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Book 2, Chapter 7
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Dawn, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Humanity, Evolution, and Genetics
Motherhood and Leadership
Consent and Autonomy
Sexuality and Gender
Summary
Analysis
Lilith has lost the concept of a day, but tries to just listen to the rhythms of her body. After a period of time, Nikanj tells Lilith that Kahguyaht found a nearby English-speaking human, a male a little older than Lilith. Nikanj takes Lilith to meet the man, whose name is Paul Titus. When they arrive, Lilith sees that Paul is tall and Black like she is. Lilith finds him innately beautiful. In an American accent, he says he’s been expecting the two of them and invites them into the room of his dwelling.
On the surface, Lilith and Paul might seem to have a lot in common, both being Black and American. Lilith herself is very attracted to Paul based on what she sees about him on the surface. Still, this chapter will ultimately explore how it isn’t possible to trust surface impressions, which can be misleading, and how lasting human relationships have to be about more than just superficial connection.
Themes
Lilith asks Paul about his decision to stay with the Oankali. Paul says that he was just 14 when most of his family was killed in the war—he saw the bodies of all of them except his mother and a sister. Paul himself was dying until the Oankali saved him. Paul asks what Lilith did on Earth, and she talks about how she went back to school for anthropology and eventually mentions the deaths of Sam and Ayre.
Paul has experienced a lot of trauma at a fairly young age. He has witnessed the deaths of family members and even faced the possibility of his own death. Similar to Lilith, Paul seems to show resilience in the face of tragedy and a desire to survive, although later events in the chapter will question whether Paul has really survived these traumas as well as it first appears.
Themes
Paul has learned how to make walls in the ship open and close, just like the Oankali. Nikanj left Lilith and Paul alone, but Lilith suspects the Oankali are still watching them somehow. Paul tells his theory that he believes some Ooloi, like Nikanj, are more masculine, while others are more feminine, and the actual male and female Oankali seem more like eunuchs. Lilith doesn’t say so, but she thinks this theory is ignorant, and she just accepts what the Oankali tell her about their genders at face value.
While the Oankali frequently make false assumptions about humans, in this passage Paul shows how it’s equally possible for humans to misunderstand the Oankali. Lilith, a former anthropologist, may be skeptical about the Oankali’s motives, but she believes that it’s best to understand their species on its own terms. By contrast, Paul tries to use analogies to human culture, which end up giving him an inaccurate picture of the Oankali.
Themes
Lilith mentions that she has volunteered to help Nikanj with a metamorphosis, and Paul thinks that’s a good idea, since it will put Nikanj in her debt. He offers Lilith a sandwich of an Oankali vegetable that tastes like cheese, and she accepts. They talk about their past lives, and Lilith mentions that Ayre had a natural birth at a birthing center, not a hospital. Paul thinks this might be one reason the Oankali are interested in her—because life back on Earth will be like in the Stone Age again. Paul himself has no interest in going back and prefers to live out the rest of his life with the Oankali on their ship.
Paul’s calculated way of thinking, as he compliments Lilith on putting Nikanj in her debt, is in many ways similar to the analytic way that the Oankali themselves view the world—perhaps reflecting how Paul has now spent a sizable chunk of his life living among the Oankali. Paul’s lack of interest in going back to Earth further shows how he has accepted Oankali ways and rejected a part of his humanity in the process.
Themes
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Paul believes that, as helpful as the Oankali have been, their ultimate plan will lead to the end of humanity, through breeding. Lilith isn’t sure, but Paul says she’ll learn when she’s Awake longer. Paul says that if Lilith wanted, she could stay with him instead, but she rejects the offer. Paul says the Oankali expect her to reject him, hoping that seeing her options will make her more committed to the Oankali plan. He tries to convince Lilith not to play into what the Oankali want.
Although Lilith disagrees with Paul on many issues, by the end of the novel, she comes to believe that Paul is right in this passage: the Oankali do want to bring about the end of humanity through interbreeding, even if they don’t state that as their goal. Although Paul advises Lilith not to become like the Oankali, he himself has become more like them by rejecting his home planet of Earth.
Themes
Paul says that the Oankali didn’t have enough humans, since most humans want to go back to Earth but the Oankali also need some humans to stay on the ship. So the Oankali had to make more humans somehow. Lilith thinks of the scar on her stomach. Paul has heard he has 70 children, although he’s never even seen a woman since Awakening.
The way that the Oankali have used Paul to father more children without letting him know how shows the dark side of their plan for humanity’s future. It once again echoes slavery and how some men and women were used to create new children to sell into slavery.
Themes
Suddenly, Paul looks at her, then starts trying to take off her jacket. Lilith tells him to stop and says not to act like livestock to be bred, as the Oankali seem to want. He persists until eventually Lilith manages to kick him away. She angrily yells at Paul that he has no way of knowing if the Oankali forced him to have one of his many children with his own mother or sister, who may have survived. Paul gets angry and hits her. He says the Oankali promised him sex with Lilith, but she’s messed it up. He kicks her, and she passes out.
Paul’s anger about being denied sex shows both the dark side of masculinity and also the consequences of the way the Oankali have treated him, locking him up and depriving him of human interaction. Paul’s actions are horrible, but much of the blame for Lilith’s suffering also lies with the Oankali, who set up this meeting between Lilith and Paul and who helped create the conditions that turned Paul into the stunted human that he is.
Themes
