Linköping University | Department of Culture & Society | English
Linköpings universitet | Institutionen för kultur och samhälle | Engelska
Bachelor’s Thesis 15 credits
C uppsats 15 hp
Spring Term 2020
Vår 2020
Variable Otherness in Octavia
Butler’s Xenogenesis
Olika Former av ”Otherness”i Octavia Butlers
Xenogenesis
James Campbell
Supervisor/Handledare: Lars Liljegren Examiner/Examinator: Anna Watz
Linköping University
Linköpings universitet
SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden 013-28 10 00, www.liu.se
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Contents
Introduction ... 3
Science Fiction, Xenogenesis, and a Background to Otherness ... 4
Chapter 1—Alien Otherness ... 7
Chapter 2 – Racial Otherness/Colonialism ... 8
Chapter 3 – The Otherness of Queer Theory... 12
Chapter 4 – The Importance of a Shared Habitus ... 14
Chapter 5 – Celebrating Otherness ... 16
Conclusion ... 21
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Introduction
In modern literary theory, one concept that is often investigated is the concept of otherness. This concept, which has incurred many different interpretations and definitions over the years, is intrinsically tied to not only to the notions of self and identity, but also to the concept of the other as a subject. Additionally, it is a concept that cannot only help us absorb and adapt to new information, but also look inwardly on ourselves and how we differ from things we consider to be other. Mary Klages defines the term other as one used “to designate the opposite of the term ‘self’ or ‘subject’ as it is understood in Western philosophy,” where self refers to an individual’s concept of “I” or “me” (255; 266). Otherness is present in a vast range of literature, as it is a theme that is essential in order for a person to be able to relate to and connect with literary settings, storylines, and especially characters. One literary work that has otherness as a central theme is the Xenogenesis science fiction trilogy by Octavia Butler, which was written between 1987 and 1989. The three books condemn, celebrate, and explore the different aspects of otherness through their characters and events. The characters of the novels each encounter different examples of otherness and both benefit and suffer from the consequences. These encounters range from interaction with beings of alien races to the small interhuman experiences which reflect everyday life. This essay will demonstrate how Octavia Butler presents otherness as a concept and depicts otherness as something to be celebrated rather than feared. I will demonstrate this notion through analyzing the different types of otherness presented in the trilogy, and which I have termed alien otherness, racial or colonial otherness, and queer
otherness.
Octavia Butler (1947—2006) is known as the most prominent female African American science fiction writer, science fiction being a domain regularly dominated by white male authors (Smith 385). Thus, as an author who was both black and female, she carved an impressive niche for herself not only in the world of science fiction, but in black literature as well. She was known for her writing about the relationships between race, gender, history, and science, and as stated by Gregory Hampton her goal from a young age was to write science fiction that “did not ignore issues of race and gender” (245). Additionally, Butler seemed to enjoy writing about strong female protagonists, as showcased by the protagonists of not only Dawn, but also her other novels such as Patternmaster (1979) and
Wild Seed (1980). Ruth Salvaggio claims that this gave her an “exciting new voice in the traditional
domain of science fiction” – which makes sense, due to it being a genre overflowing with male protagonists written by male authors (78). Through her female characters that are able to take charge of their own fate in some way or another, such as Lilith choosing to become a kind of super-human, Butler was able to present women that create their own agency in worlds they do not control. Finally,
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as Russel Blackford states, during Butler’s rise to literary renown, the science-fiction world was rife with novels that explored race, politics, and sexuality, which, considering the nature of her novels, allowed her to better carve her own niche in the literary world (34). Due to her race and the struggles of being a woman in a male-dominated world, Butler is likely to have experienced otherness as a part of her daily life, and she would have doubtlessly met individuals who disliked her solely for being a strong black woman. These factors combined could potentially point towards the origins of the theme of otherness that occurs in the Xenogenesis trilogy.
Science Fiction, Xenogenesis, and a Background to Otherness
Before delving into the world constructed by the Xenogenesis trilogy, I will present a brief introduction to science fiction, which is a broad genre that typically contains concepts that involve futuristic settings, technology, and storylines. Specifically, the genre can be defined as “that branch of literature which deals with the reaction of human beings to changes in science and technology,” to quote the sci-fi author Isaac Asimov (Asimov in Blackford 8). These changes range from the momentous invention of interstellar travel and confrontation with alien races, such as in Dan Simmons’ Hyperion (1989) novels, to the simpler invention of some unforeseen household technology that reshapes society on a smaller scale, such as the virtual reality technology in Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash (1992). Additionally, science fiction is frequently engaged in telling stories in futuristic or far-off settings that would be otherwise impossible in humanity’s current environment (Blackford 14). This is not limited to alien worlds, however, as it can also include stories told about a future of Earth, as is the case in the latter two books of the Xenogenesis trilogy. While science fiction is a broad genre, as previously stated, there are three elements which, according to Blackford, are usually present: novelty, rationality, and realism (9). Novelty, in Blackford’s view, is used to describe something new and different that does not exist in the author’s society or never happened in the history of the author’s world. Rationality here essentially means that whatever happens should be explicable by science to some degree. Finally, an element of realism is important, in that the reader understands that everything happening in the constructed world of the story is literally happening at the time of the writing, such as in George Orwell’s 1984 or Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (Blackford 9-10). These elements can, to some extent, be seen in Butler’s Xenogenesis works, which places them firmly within the realm of modern science fiction. Additionally, the trilogy exhibits many of science fiction’s commonly recurring themes, such as the alteration of humanity with technology, as portrayed in William Gibson’s Neuromancer (although in Xenogenesis’ case it is direct genetic alteration through biological means), and the relationships between humans and non-human beings (Blackford 14). Moreover, the characters of the trilogy are introduced to new genetic possibilities
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throughout the story which greatly alter the ways they are able to interact with the world around them, which is very similar to the description of the genre offered by Quentin Meillassoux (5). Finally, according to Blackford, science fiction acknowledges and explores the “deep, rapid, intra-generational change” amongst human societies, which, seeing as Xenogenesis revolves largely around a single generation of humanity and the massive societal shift it experiences, one could definitely state that this element is relevant to the trilogy (7). If one were to place Xenogenesis into one of the specific branches of science fiction offered by Raymond Williams, it would likely be a mix of the
Doomsday genre, whose name is self-explanatory, and Putropia, which he defines as a kind of
corrupted Utopia (357—359).
