family section. Lilith is thrilled at the prospect of seeing another person before she meets Paul Titus. Except for the young kid who shares her cell with her, Sharad, she has not seen or spoken to another human in 250 years. She is practically in amazement when she finally sees him: A person, clean-shaven, tall, stocky, and as dark as she was.
At first, he appeared unusual to her, alien and strange, yet familiar and fascinating. He was gorgeous. And he would have been lovely even if he had been crooked and elderly.
Unfortunately, Lilith and Paul Titus’ encounter is a complete disaster. His Oankali relatives had assured him that Lilith would “pair” with him. And he approaches her and strikes her when she declines his advances. He fully means to do the sexual act without her permission. To convince him to quit, Lilith must fight him off and prod him. She eventually has her wrist broken by him.
Paul had decided to stay on the Oankali ship rather than remain on Earth, but it is obvious that a lifetime spent interacting with the Oankali has left him with significant psychological wounds. He is aware that the Oankali has used his DNA to mate with other people and procreate. And he technically has more than 70 children, all of whom he has never met.
He has a primal dread that the Oankali has mated his mother and sister using his DNA, which Lilith taps on when he fights her. But he has undergone changes as the Oankali ship has changed Lilith. He is now less sympathetic and more inclined to hurt and harass Lilith sexually. Throughout Dawn, human males violently assault human females and one another, leaving us to question what Butler’s point is.
5. “You’re filled with so much life and death and potential for change,” Nikanj continued. “I understand why some people took so long to get over their fear of your kind.”-Nikanj
When Lilith wakes up after a procedure conducted on her brain, Nikanj is communicating with her. Before now, Nikanj has been pleading with Lilith to allow it to do the treatment and has forewarned her that its parent, Kahguyaht, will “surprise” her with it. After the treatment, Lilith gains superhuman talents, including a sharpened memory and the ability to speak Oankali fluently.
The Oankali execute a variety of transformational techniques on Lilith. These changes will lead to conflict between Lilith and the Awakened humans in the upcoming chapter of the book, “Nursery,” as some of them find it difficult to accept her as “one of them.” More background on how the Oankali view humans are provided in the section above. Humanity is one of the smartest species the Oankali have ever encountered, and they believe it is worthy of gene trading, as Jdhaya informs Lilith in “Womb.”
They appear unconcerned, meanwhile, about the fact that they are enslaving people and depriving those under their “care” of the right to bodily autonomy or a say in their own lives. Additionally, colonizing Earth, the Oankali oversee human relationships with their home world. They appear to be both fascinated and repulsed by humanity. The Oankali respond violently and intensely to people.
Human nature is one of Dawn author Butler’s major concerns. The Oankali repeatedly emphasize that humanity’s genetic makeup is defective. They are intelligent, but they are hierarchical, which leads to contradictions. They are self-destructive while having tremendous talent.
6. “You’ll begin again. We’ll put you in areas that are clean of radioactivity and history. You will become something other than you were.”- Jdaya
Jdhaya describes to Lilith what will happen to her and the rest of humanity as a result of Oankali’s intervention in their lives in this quotation. After a devastating nuclear war that largely wiped out the human species, the Oankali scooped up the last few survivors. On the Oankali spacecraft, which is currently orbiting the Earth, the majority of those people are currently sedated. The Oankali guard people’s health while they are asleep and will alter their genetic makeup if they think it would increase their lifespan. It was Lilith who experienced this. Her family history contributed to her hereditary susceptibility to cancer.
Whats more…
Humans will receive the equipment they need to survive in this new environment from the Oankali. But mankind is not coming back to Earth in the same form as it left. They’ll come back with their genetic makeup altered by the Oankali while they sleep. The future generation on Earth will be made up of offspring that are half-human and half-Oankali, which will be carried by human women. In a way, this genetic mingling will cause humankind to utterly disappear.
The Oankali view Jdhaya’s declaration that Lilith and the rest of humanity will “become something else than you were” as a blessing. Lilith, however, is horrified by this notion. She and the other humans on board the Oankali ship are not prepared for humanity to be fully wiped out. She is already travelling down that path, though, whether or not she wants to, because of what the Oankali did to her body while she slept.
7. “Yes. It would have. And your people were in the same position. If they had been able to perceive and solve their problem, they might have been able to avoid destruction. And, they too would have to remember to reexamine themselves periodically.”-Lilith and Jdhaya
In this passage, Jdhaya explains to Lilith how human nature has inherent contradictions that led to nuclear war and its eventual destruction. Jdhaya and the other Oankali believe that humanity is inherently predisposed to two conflicting traits. They are intelligent, to start. Humanity, according to Jdhaya, is possibly one of the most intelligent creatures they have come across in Oankali history. They are also hierarchical, second. This second trait is what hinders human progress as a species and produces conflicts within the species.
Jdhaya claims that if humanity had been able to identify their issue, they could have been able to prevent the nuclear conflict that ended their existence. Butler’s Dawn might serve as a warning to mankind. Butler might interpret this series as a cautionary tale for people not to rush headlong into their own obliteration. She likely had this in mind when writing this text because it was written during the Reagan era when there was a real possibility of a nuclear war breaking out on a worldwide scale. Particularly, those who possess “greater” power—male humans and physically larger women—can rule over others who possess “less” power.
8. “He brought her something that so surprised and delighted her that she took it from his hand without thought or hesitation: A banana, fully ripe, large, yellow, firm, very sweet.”- Onakali
Since being saved by the Oankali, Lilith hasn’t eaten anything but a bland, grey stew. She is so delighted when Jdahya presents her with a ripe banana as a surprise. The first good thing Lilith has experienced since Awakening this time is tasting something familiar and reminiscent of home. It also denotes the first occasion that Lilith can approach Jdahya without feeling repulsed or terrified.
9. “Lilith hesitated, then put Leah’s folder atop Victor’s. Leah, too, sounded like a good potential ally but not a good one to Awaken first. She sounded as though she could be an intensely loyal friend—unless she got the idea Lilith was one of her captors. The Oankali had given the information, increased physical strength, enhanced memory, and an ability to control the walls and the suspended animation plants. And every one of them would make her seem less human.”- Narrator
This quote first appears in “Nursery” as Lilith is going through the files the Oankali have given her. The Oankali won’t let Lilith or the new humans leave the room until she has finished her duty of Awakening forty of these humans. Lilith has doubts from the start because she is concerned that the individuals she would Awaken may mistakenly identify her as an Oankali. It turns out that her fear that she will be classed with the “them” rather than the “us”- as justified. The humans will split into two distinct tribes as the story goes on. There will be others who, with Curt at the head, think they can defeat the Oankali. They think she serves the Oankali as a tool. The second group of humanity, commanded by Lilith, thinks that in order to survive, they must yield to Oankali wishes.
10. “You are potentially one of the most intelligent species we’ve found…You are hierarchical…When human intelligence served it instead of guiding it when human intelligence did not acknowledge it as a problem… That seemed like ignoring cancer.”- Jdahya
Jdahya reveals to Lilith that the two major human qualities of hierarchy and intelligence were a deadly mix that caused the extinction of the species. This quotation demonstrates how Jdahya believed that human civilization was destroyed from the inside out, like cancer, with the help of human intelligence, due to the natural predisposition toward hierarchical thought and action.