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Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Book 1, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Lilith's Cage:
When Jdahya first allows Lilith to leave her isolation—after she can be in his presence without panic or fear for her life— she realizes that she does not know what awaits her in the Oankali world. Through a depiction of irony and a simile, the novel illustrates the conflicting emotions that Lilith feels in this moment:
“Lilith, come out,” Jdahya said. She took a step backward, away from all the alien vastness. The isolation room that she had hated for so long suddenly seemed safe and comforting.
“Back into your cage, Lilith?” Jdahya asked softly.
She stared at him through the hole, realized at once that he was trying to provoke her, make her overcome her fear. It would not have worked if he had not been so right. She was retreating into her cage—like a zoo animal that had been shut up for so long that the cage had become home.
For more than two years, Lilith longed to leave her isolation room, to claw her way out and confront her captors. However, when the opportunity to do so arises, she realizes the immense amount of courage required to both leave the room that she knows so well and look into the face of such “alien vastness.” Lilith compares herself to a zoo animal, one who has been caged for so long that the outside world ironically becomes the fearful and unknown. This comparison serves not only to demonstrate the twisted nature of the situation, but also to accentuate the similarities between how the Oankali treat humans and how humans used to treat science projects.
There is also irony in the moment when Jdahya calls Lilith’s isolation room a cage: his rhetorical question hangs in the space between them, a rare moment of sarcasm. The manner in which he teases Lilith is provoking, yes, as she points out, but it is also humorously out of character. This anomaly seems to awaken Lilith from her stupor of unease and to help her realize her own tendency to retreat into her comfort zone.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—The Outsider:
While Nikanj undergoes its metamorphosis into sexual maturity, it sleeps very deeply for several months, leaving Lilith alone to care for it. With a flair of irony, the novel describes Lilith's new, paradoxical situation:
The Oankali could communicate this way, could pass messages from one to another almost at the speed of thought—or so Nikanj had said. Controlled multisensory stimulation. Lilith suspected it was the closest thing to telepathy she would ever see practiced. Nikanj had said it might be able to help her perceive this way when it was mature. But its maturity was months away. Now she was alone again—the alien, the uncomprehending outsider. That was what she would be again in the home of Ahajas and Dichaan.
After Lilith’s most recent Awakening, she meets Jdahya and learns about the Oankali, an extraterrestrial species of beings far more advanced than humans of Earth. In her first few days with Jdahya, Lilith is terrified of him and his tentacled appearance. With no facial features, Jdahya is certainly difficult for Lilith to look at and comprehend as a being. He is an intruder in her isolation room, an outsider.
Eventually, Lilith assimilates into Oankali life and joins Jdahya’s family. However, once Lilith takes charge of Nikanj’s metamorphosis care, she must reassimilate into life with its mates, Ahajas and Dichaan. Lilith is now “the alien, the uncomprehending outsider.” In a house full of Oankali that she does not know, Lilith—the human being—is an alien, a creature from another planet with strange mannerisms, a foreign language, and curious traditions. In stories about human contact with aliens, it is typical for aliens to be outnumbered by humans on Earth. Dawn, however, takes place in Oankali territory on their living ship, where humans are the overwhelming minority. It is this moment when Lilith realizes that the tables have turned, that she is the extraterrestrial creature in this story.
Related Themes:
Book 3, Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Capacity for Violence:
As Lilith scours the dossiers for the humans she must Awaken, she first avoids Awakening men, in fear that they would cause as much unwarranted violence as Paul Titus due to their aggression and size. After Tate, Lilith Awakens Leah and Celene, and the irony is palpable when the first thing Leah does is attack Lilith:
When that was done, she turned, meaning to sit down with Leah and Celene and answer their questions. Instead, she was suddenly staggered by Leah’s weight as the woman leaped onto her back and began strangling her. Lilith began to fall.
[…] Unexpectedly, Celene whispered, “Who are they?” Her face was already streaked with tears. She and Tate had come up silently to join the discussion—or watch the fight.
Lilith glanced at Tate, and Tate shook her head. “And you were afraid Awakening a man would cause violence,” she said.
After Lilith Awakens and adjusts to the Oankali way of life, Kahguyaht and Nikanj allow her to speak with an English-speaking man, Paul Titus. Overjoyed at seeing another human who looks and talks like her, Lilith is rightfully horrified when Paul attacks her. Motivated by his severe isolation, desire to outsmart the Oankali, and immature mind, Paul attempts to rape Lilith, beating her and breaking her wrist in the process. Later in the story, when Lilith is put in charge of Awakening the group of humans to go to Earth, she remains cautious of Awakening any men. Paul was massive and very tall, someone from whom Lilith could not hope to fend off an attack. Consequently, Lilith Awakens Tate first, followed by Leah and Celene, as opposed to Curt or Joseph. Tate points out the irony of Leah strangling Lilith, sarcastically stating, “And you were afraid Awakening a man would cause violence.”
The novel utilizes this irony to demonstrate the universality of human violence. Lilith was terrified of Awakening a man without acceptable social skills or with a proclivity for violence; however, what she fails to realize is that all humans, male or female, are capable of violence in extreme situations. Lilith’s expectations of humanity—such as the quiet disposition of a religious woman like Leah—are overturned by the strife she witnesses in the nursery.
Related Themes:
Book 4, Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Like a Dead Animal:
When Lilith finds Joseph’s corpse, she discovers that Curt murdered him, dealing him multiple blows with an ax. Lilith uses an ironic simile to describe the callousness and cruelty of Curt’s actions:
And there was Joseph. He had been attacked with an ax. She stared, speechless, then rushed to him. He had been hit more than once—blows to the head and neck. His head had been all but severed from his body. He was already cold.
[…] After a time, Nikanj lifted her to her feet, managing her weight easily. […] It let her pull free and she stumbled back to Joseph. Curt had walked away and left him as though he were a dead animal. He should be buried.
After Curt mauls Joseph with an ax, he does not even bother to move or bury the body, leaving him “as though he were a dead animal.” The lack of humanity and decency in Curt’s actions depicts the true nature of his character. Although Lilith initially thought Curt would be a helpful addition to the team, having been a former New York City police officer, he ultimately fractures the group and incites unforgivable violence. In this way, his actions—born of mistrust and xenophobia—subvert Lilith and the reader’s “good cop” expectations. Instead of being a balancing force of justice within the group, he turns people against each other and Lilith. Curt solidifies himself as not only one of the novel’s antagonists but also a representation of humanity’s most monstrous flaws.
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