The first book in the Xenogenesis trilogy, Dawn, presents us with an Earth rendered wholly unlivable after a global nuclear war. The protagonist, Lilith Iyapo, awakens in a cell-like room in which she later learns she has been sleeping for the past 250 years. Eventually she is informed that the human race nearly went extinct, and that a race of aliens, the Oankali, are responsible for saving humanity by relocating them to their ship. Lilith is initially terrified by these tentacled creatures, but later grows to accept them. She learns that the Oankali do not intend to enslave or hurt humanity in any way, as long as humanity is willing to engage in what the Oankali call “trading.” In this context, the Oankali are referring to gene trading, which is how the Oankali species survives and evolves. The Oankali can visualize genetic biochemistry, which gives them the ability to cherry pick the best features from two different species and combine them in order to create advanced beings, which is their goal with humanity. They believe that although humanity is gifted with intelligence, they also suffer from a tendency towards violence. Thus, by excluding the gene that leads to these violent tendencies, the Oankali want to create Oankali-human constructs as a way to continue the survival of both humanity and the Oankali themselves. Despite her initial revulsion, Lilith forms a bond to one of these Oankali, an ooloi named Nikanj. The ooloi are one of the stranger features of the Oankali, as they are a third gender that can rewrite genetic material and thus manipulate it at will. Lilith is eventually chosen to act as a kind of leader for the first group of humans that the Oankali plan to reintroduce to Earth, and thus Nikanj bestows upon her rapid healing abilities as well as enhanced strength, which protects Lilith but also alienates her from her fellow humans. Eventually, the humans grow tired of waiting to return to Earth, and murder Joseph, a man Lilith loves, during a revolt, causing them to all be sent down to Earth to fend for themselves. During the commotion, Nikanj is seriously wounded, and Lilith walks away from her fellow humans and lies down with Nikanj, which allows it to fully repair itself after a long enough amount of time. Finally, Nikanj, who feels as if Lilith is ready to truly bridge the gap between human and Oankali, impregnates her, which is where the first book ends and the second begins.
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The second book, Adulthood Rites, is set several years later and is told from the perspective of Akin, a half-human half-Oankali child of Lilith, Joseph, Nikanj, as well as two Oankali with which Lilith was close. Akin is kidnapped as a child by resister humans, who have decided to separate themselves from the Oankali and live in human-only settlements. However, the punishment for avoiding gene trading is that the resisters are sterilized, meaning that without the Oankali they will inevitably go extinct. Despite his Oankali genetics informing him that humans are doomed due to their hierarchal nature, Akin grows attached to many of the humans he encounters, and eventually comes to the decision that the humans deserve a chance to exist without trading genetics. However, he is eventually recovered by his Oankali brethren, who realize he has only lived as a human, and has no experience living as an Oankali. Thus, he travels to the Oankali mothership, and learns more about what it means to be Oankali. After learning that one day Earth will be destroyed as it becomes a mothership itself, Akin asks for the humans to be given a chance to exist on a terraformed Mars, which is eventually accepted. The book ends with Akin returning to Earth to inform humanity that it has been given a second chance. The final book in the trilogy, Imago, is a sort of coming of age story as well, as it follows the adolescence of Jodahs, who is the first ooloi construct. It is a shorter story, and one that gives the reader the chance to see life from the viewpoint of the ooloi. During the book, Jodahs spends time learning how to use its new abilities of genetic alteration, and the inability to stop altering its relatives accidentally drives it to leave them and journey into the forest. While there, it encounters two human siblings who are severely deformed, and Jodahs does its best to befriend and then cure them. They later become its lovers, and Jodahs learns to cure their deformities without harming them. The siblings then inform it that there exists an entire village of unsterilized humans in the mountains that are being ravaged by generations of inbreeding. Jodahs is eventually able to secure their future and their journey to the Mars colony, as well as convince the siblings to stay with it as its mates. Thus, the trilogy comes to an end.
Before discussing the specifics of otherness within the trilogy, however, I will first describe otherness as it is generally used in literature and science fiction. As previously mentioned, otherness is used to describe anything that exists outside the boundaries of the notions of self as it pertains to both the individual and to society as a whole. In other words, otherness describes those that do not fit in to the established hegemonic norms in society. Oftentimes these norms are synonymous with what is normal in white or European culture, but they can also just refer to issues of gender, mental illness, and even otherness on an individual level. To further simplify the concept, one can take Lois Tyson’s words about how humanity views otherness: “the human mind perceives difference most readily in terms of opposites, which structuralists call binary oppositions” (213). Binary oppositions are a feature often
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seen in discussions of otherness and are commonly seen through the notions of male versus female, white versus black, and good versus evil. While these features are prominent in literature, it is the idea of a third element that exists outside the opposition that makes otherness such a fascinating subject. This third element could be queerness, biracialism, or a neutral stance respectively if one compares them to the oppositions named above. For example, one could say that Butler uses concepts such as the human-Oankali constructs to function as a third other in the existing opposition between humans and Oankali. The Xenogenesis trilogy contains several examples of this third otherness, but also examples of binary opposition. One clear example of a binary opposition is the relationship of humanity versus the Oankali.
