Dawn

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In Butler's novel, the human race almost entirely kills itself off because of a global war where human collectives (nations) fought each other rather than uniting in harmony. Likewise, on the ship, the opposing groups of humans see each other as "enemies," while individuals within a single group are seen as "allies" (174). Lilith thinks it is ridiculous that humans are organizing themselves similarly to how they did on Earth. She tells her group, "'So stupid, isn't it. It's like 'Let's play Americans against the Russians. Again'" (175). Nevertheless, there is tension aboard the ship; rather than work together cohesively, the humans choose who to ally themselves with, creating a culture of "us" vs "them." Geyh, Paula, Fred G. Leebron and Andrew Levy. "Octavia Butler". Postmodern American Fiction: A Norton Anthology. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1998: 554–555. Calvin, Ritch. "An Octavia E. Butler Bibliography (1976–2008)", Utopian Studies 19.3 (2008): 485–516. JSTOR 20719922. A new indie bookstore named for Octavia Butler is opening in the author's hometown". Literary Hub. January 3, 2023. Archived from the original on February 18, 2023 . Retrieved February 18, 2023.

Starting in 1974, Butler worked on a series of novels that would later be collected as the Patternist series, which depicts the transformation of humanity into three genetic groups: the dominant Patternists, humans who have been bred with heightened telepathic powers and are bound to the Patternmaster via a psionic chain; their enemies the Clayarks, disease-mutated animal-like superhumans; and the Mutes, ordinary humans bonded to the Patternists. [25]Science Fiction Chronicle Award for Best Novelette – "The Evening and the Morning and the Night" [76] Lilith's initial discomfort at realizing that her captors, who turn out to be an alien race called the Oankali, have performed surgery on her body without her consent speaks to an overarching theme of Dawn. Throughout Dawn, the humans aboard the Oankali ship are forced to submit to their captors' desires. The question of consent seems to be relatively straightforward: because the humans are captive, they have no choice but to submit to the Oankali's decisions. In other words, the humans have no consent, and therefore no bodily autonomy, in the Oankali world. In "Womb," Lilith realizes this truth when she learns the Oankali have changed her genetic code and begins to see the way the Oankali treat humans as similar to the way humans used to treat animals on Earth: "This was one more thing they had done to her body without her consent and supposedly for her own good. 'We used to treat animals that way,' she muttered bitterly" (31). Omry, Keren, "A Cyborg Performance: Gender and Genre in Octavia Butler". Phoebe: Journal of Gender and Cultural Critiques. 17.2 (2005 Fall): 45–60. Solarin, Ayoola (April 24, 2020). "A Graphic Novel Adapts Octavia Butler's Science Fiction Classic". Hyperallergic. Stephen W. Potts, "'We Keep on Playing the Same Record': A Conversation with Octavia E. Butler", Science Fiction Studies 23.3. November 1996, pp.331–338. JSTOR 4240538.

Wayne Warga, "Corn Chips Yield Grist for Her Mill", Los Angeles Times, January 30, 1981. Sec. 5: 15. Larry McCaffery and Jim McMenamin, "An Interview with Octavia E. Butler", in Larry McCaffery (ed.), Across the Wounded Galaxies: Interviews with Contemporary American Science Fiction Writers, 1990. ISBN 978-0-252-06140-0, pp.54–70. Los Angeles Public Library opened the Octavia Lab, a do-it-yourself maker space and audiovisual space named in Butler's honor. [87]Lilith and Nikanj leave its childhood home. Nikanj's mates, Ahajas and Dichaan, assist Lilith with the transition—they carry Nikanj out of the home together. Lilith does not feel ready to leave Jdhaya's home, where she has grown comfortable. Lilith is going to live with

