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Book 3, Chapter 1
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
Tate Awakens disoriented and tells Lilith to get away. Lilith gives her space, and slowly Tate realizes that her previous Awakening wasn’t a dream. Lilith tells Tate that she’s a prisoner too. She explains how Tate has been in suspended animation for 250 years but how the Earth is finally ready for human habitation again. She offers Tate real food, not the gray kind from her first awakening, and tells her name. Tate is surprised that Lilith has been awake for two years, since Tate was only awake for about a couple months during her first Awakening. Lilith explains the Oankali to Tate.
Lilith now gets to experience things from the other side and witness what it’s like when someone else Awakens. The role that she plays for Tate ends up being very similar to the one that Jdahya played for Lilith. This ends up being a double-edged sword—while on the one hand, Lilith has been granted greater autonomy, on the other hand, she is potentially being forced to use her new authority in an oppressive way.
Themes
