Previous
Book 4, Chapter 6
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 ooloi prepare for a conflict with the humans. Lilith says the only one she’ll fight is Curt, and Nikanj reassures her that the Oankali will be fighting to subdue, not kill. Curt notices the approaching Oankali and calls out for them not to get any closer unless they want a fight.
Lilith tried to rebuild a peaceful society, but not long after entering the training camp, things devolve into war, mirroring what happened back on Earth before Lilith’s Awakening. This illustrates the challenges of trying to overcome some of humanity’s basic impulses, like the potential for violence.
Themes
Meanwhile, Kahguyaht confronts Tate and Gabriel. It warns Tate that if she uses her machete, she’ll never be allowed to go back to Earth. Kahguyaht tells Curt that because he killed Joseph, he is forever banished from Earth. Allison surrenders her machete and apologizes to her ooloi. Curt, however, shouts and leads the others in an attack. Gabriel tries to attack Nikanj but gets drugged by Kahguyaht. Tate sees this and surrenders. One man and woman from Curt’s group manage to knock down an ooloi and nearly kill it, but despite a lot of blood, it reassures Lilith that it will heal.
The violence between the humans and the ooloi shows how false all the Oankali promises were about a unified future in which humans and Oankali are genetic partners. The battle yet again shows how unequal the relationship is between the two species, as the ooloi manage to stop the humans without much trouble and even to recover from very serious injuries.
Themes
Lilith realizes that Nikanj has been seriously injured. Kahguyaht ends the fight by drugging Curt, the last fighting human. Lilith goes over and sees that Nikanj’s sensory arm has been almost chopped off. Kahguyaht says that Nikanj may be able to survive but will need Lilith’s help. Kahguyaht instructs Lilith to hold Nikanj’s sensory arm in place while it heals. As Kahguyaht instructs, Lilith strips down to make it easier for Nikanj’s hair tentacles to go into her body. It hurts when Nikanj plugs in, but Lilith stays strong.
The sensory arm is one of Nikanj’s most distinctly alien features, and so it makes sense that this is what the close-minded Curt would attempt to chop off with his ax. Nikanj’s willingness to risk its own life for the sake of protecting Lilith seems at first to redeem its character. Nevertheless, the pain and the parasitic imagery of Nikanj plugging its tentacles into Lilith still raises questions about whether the relationship between Oankali and humans is fundamentally based on exploitation.
Themes
Nikanj, very weak, apologizes to Lilith for the pain and tries to lessen it. He tells her to keep breathing deeply. Lilith closes her eyes, and without her realizing it, time passes. She drifts in and out of consciousness, aware that Ahajas and Dichaan are taking care of her. Eventually Nikanj gets through the worst of it and has only a minor wound left to heal on its sensory arm. By this point, Lilith is so drained that she feels like she’s Awakened again. Nikanj, seeming much healthier, reassures her that she’ll soon feel better.
Lilith uses her body to help Nikanj heal, in a nourishing gesture that could be compared to a mother nursing a child. When Lilith finally succeeds in saving Nikanj, she is left feeling very drained. This raises the question of whether she made a heroic self-sacrifice or whether this is just another example of the Oankali metaphorically (or in this case literally) draining humans for their own benefit.
Themes
Get the entire Dawn LitChart as a printable PDF.
Dichaan tells Lilith that the other humans have seen the walls of the ship and know they’re not on Earth. The ooloi regret not showing the humans this sooner. The humans will soon be sent to Earth for real, except Curt, who will remain in suspended animation. Nikanj comments that Lilith was only able to heal it so quickly because of her special “talent”—her family’s history of cancer. Curt has a similar “talent” and will be used for study. Lilith mentions that Kahguyaht didn’t seem to care much about Nikanj’s injury, but Nikanj says Kahguyaht was just frightened.
Dichaan tries to reassure Lilith that she did good work. Yet the more that Lilith learns about how the Oankali mismanaged the humans and how Curt is being turned into potential test subject, the more Lilith begins to reconsider the doubts she had about the Oankali before she grew close to Nikanj. The fact that Lilith’s cancer ended up serving a purpose is again ambiguous, since while the benefit of cancer to the Oankali is clear, it’s not clear if Lilith herself has any way of benefiting from her condition, which had the potential to kill her.
Themes
