Dawn

Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy, published as the Lilith’s Brood series in 2000, comprises three novels: Dawn (1987), Adulthood Rites (1988), and Imago (1989). The trilogy explores themes of survival, identity, free will, and the complexities of coexistence between different species. The series was one of the few of its time to feature a Black female protagonist, as science fiction has historically been a genre overwhelmingly dominated by white male writers and characters. Butler’s work, including Dawn’s emphasis on Women of Color in Leadership Roles, represents a significant shift in that trend.

In Dawn, the protagonist, Lilith Iyapo, awakens centuries after a nuclear war has devastated Earth. She finds herself aboard a spaceship belonging to the Oankali, an alien species that survives by merging genetically with less advanced species, in this case humanity, to create a hybrid race. The Oankali possess advanced biotechnology and a social structure based on the ability to trade genes. Lilith is chosen to lead the first group of humans back to repopulate Earth but grapples with issues of trust, autonomy, and adaptation. She pair bonds with a member of the Oankali’s third gender, an ooloi, and is impregnated with a child of hybrid DNA.

Adulthood Rites follows Akin, Lilith’s human-Oankali son, who embodies the potential of the genetic union between different species. Akin’s journey explores the tensions between pure humans, who resist the Oankali influence, and the hybrid beings, called “constructs.” Humans can no longer procreate without Oankali DNA, and Akin struggles with his mixed heritage and identity.

In Imago, the story continues with Jodahs, another of Lilith’s children, who is the first ooloi construct and the first human-Oankali construct capable of metamorphosis. Jodahs’s transformation underscores the trilogy’s exploration of change, identity, and the potential for a harmonious future between humans and alien species.

Like much of Butler’s work, the series’ message is ambiguous about humanity’s potential to survive catastrophic events and move beyond the violence and desire for domination that have characterized human history in both the ancient and modern eras. The theme of nuclear war is significant because the series was written during the late stages of the Cold War, when nuclear proliferation was at its height. Though the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, in the late 1980s, the threat of nuclear war between the United States and Russia was very real. The trilogy has also been described as an allegory of colonization and the experience of enslaved Africans in the American South, as it emphasizes the power dynamics between the enslavers (Oankali) and the enslaved (humans).