In Dawn, Lilith Awakens alone on an alien ship. She initially does not know who her captors are nor does she know what they have done to her while she slept. She knows that she has a surgical scar on her abdomen, though she has no idea what led to this procedure: "What had she lost or gained, and why? And what else might be done? She did not own herself any longer. Even her flesh could be cut and stitched without her consent or knowledge" (4-5). Butler’s novels are just that kind of fiction. The child who began writing as a means of escape, ended up crafting potent calls to socio-political action that seem ever more pertinent to our survival as a species. There’s a scene in Parable of the Sower when the best friend of heroine Lauren Olamina insists “Books aren’t going to save us”. Lauren replies: “Use your imagination,” telling her to search her family’s bookshelves for anything that might come in handy. “Any kind of survival information from encyclopedias, biographies, anything that helps you learn,” she goes on. "Even some fiction might be useful". The first novel, Patternmaster (1976), eventually became the last installment in the series' internal chronology. Set in the distant future, it tells of the coming-of-age of Teray, a young Patternist who fights for position within Patternist society and eventually for the role of Patternmaster. [23] a b c d e f g h i j k Pfeiffer, John R. "Butler, Octavia Estelle (b. 1947)." in Richard Bleiler (ed.), Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day, 2nd edn. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999. 147–158.

Butler herself has been highly influential in science fiction, particularly for people of color. In 2015, Adrienne Maree Brown and Walidah Imarisha co-edited Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements, a collection of 20 short stories and essays about social justice inspired by Butler. [58] Toshi Reagon adapted Parable of the Sower into an opera. [59] In 2020, Adrienne Maree Brown and Toshi Reagon began collaborating on a podcast called Octavia's Parables. [60] Point of view [ edit ] In "The Training Floor," the Oankali's power becomes even more salient. Lilith knows that they are watching the humans' every move and she is almost paranoid about how much they hear and see. Nikanj tells Lilith that the escaped humans are "'being watched,'" and Lilith knows that the Oankali will intervene if violence breaks out but not before then (205). Lilith is also the only human that knows the extent of the Oankali powers of observation. She notes that they see her hiding in a tree from several feet away: "From the tree, she saw two Oankali come out of the water. . . Both focused on her for a moment, then headed inland toward the settlement. She had watched them in utter silence, but they had known she was there" (206). When Lilith talks to the others about leaving the camp, she does not bother to hide her plans from the Oankali, knowing that it is impossible: "How many Oankali had heard the exchange? One? A few? All of them? No matter. Nikanj would know in minutes" (210). The wide-reaching surveillance of the Oankali on the humans is an extension of their incredible power aboard the ship. They have subjugated the humans completely, and the humans play directly into their plan. Part of this subjugation is psychological, as Lilith learns that there is no true escape from the Oankali as long as they can hear her every word and see her every move.

a b Raffel, Burton. "Genre to the Rear, Race and Gender to the Fore: The Novels of Octavia E. Butler." Literary Review 38.3 (Spring 1995): 454–461.

Dawn

Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower – An opera by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon" . Retrieved June 24, 2020. Thus, without a true choice as to whether or not to breed with the Oankali, this kind of coercion can be defined as rape. For female humans in the novel, the threat of rape does not solely come from their Oankali captors. Literary analyst Meghan K. Riley writes: "rape is central, and apparently acceptable, in Dawn." Both men and women have to worry about being forced to submit to Oankali sexuality. Joseph, Lilith's lover, is actually induced to perform sexual activities with Nikanj without having verbally consented while they are all in the training room. However, human women also have to worry about the threat of rape at the hands of the human men. Lilith has to fight off Paul Titus who attempts to rape her after she turns down his sexual advances. Later, Leah is almost raped in the training room by her partner: "Leah's charge, a small blond man, grabbed her, hung on, and might have raped her if he had been bigger or she smaller" (171). In an environment where humanity has been denied consent at the hands of their extremely powerful alien captors, the human men lash out against human women, who are doubly under threat. Octavia E. Butler: Telling My Stories." Program and Exhibit (April 8 – August 7, 2017), The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.