Chapter 1—Alien Otherness
Indeed, the first and most obvious type of otherness present in Xenogenesis is the presence of an alien race, the Oankali. The Oankali are presented as being large and gray and having an almost humanlike silhouette. Upon seeing one for the first time, Lilith believes the creature to be covered in dark gray hair. Additionally, she notes that the creature “scare[s] her somehow,” although she is unsure as to why (Butler 12). However, it is quickly revealed that it is not hair, but in fact many sensory tentacles which can move independently. Lilith’s mind immediately goes to “Medusa,” alluding to the monster of Greek mythology which has its head covered in writhing snakes (13). Lilith then realizes that what terrifies her about the creature is “his alienness, his difference, his literal unearthliness” (13). With the usage of the word difference, Butler presents one of the first themes of the trilogy: the human fear of otherness. Lilith herself admits to this fact in the second book, Adulthood Rites, where she states that “[h]uman beings fear difference” (329). What makes this fear interesting, however, is the question of what drives it. Is it simply xenophobia or do the humans have rational reasons to fear the Oankali and their plan to, in their words, save humanity?
There is an additional reason that this first encounter with the Oankali is so terrifying to Lilith. Leading up to this encounter, Lilith has been in a form of solitary confinement for roughly two years. She has only heard the voices of her captors a few times, but otherwise has had no contact with them. Thus, when a strange and terrifying alien is put forth as her first form of real contact, Lilith is immediately thrust into a situation in which she has no control. Furthermore, the Oankali understands everything about her on a molecular level while she does not even know the name of his species. Since he understands the situation and environment and she does not, the Oankali is in a position of power, which could cause Lilith to feel like the dominated or inferior other in their relationship. However, one could most likely simplify the reason behind Lilith’s intense fear of the Oankali by the simple cliché that humans fear what they do not understand. In fact, Lilith herself is frustrated and
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confused by her fear. After acting once more on instinct and leaping away from an Oankali, she remarks “God I’m so tired of this […] Why can’t I stop it?” (26). Thus, even though she does not know why, her innate human fear of difference drives her away from the Oankali man until he is able to manipulate his appearance to appear less alien. Because he now appears more humanlike, Lilith feels slightly more at ease, and can approach him and have a short conversation with him. This is similar to the ideas of Derek Attridge, who claims that an essential step in the process of responding to a humanlike other is recognizing “the familiar contours of a human being” (24). In other words, one of the first things humans seek during an encounter with something outside their perceived norms is any source of familiarity, which, luckily for Lilith, the Oankali are able to provide.
Humanity’s struggle against the difference of the Oankali is a driving force throughout the trilogy. However, this fear is not limited to simply the Oankali. After Lilith and Joseph are genetically modified to be stronger and able to control certain aspects of the spaceship in order to start training humans for redeployment on Earth, she begins to struggle with her own identity and sense of humanity. This is largely due to how others begin to react to her, to the point where people do not “think [she] [is] a human at all” (Butler 147). Obviously, this is fueled by a fear of her difference. The reason for the accusatory stance taken towards Lilith by the other humans is that they have difficulty accepting her since she does not fit the human norms that people can understand, and therefore she must be treated as something to be feared and disliked. Indeed, this fear is only deepened when the others learn of Lilith’s ability to transform the world around them, thus firmly placing her outside the world of human norms. One reason that the other humans rebel against Lilith could be that she exists outside the “general rules or schemata” usually attributed to an ordinary person, as claimed by Attridge to be a reason that humans struggle to acknowledge uniqueness and otherness in people (24). Furthermore, to maintain their sanity, the humans focus specifically on the alien aspects of Lilith instead of her humanity, even though Lilith uses her Oankali abilities almost exclusively to help them. Even Lilith herself feels uncomfortable about that which makes her different from other humans, as the knowledge that she is faster and stronger than any of the humans is “not as comforting as it should have been” (Butler 171). Because of all this, Lilith is subjected to the same hatred as the Oankali, and she becomes a kind of Judas figure for humanity.
Chapter 2 – Racial Otherness/Colonialism
The second type of otherness present in the trilogy is one that is derived from colonial and post-colonial theory. Tyson states that this theory can be applied to any people that have been dominated politically by another group or population, such as African Americans or the aboriginal Australians (417). Klages also makes it clear how Post-colonial theory describes how colonizers create colonial
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subjects and how these subjects both exist with and resist colonization, as well as the means used to do so (129). While the Oankali may not be invading Earth and directly terrorizing humanity, their goals of changing humanity as a species fall under the category of what is called “cultural imperialism” (Tyson 425). Tyson defines this as the “takeover of one culture by another” and states that it includes the replacement of values, customs, and even the food; all of these things are replaced for the humans while they are aboard the Oankali ship, which naturally upsets them. In the literary sphere, Klages states that an important part of post-colonial theory is that it focuses on the experience of the colonized in order to give them a voice (139). Through Lilith’s perspective, readers of
Xenogenesis can get an idea of the process of being colonized by a more powerful race, and therefore
one can analyze this trilogy through a post-colonial lens and observe how the Oankali enact colonial othering on humanity.
Othering is defined by Tyson as the process by which those who are different are judged as being less than fully human, usually creating a social divide between the two groups (420). While the Oankali may believe they are treating humans well as they protect them from physical harm, their actions have other consequences, and therefore they certainly create a social divide as the humans feel they are not being treated with equality. Indeed, the first thing the Oankali is treat humanity like lab rats, keeping them in isolated rooms on their spaceship and spying on them from behind a one-way window and talking down to them. Even though the humans are not harmed physically in any way, the danger of mental damage due to isolation is a real threat. Indeed, many of the humans that are awoken first on the ship commit suicide, claiming that it was “because [the Oankali] kept them isolated” (Butler 18). However, the suicides could also have been responses to the notion of being captured by what could be perceived as a foreign enemy. For example, Lilith assumes that her captors were an intelligence agency such as “the FBI, the CIA, or the KBG,” as they seem more likely than the involvement of aliens (12). It is possible that humans, who are aware of the history of slavery, chose death as an alternative to becoming property. This is one of the first signs that show humanity’s natural aversion to being colonized or controlled by the Oankali.
