Week Twelve: Lilith's Brood (8pts)

  Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis series chronicles the relationship between a devastated humanity and the Oankali, an advanced alien species hellbent on evolution. Throughout the three novels, readers experience each major event that establishes some new facet of the Human/Oankali hybrids. Each new development poses new questions on sexuality, race, and gender which shake the reader into thinking above and beyond what it means to be human. 

“Dawn” begins with Lilith Iyapo “alive! Alive...again,” after surviving a nuclear war that has wiped out humanity. She’s been held captive by something for an unknown amount of time and has slowly been piecing together the truth of the matter over the course of her imprisonment. The truth, of course, is that the Oankali arrived on Earth just in time to round up the surviving humans and have begun the process of ‘trading.’ Lilith has been awakened 250 years after the fact and is tasked with learning about the Oankali and then conditioning the other remaining humans to accept them once awakened. This, to me, was the strongest setup out of the entire series. Lilith is a very engaging character and experiencing the Oankali alongside her made this book great. Lilith is disgusted by the Oankali and fights them nearly every step of the way. Her adjustment to Nikanj feels earned. Their relationship is definitely not within the confines of anything human, but that works to Butler’s advantage. Nikanj, and, by extension, the Oankali, have no concept of human consent. While the Oankali are peaceful, they do force a lot of what they want onto humanity which conjures feelings of disgust within Lilith and the other humans. Lilith has no choice but to adjust to the Oankali way of life. She does choose to bond with Nikanj, Ahajas, and Dichaan, but this familial unit is still the product of this forced lifestyle. The effects of this can be seen in the character of Paul Titus- a human raised by the Oankali that beats Lilith and attempts to rape her during their encounter. The other humans display the same ‘hierarchal’ traits that resulted in humanity’s downfall despite Lilith’s attempts to condition them into acceptance. The first batch ends in failure, with Lilith’s partner, Joseph, murdered and most humans convinced that they can flee the Oankali’s influence. There is a twisted hope, however, in that Lilith is pregnant with the first Oankali/Human hybrid. Throughout this novel, the alien nature of the Oankali perverted every interaction with them. There was no relief for both Lilith and the Reader to just how odd the Oankali are. We feel wonder at their advancement and overall nature, but there’s no escape from the intense discomfort that stems from the fact that they are just so different from us. 

“Adulthood Rites” follows the first male hybrid born from Lilith, Akin. He experiences life both through the lens of an Oankali and a human. The Oankali crave change and discovery while humans rely on consistency and hierarchy. Whereas the first book was clear in the differences between species, here we see them merge in Akin and his other siblings. This mindset and his more human physical appearance help him survive amongst the human resisters who kidnap him before the birth of his same-sex Oankali-born sibling. Akin is taken in by Tate and learns that there are humans who have refused the Oankali entirely, despite the fact that they cannot have children without their help. We see abandoned settlements where the inhabitants have either caved and joined the Oankali or committed mass suicide as a result of having “no purpose.” Akin’s experience throughout the novel greatly recalls that of a mixed-race child. Butler avoids the trope of Akin being “one half” of each race. Instead, Akin is a member of a new group that affords him the agency to be inquisitive, decisive, and empathetic rather than purely labeled as “other.” There’s also a point in the novel where two other Oankali construct children are nearly mutilated to look more human. This also can be related to the pressure placed on mixed black children to fit into the white mold of beauty or the invasive surgeries forced on intersex children before they can decide their own identity. After all, before Oankali/Human constructs mature, they are sexless. Akin survive his captivity and manages to reconnect slightly with his same-sex sibling via returning to the Oankali mother ship. There he meets the Akjai, Oankali who haven’t merged with any other species, and begins to campaign for Humans to have their own Akjai group on Mars. Overall, “Adulthood Rites” takes the familiar coming of age tale and flips it on its head to produce a deeply insightful novel that demands the reader to consider their own feelings on the new developments of this mixed species relationship. 

“Imago” follows Jodahs, a construct who takes on the third gender of the Oankali, the Ooloi. Jodahs’ sex occured despite irs parents attempts at biological determinism. Most of the conflict within “Imago” stems from the abilities and disabilities as a result of Jodahs’ sex. As Jodahs matures, it struggles to apply its powers without hurting either itself or others. These changes do not go away, Johdas must deal with them. Jodahs encounters a pair of human siblings who are also disabled. It heals and bonds with them, essentially forming a new family unit. Through this, Jodahs and its same-sex sibling learn of a human settlement that has managed to produce their own children, but through inbreeding. Jodahs, its sibling, and its partners confront the entire settlement and reveal their nature. This inspires the human settlement to seek out the Oankali more willingly. In fact, Jodahs meets several humans before this settlement that admit to being more open to the idea of joining the Oankali because of its specific characteristics. Butler pushes the previous thematics of “Adulthood Rites” by including themes of disability, healing, and the power of empathy. Whereas Akin and, specifically, Jodahs, can empathize with the human resistors, the other constructs and Oankali view them decidedly as other. Despite this, however, the issue of nonconsent appears far greater in this than the others. The Oankali view life and change over everything. An Oankali character proclaims this in its entirety.

If I died on a lifeless world, a world that could sustain some form of life if it were tenacious enough, organelles within each cell of my body would survive and evolve. In perhaps a thousand million years, that world would be as full of life as this one.

While Butler presents this in such a way that the readers draw their own conclusions, this idea terrifies me. Its colonialism to an extreme. A lot of ideas presented in this book and the two previous read as absolutisms, and that still discomforts me to think about. 

The Xenogensis trilogy presents the history of a new era in human evolution then lets the readers react as they see fit. Rather than portray either side of relationship as wholly good or bad, its more of a series of intertwined events that mark determined changes in both. I enjoyed this part of the trilogy immensely. I know I prefer to put together the pieces of a story on my own with little help from the author. Butler sets ground rules for the Oankali, then let the rest run wild.