KShutt712

//** Lilith's Brood: Dawn & The Oankali's "Trade" **//

=== "It's what I said it was. A trade. The ooloi will make changes in your reproductive cells before conception and they'll control conception." (Dawn, 42)===

Splicing:

 * The theme of "splicing" or mixing human and non-human DNA to create an entirely new species, is one of the larger themes in //Dawn// (//Lillith's Brood).// How is it done in the novel/ how is it portrayed? Is Lilith's extreme reaction and her extreme hate of the idea justified? WHY?

I suppose I should start off with the dictionary's definition of the concept of ** splicing **:

@http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/splicing?s=t


 * Note that the definition that applies to genetics is the very last to be listed. Is this because it's controversial? I believe it is because it is controversial but also because the idea of splicing DNA and RNA is relatively new and hasn't really been brought to the forefront of the field of genetics yet. And quite possibly because the Octavia Butler's novel //Dawn,// the rest of the //Lilith's Brood// xenogenesis series, and all the other science fiction novels and movies that breach this topic probably scare a lot of people away.

Below is a Power Point presentation I put together to further investigate the form splicing takes in D//awn// and how the main character Lilith responds to the Oankali's (the alien species in the novel) "trade" with the human race...

media type="custom" key="17756674"

Here is a link to another page that looks at the "trading" of human and Oankali DNA. This page explores whether or not this is natural. http://eng372nature.wikispaces.com/Reproduction-Lilith%27s+Brood

= The Oankali's Trade: = = In Octavia Butler’s xenogenesis series //Lilith’s Brood //, the theme of splicing is one of the most prominent issues in the entire series. In the first of the three novels //Dawn //, Lilith is awoken from an extremely long “sleep” which the reader later finds is really suspended animation. After being awoken she is introduced to the group of beings that is holding her “captive”, the Oankali. In return for saving the remaining humans from an unlivable Earth, the Oankali expect a trade from the humans. This trade is the mixing of Oankali DNA with the human’s DNA to create a new species to re-inhabit the Earth once it is ready. Lilth’s reaction to this “trade” is extreme, because the Oankali have no ill intentions regarding the trade. It is essential for both species’ futures. = = The Oankali are the alien species that has come to Earth to save the humans from the nuclear war that has caused the almost complete destruction of the human race. The Oankali saved as many seemingly stable humans as possible and put them in suspended animation while they slowly healed the damage to the Earth. Lilith is one of the humans they saved and she becomes the human they choose to Awaken other humans to be the first group to return to Earth to repopulate it. In return for saving the human race and the Earth, the humans have to “trade” their DNA with the Oankali’s DNA to create an entirely new species. “It’s what I said it was. A trade. The ooloi will make changes in your reproductive cells before conception and they’ll control conception” (Dawn, 42). This new species will live on Earth along with the humans and the Oankali assigned to live on Earth with them. The Oankali depend on the mixing of DNA with other species for their ever changing biology. This “trade” with the humans is absolutely essential to their species survival. The trade is not considered unnatural or in Lilith’s words “crossbreeding” (Dawn, 42), to the Oankali, it is necessary. = = This “trade” is completely abhorrent to Lilith. She believes that the resulting offspring will not be human and that they will be monsters. “But they won’t be human,” Lilith said. “That’s what matters. You can’t understand, but that //is // what matters” (Dawn, 248). Despite Nikanj’s arguments that they will not be monsters, she is completely disgusted with the thought of having children that are not completely human. “It won’t be a daughter.” She pulled again at her arms, but it would not let her go. “It will be a thing- not human” (Dawn, 246). The Oankali are described as looking almost like sea- creatures that are completely covered in tentacles. They do not have any human looking features unless they are amused because their body tentacles smooth completely and give them an outline of a human being. This is one of the bigger reasons Lilith has such a problem with the mixing of her DNA with the Oankali. If they looked more human, she would be less disgusted and more apt to agree to the “trade”. She believes they will look like Medusa’s, “I think I wish your people had left me on Earth,” she whispered. “If this is what they found me for, I wish they’d left me.” Medusa children. Snakes for hair. Nests of night crawlers for eyes and ears” (Dawn, 43). = = The Oankali’s trade is described many times as a good thing for both of their races. Nikanj tells Lilith that “Our children will be better than either of us,” it continued. “We will moderate your hierarchical problems and you will lessen our physical limitations. Our children won’t destroy themselves in war, and if they need to regrow a limb or to change themselves in some other way they’ll be able to do it. And there will be other benefits” (Dawn, 247-48). All of these arguments are meant to alleviate Lilith’s doubts about reproduction with it but it doesn’t truly work. She still holds on to the fact that the children will not be completely human. It isn’t the act of reproducing that bothers Lilith so much either. In fact, she enjoys having sex with Nikanj and Joe who is her human partner. She just does not like the fact that the children will have Oankali features inside and out. “Your people will change. Your young will be more like us and ours more like you. Your hierarchical tendencies will be modified and if we learn to regenerate limbs and reshape our bodies, we’ll share those abilities with you. That’s part of the trade. We’re overdue for it” (Dawn, 42). = = Lilith’s reaction to the trade is not entirely unfounded. She is impregnated against her will by Nikanj when Joe is killed by a fellow human being in the final stage before being returned to Earth. Because it does it against her will, her extreme hatred for Nikanj and the Oankali trade is understandable. In contrast, Lilith accepts other forms of DNA alterations by Nikanj such as making her memory exponentially better, giving her the ability to open doors and walls, and giving her greater than human strength and speed. Because she willingly accepted these DNA changes to her body, the fact that she was impregnated against her will is the only real founded reason she has to be so extremely upset about the “trade”. If Nikanj had waited until she was “ready”, then her extreme hate of the idea would be considered an overreaction. =

__Works Cited:__
Butler, Octavia E., Octavia E. Butler, Octavia E. Butler, Octavia E. Butler, and Octavia E. Butler. //Lilith's Brood//. New York: Grand Central, 2007. Print.

Butler, Octavia E., Octavia E. Butler, Octavia E. Butler, Octavia E. Butler, and Octavia E. Butler. //Lilith's Brood//. New York: Grand Central, 2007. Print.

"In Vitro Fertilization." //In Vitro Fertilization//. International Fertility Medical Center. Web. 22 <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">May 2012. <http://www.global-ivf.com/en/?catID=6>.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">"Splice." //Dictionary.com//. Dictionary.com. Web. 22 May 2012. <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"><http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/splice>.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">"Welcome To Liger.org." //Liger.org//. World Press, 2011. Web. 22 May 2012. <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"><http://www.liger.org/>.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">"Ligers and Tigons: The Most Ferocious Crossbreeds On Earth." //Ligers and Tigons: The Most// //<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ferocious Crossbreeds On Earth //<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Environmental Graffiti. Web. 22 May 2012. <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"><http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/animals/news-most-ferocious-crossbreeds-earth>.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">"Oxford Dictionaries Online." //Oxford Dictionaries Online//. Web. 22 May 2012. <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"><http://oxforddictionaries.com/>.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">PHOTO CREDIT:

http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/_images/ISBNCovers/Covers_Large/9780446603775_154X233.jpg

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/019/3/2/Oankali__Ooloi_by_reptantchaos.jpg