The Oankali purpose in life revolves around assimilating themselves with other species. This is one of their innate traits, caused by the special organelle within them that allows them to combine genetic data with other living beings (41). Even without ooloi and other Oankali to manipulate them, it is stated that the organelles would assimilate and populate an entire planet on their own, given a great enough length of time (662). However, what the Oankali are doing is not just living peacefully with other species; by combining genes with them, both species will be Oankali after one or two generations of crossbreeding, thus eliminating the second species. Therefore, the Oankali could
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theoretically one day be the sole surviving species in the galaxy, creating what Molly Wallace calls “a universe of sameness” (106). This information greatly disturbs Lilith and the others, as it does mean the end of humanity as they know it. However, due to them being prisoners on the Oankali ship, all they can do is plan to “learn [about their situation] and run,” so that once they make it to Earth they can escape the Oankali’s grasp (Butler 144).
When examining them through a critical frame of colonial theory, however, the Oankali are strange because they do not appear to have any desire to subjugate or overwhelmingly dominate the human race. Aparajita Nanda calls them “interesting as colonizers,” due to their propensity towards very colonial practices and traits while simultaneously avoiding a clear label as villains or colonizers, which makes sense, in that they are the only reason that humanity still exists in any form (774). Furthermore, it strips away the freedom necessary for humans to be happy, which only makes it less damaging on a superficial level despite it being what Nanda calls a process of “bloodless colonization” (774). Indeed, the Oankali do not believe they are oppressing the humans, claiming that “we control [them] only if we cage them” (Butler 291). This implies that the Oankali believe their other actions, such as sterilizing humans unwilling to trade with them or crossbreeding humanity into extinction, are not as limiting or oppressive as physical confinement. While this may make them appear to be less antagonistic, it also makes them almost more similar to the classic Western colonizer, who often believed that what they were doing was helping colonized peoples as opposed to taking away their independence.
One can certainly compare how the Oankali enslave humans by analyzing what Cathy Peppers calls the “slippery slope” that starts at saving humanity and ends in complete and utter domination by an advanced alien race (55). Indeed, it is possible to make a connection between how colonists treated the colonized in the past and how the Oankali treat humanity. Colonizers would keep the oppressed under a watchful eye and let them live their life as long as they did nothing to harm themselves or the colonizers. The Oankali do the same with humanity, keeping a similar watchful eye over every known human settlement on Earth while trying to convince them to breed and thus create Oankali-human hybrids. Additionally, in colonial times, the colonized women were often used as breeding machines by the colonizers, as the women lacked the power to say no. While the Oankali never engage in rape or nonconsensual sexual acts, at the end of the first book Nikanj does impregnate Lilith without asking her under the assumption that “[Lilith] is ready to be [a] mother” (Butler 247). While this is a gross violation of her privacy if seen from the perspective of human norms, it should be said that according to Oankali society Lilith was ready physically, emotionally, and genetically, and thus Nikanj was doing the right thing. Once more, the question of right or wrong here changes depending on through
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which societal lens one gazes. Lilith does, however, eventually accept her role as the first human mother of Oankali children, which is an important step in the reclaiming of her identity as both a powerful woman and as a human being. However, if looking at the situation from the perspective of humanity, one might refer to her actions as traitorous, since she is no longer fighting the Oankali directly and is in fact taking the first step towards complete Oankali domination. But from Lilith’s perspective, the reason she chooses willingly to create a large family with the Oankali is that it allows her to designate herself as what Nanda claims is a powerful other amongst both humans and Oankali (777). Thus, through making her own decisions and taking charge, Lilith is able to escape the vise of perceived slavery to the aliens, which Peppers claims is undoubtedly important to her as a black woman (50—51). This display of control puts Lilith in the other position amongst her fellow humans, as well as establishing a fixed identity for her personally as someone in control. As previously mentioned, this notion of the human identity is a critical theme in the trilogy and is one of the main points of contention throughout the story.
Oankali originally chose humanity as trading partners because of their unique combination of intelligent traits. They wish to rid humanity of its so-called fatal flaw, what they call the “human contradiction” (Butler 442). This contradiction is the term Oankali use to describe the combination of intelligence and hierarchical behavior within humanity. They believe it is this flaw that drove humanity to its near destruction and would do so again if humans were to remain unaltered. They have an almost patronizing view of humanity as something delicate that needs to be assisted and protected, which certainly paints humans in a light of inferiority. This frequent dismissal of the notion of humanity being able to take care of itself according to Oankali standards reminds the humans that the Oankali hold the power in the relationship between the two species, and places the humans in the inferior position. Additionally, Greg Grewell states that the colonized peoples are often described as lesser, or more savage, than the race in power within colonial and post-colonial literature (30). The Oankali seem to believe that because humans evolved by dominating other life and killing, they are perhaps less refined and less developed than the Oankali, for whom killing is “against their flesh and bone, against every cell of them” (Butler 564).
