Dawn

This week we were focusing on diversity in science fiction authors. I read Dawn by Octavia Butler and found it incredibly entertaining. It kept my attention and interest, making me care about the characters and relate to their struggles. It also deals with concepts that have always peaked my imagination.

In this story, we are introduced to Lilith - one of the few surviving humans of a terrible nuclear holocaust. She is awakened 250 years after the events that destroyed life on planet Earth by a race of aliens claiming their desire to repopulate the Earth with humans. Because of their extremely different appearance, Lilith is both repelled and distrustful of her benefactors. I found this reaction to be what I typically expect most humans to do upon meeting an extraterrestrial species. Keeping in mind that the author is black and has likely experienced prejudice based on nothing more than her appearance, I found this interaction particularly honest in its approach.

One of the things that was so fascinating about this book was Lilith's slow build to trust the Oankali - the aliens that saved her. The more she gets to know the Oankali, the more she starts to realize that they are inherently more honest than humans are capable of. There are, of course, setbacks in the building of trust. Especially when she learns that there is a price to be paid for returning to Earth. She learns that their species are "traders" in genetic biodiversity. They assimilate desired genetic traits from other species into their own in order to increase their chances of survivability throughout the galaxy. The trade-off comes with a price though and essentially forces humans to take on the traits of the Oankali - resulting in a race that is neither fully human or fully Oankali. Lilith is horrified and makes plans to rebel against the Oankali once they reach Earth.

She is adopted by an Oankali "family" and given some enhancements to make her task of leading a group of human survivors to settle on Earth slightly more successful. She awakens other humans with the mission of making them ready to return to Earth. As is normal with humans, her group is distrustful of her and accuse her of being their jailor. Once they see her enhanced strength and ability to manipulate the ship, their conviction grows and further distances her from the group. Eventually, the other humans rebel against her, choosing to go their own way on Earth. As it happens, the Oankali manipulated their genetic chemistry to not only make them infertile without them but also repellant to the opposite sex. Essentially, they either willingly return to the Oankali or the human race dies out.

I'm summarizing the story of course but I highly encourage anyone to read this story. It's an interesting look at not only our own diversity but how we might react to diversity on a galactic scale.