‘Dawn’ Rethinks Personhood
Dawn (1987) by Octavia E. Butler blends a post-apocalyptic theme with that of first contact into a story of sorrow and hope. Butler has the remarkable gift of revealing human emotion with clarity and verve. I wouldn’t say Dawn is a joyful experience but it’s certainly one that lingers on the mind and heart.
Lilith Iyapo wakes to find herself out of the death and decay following Earth’s only nuclear war. At first, she is alone and her solitude is unsettling. Someone is caring for her but whom? When it is time for her to meet her captors nothing could prepare her for the reality.
When Jdahya appears he first has the outline of a man but that is only a temporary lie. Jdahya is not human. Not remotely human. Eyeless and many tentacled Jdahya and the Oankali are aliens. Hideous and unlike anything humans expect. However terrifying the Oankali are in appearance they are not monsters. After the shock of Jdahya’s appearance wears off Jdahya and his mates accept Lilith into their family.
Grateful for her rescue Lilith soon wonders at the Oankali’s motives. She learns that the Oankali travel the stars as traders and they will trade with humanity. In return, the survivors can return to Earth to start again. But what could humans possibly have to trade with such beings and is it a price they can afford to pay?
Dawn is the first installment of Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy (a.k.a. Lilith’s Brood trilogy) and it’s quite an opening. With almost no effort Butler draws the reader in with an emotional rawness rarely seen in SF. Butler’s writing exudes confidence not only in her abilities but in her person.
The story follows Lilith Iyapo on her journey of rediscovery of what it means to be a person. Faced with the reality that there is a wider community in the galaxy she must redefine how she sees herself. Lilith may not realise it herself but her actions speak to a great depth of empathy and understanding for people. All people. This emotional depth is exactly the reason why the Oankali need Lilith to train and lead a new group of humans in their awakening.
Butler uses Lilith as a lens through which the reader must also reassess what it is to be a person. Not a human. In Dawn, humans are no longer unique and it is up to the reader to decide if the Oankali are persons. By accepting that the Oankali, beings so utterly alien, are persons then the reader must also accept that all humans, no matter how different from ourselves, are also persons.
How does Butler make the reader see the Oankali as persons? She doesn’t do it by making the Oankali act more human. Instead, she lets the human characters act in their fullest human capacity. Warts and and all.
When Lilith begins waking the other humans it doesn’t take very long for short-sightedness and bigotry to set in. Some people, regardless of the truth, will only accept the lies they tell themselves. Through this self-delusion, they can then justify the most heinous acts imaginable and unimaginable.
Yet, despite the thread of hatred running through the story, there is a clear message of hope. The Oankali don’t just want to trade with humanity they need to trade. The Oankali see humanity in a spark we can’t see in ourselves. This spark is what draws the Oankali to humans but it’s also what repells humans from Oankali. However, like a patient parent, the Oankali are willing to wait.
Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006)
Dawn is a top-notch SF story that contains all the elements necessary to make it a classic. Fantastic world-building, imaginative technologies, unique and believable alien culture, and great characters. All this is more than enough to make Dawn must-read SF.
However, what makes Dawn such a compelling and worthwhile read is the raw emotional element of the story. Butler is completely unafraid of what the reader might think of the characters and, by extension, herself. This fearlessness is something we don’t see much of anymore in SF and is something it sorely needs again.
Don’t read Dawn because of its social commentary on racism and personhood. And don’t read it because Dawn will make you feel something you might not expect or want. Instead, read it simply because it is one of the best-written stories of SF available. The rest is just a bonus.
Octavia E. Butler, like many authors taken too soon, has a unique and wonderful voice that stands tall over many current works. Now more than ever Butler’s work should be a mainstay in every reader’s catalogue, not just SF readers. If you’ve never read any of Butler’s work then Dawn is the perfect place to begin your journey. You’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.
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