The Oankali believe that by engaging in this genetic trade both species will benefit: the Oankali will gain greater evolutionary and regenerative powers – they absorb the mutation genes of cancer cells – and humanity will be free of their catastrophic hierarchical tendencies (247). Therefore, this could theoretically be considered a wholly beneficial scenario for humanity. Unfortunately, by changing this part of humanity, Oankali are erasing a part of the human construction that helps to define them. By sterilizing the remaining humans and essentially forcing them to breed exclusively with Oankali,
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there is almost a form of enslavement being established. For example, through his process of forced breeding, humans are almost treated like concubines or property, much like native women during colonial days (Nanda 783). While the Oankali are not forcing themselves directly onto humans, they are forcing humanity to choose between slow extinction or engaging in relationships with them. This is one of the reasons humans are so vehemently against joining the Oankali, as it would threaten their idea of self and therefore their identity as humans. In order to maintain a stable idea of self, the humans position the Oankali and constructs as other, allowing the humans to help protect their identities as “normal” while painting the Oankali as monsters. This protection of identity is vital to humanity in their pseudo-colonized state to keep them from losing hope. Thus, they call themselves resister humans and firmly make it a part of their new identity to be anti-Oankali and anti-construct. In summary, a large portion of humanity bristles at the colonization efforts of the Oankali due to their fear of eventual enslavement as well as their inherent need to maintain a human identity.
Chapter 3 – The Otherness of Queer Theory
The third major type of otherness present in Xenogenesis is one that exhibits signs of notions brought up by queer theory. Queer theory is, according to Klages, often defined as anything that breaks from the norm or disrupts the hegemonically established ideas of gender and sexuality (263). The clearest example of a break from gender and sexual norms in these books would be the ooloi. Strange even amongst other Oankali, ooloi represent queerness as it pertains to both gender and sexuality. Furthermore, Tyson states that queer theory tends to attempt to deconstruct the preconceived notions of binary sexuality – heterosexuality versus homosexuality – and instead takes the stance that individual sexuality can be “fluid, fragmented, [and] dynamic” (335). This can be seen in Xenogenesis through the development process of the Oankali: they spend their adolescent years as Eka, a term that to them means a youngling that has yet to develop a gender. The gender of an Oankali is determined by their behavior as well as their preferences and what influences them. In literature, queer theory is often used to critically analyze heteronormative structures such as gender and sexuality, and, as claimed by Patricia Melzer, Butler uses the ooloi to deconstruct these structures, since a third gender is clearly outside the norm (235).
As previously mentioned, ooloi are the third gender of the Oankali, and are necessary for completing the process of reproduction amongst their species. The humans in the book often struggle to comprehend this, as it is something completely outside the gender constructions of humanity, so they often attempt to frame the ooloi as “male-female combination[s]” when the ooloi truly are “a different sex altogether” (Butler 524). Different groups of humans in the book handle the ooloi in different ways. For example, speakers of languages with neuter terms tend to refer to them as “it,” while
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languages such as Spanish which are heavily gendered usually used whichever masculine or feminine pronoun they felt would fit the sentence best (656). Lilith explains that humans should learn about the ooloi “even if there are no human parallels – and believe me there are none for the ooloi” (170). However, most humans continue to misgender and generally be terrified of the ooloi. Thus, the humans once again display a reluctance to accept something outside their constructed norms. This is even clearer when the topic of sexuality between humans and ooloi is explored.
The ooloi do not experience sexual intercourse in the same way as human men and women. For example, while they are capable of sexual experiences with individual humans, the ooloi generally act as a third in a sexual encounter, lying down between the two participating partners so that it can link all three of their bodies together. Specifically, the ooloi use their unique sexual organs, which are described as sensory tentacles, to “plug into the central nervous system” of the two participating humans and then allow them to experience “an intimacy […] that [is] beyond ordinary human experience” (161). The experience is so intoxicating that it is compared to that of hallucinatory drugs, where the claim is made that if such an experience could be induced by drugs, it would have cornered the market (169). The experience is also pleasurable for the ooloi, in that they are able to experience what both other parties feel as well. Additionally, the ooloi have the ability to extract both human eggs and sperm during these interactions, which they can store in their body for future use or insert directly back into a human to induce pregnancy. This is how Nikanj is able to impregnate Lilith with Joseph’s sperm even after his death. The method of sexuality is one of the things that terrifies and turns away many of the resister men from the idea of joining the Oankali. One man refers to the sexual encounters as being “taken like a woman,” and describes how he despises the utter lack of control humans have in the encounters (203). Moreover, the men decide to pair off men and women together almost as soon as they awaken upon the Oankali ship, as a way of maintaining some semblance of social normal amongst themselves. Due to the frightening nature of their situation, the men could be simply falling back into instinctual behavior patterns, which does not excuse their behavior but does partially explain it. In other words, the men’s reluctance to include an ooloi in their intimate interactions causes an almost primal reversion within them, causing them to return to what Tucker calls their “basest of patriarchal behaviors” (176). This is interesting, as it further presents the notion that the human fear of difference is not limited to the fear of alien species, but also unfamiliar social practices.
The involvement of the ooloi in human relationships creates a very interesting dynamic. According to societal norms, a human relationship is made up of two individuals, so the inclusion of an ooloi “queer[s] traditional family structures and gender roles,” as stated by Tucker (176). As the Oankali
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are attempting to merge their species with humanity, the families they create contain members from both species: a male and a female Oankali, a male and a female human, and finally one ooloi. Additionally, the Oankali are often siblings, as there are no risks of genetic defects thanks to the ooloi’s ability to rewrite genetic material at will, and it is simply part of their culture. Through Jodahs, the protagonist of the third book, the reader is able to see through the eyes of an ooloi for the first time, as well as follow its journey through sexuality and pre-adolescence. Jodahs eventually becomes part of a hybrid family functioning as the ooloi between two human siblings, which is something that is extremely taboo – not to mention illegal – in a modern human society. The ooloi’s distance from standard gender norms is further shown through its ability to change its appearance based on which human partner it is trying to attract. When Jodahs is seducing Jesusa, it appears as a man but when it engages with Tomas, it appears more feminine. There is something rather human about Jodahs’ transformations, as it makes them in order to cultivate familiarity and attraction between itself and its partners. Additionally, this shows that to Jodahs and its partners, the sexual encounters are about more than reproduction and in this case are not about reproduction at all. Many of the sexual encounters in the books, whether it be Jodahs and its humans or Nikanj and Lilith, happen in order to further cultivate closeness as well as give raw sexual pleasure. Furthermore, they are separate from the animalistic category of sexual encounters, which is sex acts that are solely for the purpose of reproduction, as sex for the sole sake of pleasure is one of the aspects that separates human sexuality from animal sexuality (Rubin in Klages 85). While these acts are still very alien in nature, the underlying theme behind them is still comfortably human which makes a statement about why this sexual otherness is not to be feared.
