Previous
Personification
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
The setting of Octavia Butler’s Dawn plays an integral role in the unfolding of the plot and the actions of the characters. The novel takes place 250 years after a world-ending nuclear war on Earth, following the protagonist Lilith Iyapo as she adjusts to her new reality. Each location designates a new book within the novel, with a shift in location indicating a shift in attitude and acceptance towards the Oankali. With each location change, Lilith moves closer towards leaving her Earth identity behind and integrating with the Oankali.
The story opens in Lilith’s isolation room, metaphorically known as the Womb. Each human’s isolation room looks alike: bare and simple, providing only the necessities for human life. It is a space devoid of beauty and identity. The harshness of the isolation causes many of the surviving humans to take their lives. Though Lilith does not go to such extremes, she does try—in vain—to destroy the surfaces and break the ceiling.
Once Lilith accepts her circumstances and adjusts to Jdahya’s appearance, the Oankali release her from isolation. She learns that she is a passenger on the Oankali ship, which is, in reality, an inconceivably large, living organism. In the ship, there are different townships and family homes, as well as roads on which the Oankali travel. The ship is essentially a planet in itself, and Lilith struggles to feel as though she belongs there. Surrounded by Oankali, she feels like the alien aboard the spaceship.
The penultimate locale is the nursery, an ever-expanding room in which Lilith is tasked with Awakening 40 humans. These people will be the first humans to return to Earth in 250 years. The nursery is sparse, essentially a larger, more populated isolation room. However, this time around, Lilith has the power to access the food cabinets and change the wall structure, which allows her to create a more private abode for herself.
After the ooloi introduce themselves—with mixed reactions— the group is sent to the training room. The room is designed to be a recreation of the Amazon rainforest (trees, bugs, rivers, and all). The setting is lush and green, unlike the sparseness of the Oankali ship. The vibrancy of the training room is akin to the free-spirited behavior of the group. However, this behavior ultimately takes a turn for the worse and results in both Joseph’s death and a fracturing of the group.
