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Book 4, Chapter 4
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 and the others make it upriver to what seems to be the oldest part of the island. Lilith advises stopping for the night, but Gabriel doesn’t like being given orders. An argument breaks out—Gabriel wants to find the others like Curt and Celene if they’re still free, but Tate just wants to get as far away from the Oankali as possible. Lilith insists on building shelter for the night but promises to go out and find the others the next day. She will go out herself, since due to her improved memory she can’t get lost, although anyone who wants to come with her is welcome to join.
Gabriel has been a steady ally to Lilith for much of the time since his Awakening, but when times get difficult, even he tries to challenge her authority with masculine displays of dominance, like rebelling against orders. Lilith’s insistence on stopping for shelter shows again how her style of leadership is similar to parenting, as she focuses on creating a home for her followers. It also once again shows her pragmatic and cautious side when it comes to making big decisions.
Themes
They start building a camp. Lilith tells them they can fish the next day—the Oankali never taught her any form of killing, but she learned how to spear fish anyway. That evening as she and Joseph lie in a hammock, she is bothered that he seems to be trying not to touch her. When Lilith takes his hand, he seems uncomfortable.
By disobeying the Oankali orders about killing and eating animals, the humans rebel against Oankali authority and reclaim part of their past as a race of hunter-gatherers. Still, the fact that the Oankali included animals in their training scenario raises the question of whether this “rebellion” on the part of the humans is all part of the larger Oankali plan.
Themes