Chapter 4 – The Importance of a Shared Habitus
To further help explain why humans and Oankali find it hard to cooperate, we can turn to the words of Pierre Bourdieu and his concept of habitus. Bourdieu defines habitus as the way that people react to phenomena in society as well as how society is navigated by acknowledging the habitus of others (Bourdieu in Liljegren 23). A person’s habitus is developed early in life, and the development is affected by factors such as family, education, and constructs like social class. Additionally, it assists us in deciding what behavior is appropriate for a given social field. Field is a concept connected to habitus and Bourdieu defines it as a sort of social setting in which actors and their social positions can be located (Bourdieu in Liljegren 23). Understanding the habitus of those in one’s own field is key to increasing one’s own status within that same field (Liljegren 26). Indeed, social success arises from the ability to adapt to the expectations of others. For example, an individual raised in high society is likely going to experience greater social success at a fancy ball than one raised on the streets, as they have been unconsciously trained for the situation from an early age. Furthermore,
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individuals with the same or similar habitus tend to be able to understand one another without the need for nuanced analysis of their dialogue or actions, as they often reside in the same social field (Bourdieu 80). For example, individuals who work in the same industry are able to have work-related discourse without the need to define terms and concepts to one another. Indeed, these individuals often take for granted that others will understand them; however, this can lead to issues when interacting with those residing in a different field. This assumption of understanding is one of the key issues that leads to conflict between the humans and the Oankali, as the two species have wildly different habitus and thus come from fields that are light years apart.
If we look at how this relates to Xenogenesis, we can see how the fear of the Oankali exhibited by the humans can be traced to this notion of habitus. This is partly because the Oankali have only a small idea of the human habitus, despite having spent years observing people. Additionally, they come from wildly different backgrounds that lack the similar norms regarding what to think, what to like, or even how to act. For example, upon seeing her first Oankali, Lilith realizes that “she need[s] to hear him speak” when he goes silent in the middle of a conversation and that when he is “[s]ilent, he [is] utterly alien” (Butler 14). Not participating in a conversation violates the preconceived notions of the human habitus, and thus Lilith is immediately discomforted. It is only natural that the humans are unable to understand the habitus of the Oankali, as they have never encountered other intelligent life before, and thus can only apply their own ideas and norms to the aliens. For example, humans often rely on physical appearance when they make initial judgements of others, such as in Lilith’s first Oankali encounter or how the resisters in Adulthood Rites approve of Akin only because he looks like a human. Thus, individuals that look familiar are approachable and therefore more acceptable to the human habitus and can better navigate the social field of humanity, which poses an immediate issue for the monster-like Oankali.
Another important aspect of both the human and the Oankali habitus is the difference in their norms of beauty, and how both species constantly violate the other’s norms. The human ideal of beauty, for example, often arises from things which are perceived to be pleasant to the eye and therefore desirable. This can be seen in Xenogenesis through the resistor humans’ affection for Akin, whom they refer to as a “beautiful child” due to his extremely humanlike appearance (347). As stated by Alexander Zistakis, desire for beauty was present in humanity even in ancient times, and the pursuit of beauty in human beings was ever present (272). This helps to explain why the humans struggle so deeply to accept the Oankali, and especially why it is hard for them to have children with beings they consider to be the exact opposite of beautiful. The Oankali, however, find beauty not in the individual but in life itself. New life is beautiful to them, and the idea of purposefully taking a life is unthinkable,
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which is shown when the Oankali react with horror when Nikanj suggests using deadly force against resistor humans to protect Jodahs. Interestingly, this shows that Nikanj has partly adapted to the human habitus after repeated interaction with humans, as it is not likely it would have suggested this otherwise. Thus, it is easy to see why the Oankali struggle to effectively work together with humans and why the two species struggle to share a social field, especially with such massive differences in their mindsets and culture.
Chapter 5 – Celebrating Otherness
Throughout the trilogy, otherness is portrayed through several different forms, as shown above. However, while many of these kinds of otherness are frightening and almost overwhelming at times, they are not exclusively painted in a negative light. Indeed, the trilogy often presents otherness as something to be celebrated, as I will demonstrate below.
As previously mentioned, the Oankali race was invented by Butler in order to play the role of the xenophile and serve as a binary opposite to the largely xenophobic humans (Butler in Piziks). The Oankali realize that by exploring the differences between humans and Oankali and analyzing them, it is possible to use them to benefit themselves and others. An example of this is the way in which Oankali can utilize the cancer cells found in Lilith that are not present in Oankali bodies. After Nikanj is nearly murdered during the human rebellion on the mothership, Lilith lies next to it in order to attempt to assist with the healing process. Later, Nikanj tells her it was its ability to utilize cancer cells that enabled it to recover (Butler 237). Additionally, she informs Lilith that no other Oankali has been able to recover from a wound that serious, thereby showing that there are already benefits to the human-Oankali trade for the Oankali (236). Thus, the reader experiences firsthand why the Oankali crave opportunities to further their knowledge of genetics and therefore may subconsciously form their own opinions on the benefits of seeking otherness. In other words, by allowing the readers to become attached to Nikanj or other Oankali or construct characters, perhaps some of the xenophilia of the Oankali will also transfer to the reader, thus allowing the trilogy to, as Peppers puts it, “generate xenophilia in place of xenophobia” (60).
While the status of being a black female may be one of the more oppressed demographics in western society, in Xenogenesis Lilith Iyapo stands as one of the trilogy’s strongest, most dominant characters. Described as “an amazon of a woman,” Lilith smashes the classic trope of a woman in need of a man’s protection that Grewell claims is too often present in science fiction, which helps to place Lilith in a niche position as a symbol of matriarchal power (Butler 285; Grewell 27). Lilith’s dominance originates with the agency she creates for herself, which makes her an essential part of the
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human interactions for both races. Indeed, by overcoming her fear of the Oankali and becoming sexually involved with Nikanj, she is able to essentially rise above all the other humans who are terrified of them, and thus cement herself as a sort of leader amongst other humans. Through this, she gains power through her newfound otherness.
After establishing herself as a dominant force for the readers, Lilith begins to assert that dominance by demonstrating it to the other characters as well. For example, while Lilith is training her fellow humans for their redeployment on Earth, five large men threaten to rape one of the girls, which Lilith violently puts to a stop by easily beating them into submission while herself remaining uninjured and untouched (Butler 177—178). By committing this act, one could say that Lilith is using the otherness gifted to her by the Oankali in order to protect those without the power to protect themselves. Additionally, it should be noted that without Lilith and her gifts, humanity would have no chance on the new Earth. Indeed, Lilith herself states right after her altercation with the men that “if [she] loses, everyone loses,” making sure people understand that she is the boss and the leader and without her nobody in the small group of humans would ever see Earth again. Thus, as Éva Federmayer states, it is Lilith’s agency that “decides the course of events” in the novel (109). However, Lilith’s otherness is not limited to helping humanity; she also uses her position to teach the Oankali things about humans that they were unable to discern through their genetic mapping. Throughout the book, Nikanj and the other Oankali take Lilith’s advice on how to deal with certain human emotions, thus revealing yet another benefit they receive from interacting with their perspective of an “other.” Indeed, Lilith acts as a bridge between the two species, and thus helps the humans to learn how to survive while simultaneously teaching the Oankali about humanity and its tenacity (113).
Eventually, Lilith’s life begins to regain some sense of normalcy and peace, which is supported by Attridge’s idea that a positive response to otherness can allow one to begin seeing otherness as sameness (24). Lilith begins the story as hating Oankali yet by the end of the series she has Oankali spouses and children. She grows as a person and becomes very attached to Nikanj and her children. Additionally, by allowing herself to carry construct children and act as a matriarch for a human-Oankali colony on Earth, Lilith fully embraces her role as a mother to all future humans, which immortalizes her as a kind of deity amongst other humans. Indeed, the first time Tino sees her breastfeeding, he notes that she looks “saintly,” looking especially “like a mother” (Butler 285). While Lilith is not the most willing mother – upon hearing she will be the essential mother of the new human race she asks the Oankali to “put [her] back to sleep]” – she does eventually accept her role, accepting the knowledge that this will place her in a different category from her fellow humans (112). Indeed, by accepting this role, Lilith chooses to support the otherness of the aliens rather than cling
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to fragments of human xenophobia, and by doing so gives humanity a chance to continue. Furthermore, even if Lilith herself is seen by other humans as a Judas to humanity, her son Akin does indeed give humanity a second chance, which will be further dealt with below, and he does so by embracing both sides of his heritage, which involves feeling like an outsider amongst both humans and Oankali.
Another way otherness is represented as something to be celebrated is through the development of Akin, one of Lilith’s construct children and the first male construct child. As previously mentioned, fairly early in his childhood Akin is kidnapped by resister humans and taken away from his family. Thus, he is raised almost entirely by humans, which leads to Akin forming a cultural disconnect with his Oankali heritage. One example of this can be seen when Akin travels to the Oankali mothership and meets with the ooloi who have not altered themselves to appear more human. Akin’s first impression of the being is that it is “caterpillarlike” and he notices it has a mouth like an insect which would be incapable of producing spoken language (Butler 452). As someone who has grown up nearly exclusively with humans, Akin considers this creature to be quite alien, even to him. However, instead of reeling away from this new, radically different individual, Akin embraces the differences and attempts to learn everything about it so that he can better understand “the mixture of alienness and familiarity” that he receives from it (453). By embracing the otherness of this ooloi and even the otherness of his Oankali abilities, Akin learns far more about how he can use his abilities to perceive the world around him, including ways in which he can heal and help others. By embracing both sides of his genetics and family background, Akin is able to become an individual capable of doing greater deeds than he could if he had only embraced his human side or Oankali side. This is an important part of celebrating otherness, as it shows the positive side of culturally being a part of two different worlds. For example, after Akin is brought to the mothership but before he is taught by the ooloi, he remarks that he feels “more lonely than he had been since the raiders abducted him” due to his feelings of neglect and abandonment by the Oankali around him (452).
While Akin of course knows he is also part Oankali, he does not feel as if he belongs on the mothership, which is likely due to his habitus being formed by humans. Indeed, before he is sent there for the first time, he realizes it scares him because he is “going to a place even less [his] own than the one [he] is leaving” (435). What Akin is experiencing here is a phenomenon people who live in places with conflicting cultural backgrounds often experience: double consciousness. Originally, it was defined as the sensation of always feeling like you are strung between two opposing cultures due to your heritage and the inability to truly feel at one with yourself (du Bois in Moore 752). Akin represents this rather well, as he is not accepted by the culture to which he feels closer, the humans,
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and it also is a long time before he is able to come to terms with his identity as an Oankali. Despite Akin’s Oankali instincts informing him that humanity will wipe itself out again once more if given the opportunity, his human side pushes him towards finding a solution for the humans other than a pointless and sterile existence on a doomed Earth. Thus, Akin realizes he must use his otherness, his unique position in the world as a construct who has lived in both societies, in order to find a solution. He feels as if it is his duty in life, as he knows that he is the only one that is “Oankali enough to be listened to by other Oankali and Human enough to know that resister Humans [are] being treated with cruelty and condescension” (Butler 404). Akin is therefore able to convince the Oankali to go against their standard charter of not being responsible for allowing another civilization of humans to die out. In other words, Akin’s otherness and conviction allow him to create a change in the Oankali themselves, showing once again how the Oankali habitus is affected by a generally human habitus. Thus, one can see another potential benefit of otherness: it allows Oankali to become more complex social creatures, as they start learning to accept that perhaps sometimes it is acceptable to take a risk to benefit others. Specifically, by allowing the unaltered humans a future, they are accepting that humanity may one day wipe itself out once more, but they are able to accept this with Akin’s help, showing that the Oankali too have undergone changes through this trade with humanity, which, as J. Adam Johns states, shows that the Oanklai also are becoming more like humans just as humans are being more like the Oankali (390). By showing the positivity associated with Akin’s otherness as well as his ability to help the Oankali face a different perspective, Butler once more presents the readers with the idea that otherness is something to be sought after and embraced rather than feared. As a final comment on Akin’s story, it is interesting to note that had the humans in the resister village not cared for Akin and simply executed him for being a construct child, they would never have reclaimed the chance to continue the human species as it was before the Oankali.
The ooloi are of one of the most established instances of otherness in the trilogy, and their incredible powers of genetic manipulation are essential to the plot of the story. Jodahs, as the protagonist of the third installment in the trilogy, uses its abilities to save an entire village from slow extinction via inbreeding, but it could not have done so without the help of Tomás and Jesusa, a pair of human siblings. These two characters further represent the good that can come of accepting otherness and breaking free of the shackles of fear and xenophobia. Although Tomás and Jesusa are initially afraid of Jodahs, they eventually come around to it and accept it as a lover, and Jodahs is able to heal their deformities. Later, when Jodahs begins its second metamorphosis, Tomás and Jesusa do not abandon it despite believing that what they are doing is “an un-Christian thing, an un-Human thing” and “the thing [they’ve] been taught against [their] whole lives”, and instead assist Jodahs in returning to its family so that it can mature safely (Butler 648). By doing this, the siblings fully conquer their fear of
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otherness and are eventually able to save their entire village, not to mention themselves, from debilitating disease and deformity, thus revealing once again why otherness should be celebrated rather than feared.
While the Xenogenesis trilogy provides plenty of examples of why otherness is something to be celebrated, it also further solidifies this notion by presenting situations in which the fear and rejection of otherness can lead to suffering. Aside from the obvious example of humanity’s hierarchal tendencies, which can be likened to xenophobia, causing the literal end of the world as we know it, there are individual examples of people suffering due to their xenophobia. One example of this is the fate of Curt, one of the more antagonistic patriarchal males that Lilith first awakens on the Oankali ship. From the moment he is conscious, Curt seems distrusting of anyone too different. One of the first things he does is glare at a man after hearing that he had “a slight accent” (141). Curt is also one of the humans that incites violence during the final stages of the training process for humans returning to Earth and is personally the one that murders Joseph. Due to his fear of otherness, Curt chooses a fate that can only lead to more violence and chaos, rather than simply accepting that the society he knew is no more. Changes leading to fear are common in humans, and as Jeffrey Kiehl states, there are many who would rather “live with the deleterious side effects” of their behavior than attempt to “work through their fear of change” (17—18). While no physical harm comes to Curt, he is still punished severely for his violence and his xenophobia. Curt is banned from being allowed to return to Earth, and it is revealed that cancers grow quickly in his body. Thus, he is to be kept as a sleeping test subject for life, denied his chance to truly live. Indeed, one can say that Butler uses Curt as a kind of antithesis for Lilith’s acceptance of the Oankali: she accepted their otherness and became humanity’s savior while Curt rejected it and threatened to become its destroyer, eventually paying the price for this.
Another example is the horrors that occur in the mountain village at the end of Imago. Fear of any change to their notions of society leads to the small group of people turning to incestuous breeding rather than even considering the option of health and comfort of life amongst the Oankali. Because it is so ingrained in humanity to fear being conquered or assimilated by a perceived enemy, it was not possible for the village leaders to consider the possibility that the Oankali would help them. This boils down once more to the idea of the fear of change controlling the behavior of people, as well as the idea that humans are defined by what Kiehl calls “known patterns of behavior” (17). This once more can be seen by humanity choosing the aforementioned deleterious side effects instead of directly facing their issues head on. Thankfully, Tomás and Jesusa break free of the iron grip of these behavioral patterns and turn to the Oankali for help, and thus the people of their village are saved.
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Conclusion
The Xenogenesis trilogy is, in its entirety, a work that highlights the benefits of xenophilia and consequently condemns xenophobia. Butler uses the frightening Oankali to present both a physical and psychological obstacle for the human race that challenges humanity to its very core. The Oankali bring preconceived notions of race, colonialism, and even gender theory into question, and give the reader almost a sense of disgust when viewing the xenophobia perpetrated by the humans in the trilogy. Finally, Butler also presents glimmers of hope in a rather dark post-world future in the form of people who overcome their fear of otherness and thus are able to help those around them. Whether it is Lilith’s ability to transgress the borders of the human habitus and see Oankali as more than devils, Akin’s double consciousness and connection to both sides of his heritage, or Jesusa and Tomás’ acceptance of Jodahs and the Oankali, Octavia Butler reveals that the key to moving forward in times of challenge can be found more easily in the realm of acceptance than in that of rejection of otherness.
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Note: The three novels in the Xenogenesis trilogy are Dawn (1987), Adulthood Rites (1988), and
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