Through these first five chapters, Octavia Butler slowly paints an environment which is both very interesting and complexly foreign and bazaar. The main character Lilith goes through a series of events which she calls “Awakenings” (Butler 3). We later come to realize these Awakenings are over a duration of 250 years post humanity’s “attempt to destroy itself” (Butler 14). While confined in a room which she describes as “dim” (Butler 3) and containing a bed that “seemed to grow from the floor” (Butler 4) Lilith tries to figure out where she is and why.
Butler illustrates Lilith’s captors in a very mysterious light, making note that they ask her questions without revealing themselves. All this was a means for the captors to understand and observe Lilith. A young East Indian boy named Sharad is place in Lilith’s room upon one of Lilith’s Awakenings. They sing songs together and tried to understand each other’s languages. The boy is soon taken away and Lilith thinks of how he reminded her of her son Arye.
Lilith’s captors turn out to be aliens called the Oankali. The Oankali are a civilized species which travel from planet to planet seeking out life forms with genetics that can improve their own. The humans with their cancer cells and genetics offer the Oankali a chance to be able to regenerate limbs and increase their life span. Once the Oankali teach the humans how to live on the earth changed by nuclear war and Oankali intervention they will split off into three groups and continue to explore the universe. One group called “Dinso” will stay on earth , one called “Toaht” will leave on their current ship, and one called “Akjai” will leave in a new ship. The Oankali will alter the humans' genetics a bit which will cause the humans to reproduce children with Oankali traits. After Learning all this Lilith becomes upset and frustrated that she has lived through the whole ordeal. Jdahya, the first Oankali she encounters, offers to kill Lilith, she hesitates and declines.
I feel as though the Oankali are overwhelmingly similar to the human race; advanced in civilization and always eager to evolve. The Oankali have already experienced a similar situation of destruction as the humans have. I believe the way the Oankali treat the humans (while not harmful) is very much the same as the way humans treat animals as pets and test subjects; always feeling they have the right to determine what is right for the animals. I understand the Oankali’s reasoning for interfering and doing all the things they have to the humans, but I just can’t help but sense that something is wrong and that Lilith’s natural inclination to be afraid of Jdahya is a foreshadow that the Oankali are not to be trusted. I love the title of these first five chapters called “Womb”, because Lilith’s experience is liken to a baby coming out of the womb into a whole new world filled with whole new opportunities and new dangers.
This 3min video, speaks about the debate of animal testing which is whether or not it is worth testing animals for human health benefits.
I agree that the Oankali are treating humans, the way we humans currently treat animals. It’s interesting that we are such an inquisitive race. Bears and dogs don’t capture other animals and test their responses to different stimuli, but we humans do and we feel justified in doing so to satiate our thirst for knowledge.
ReplyDeleteJdahya cited one characteristic of humanity to be intelligence, and to achieve intelligence one must seek out knowledge. Along this line of thinking, the Oankali must also be intelligent beings as they seek to learn and discover. As a human myself I am appalled by what the Oankali did to the human race. But as a human I am not too bothered by what our experiments do to animals, which is pretty hypocritical.
So is animal testing ok? It’s not fair or just but certainly acceptable to many people. I prefer to remain ignorant about the situation so I don’t have to accept that it is wrong. Animals don’t speak English; they have minimal communication skills to relay to us what they are thinking. I am not clear on whether or not Oankali could speak to humans when they first brought them to the ship, or if it’s a language they acquired upon meeting and observing them. But I think that this detail will play an important part in whether or not I decide to agree/disagree with their actions.
I also agree with you in the fact that the way we treat animals is the same way the Oankali are treating the humans. Humans take different types of animal and stick them in confided areas and observe their reaction to the environment around them and the different situations humans excrete on the animals to find out how something affects them and how they react to it. The Oankali are doing the same thing to humans by placing them into confined areas and observing how they react to different situations. Running test and observing how things effect animals has lead to many discovers of different types of medicine and vaccinations that cure many diseases. It has also help many scientist discover how different types of products for humans, will affect them before they even tried it out on humans. I believe that the testing of animals is alright as long and there are regulations in place to insure that the tests are being preformed properly. So when it comes to the Oankali doing observations and test on the humans I think it is alright as long as they are doing things properly and not torturing us. I feel this way because the humans should have not been so power hungry and not destroyed the planet they most likely would not be in this situation. So I agree with the actions of the Oankali because if they were unable to observe us and test us they would not know anything about us and would be unable to provide help which would cause humans to go extinct.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Oankali are treating humans as pets, in a way. It is as if she is being trained like a dog the way Jdahya was with interacting with her. I like what Jamee said about how animals can capture humans and test them but yet we feel it is justified to do the same.
ReplyDeleteAnimal testing is a very interesting debate. There are people that believe that humans should not test on animals; while others believe that an animal’s life is worth sacrificing over humans. I have to side with the former. I believe just because an animal is not capable of doing the things humans do, that does not mean they should be subject to cruel and inhumane treatment, which some of these animal testing facilities are doing.
The only circumstances I feel that it is all right to test animals is through health research. Makeup companies shouldn’t be allowed to test their products on animals. I think it is ok to use rats to try to find cures to deceased and other medical conditions that would benefit humans, only if it is done in a humane way. We raise animals to be slaughtered to satisfy our taste buds, and I think it is ok if we use animals to discover something that would be beneficial to our health.
I think there are some major differences between the way the Oankali are treating humans and the way we treat animals. They seem to be much more humane in their treatment, and seek to bring humans to their level somewhat, as they are making the humans more like themselves. Also, it appears to be beneficial to both parties, as Lilith no longer has cancer and the Oankali are able to regrow limbs, while we treat animals as disposal and it seems to be more of just us benefitting.
ReplyDeleteYet the question is whether animal is acceptable. Testing toxic substances on an animal seems to be inhumane and cruel, but its much more practical than testing substances on a human being. We treat animals as disposable because they are. Oankali treat humans in a much more humane way because they recognise humans as inteligent, but animals are not intelligent. Of course we can say its inhumane or cruel but we can't say its unjust either because that would be putting animals more on a level our own. Animals don't have the same rights we do because they aren't intelligent.
I don't really think the Oankali are treating humans like animals. Although the Oankali have given Lilith little control over her genetics they do treat her like an equal and are looking out for her well being. (Seen in the removal of Lilith's cancer). I will admit that Lilith's condition is similar to an animals in some ways. (confinement, told when to eat, let out sometimes). The fact that Jdahya values her opinions and thoughts makes her unlike a pet.
ReplyDeleteI think animal testing is cruel but it's the only way that we can make sure drugs are safe for humans. I honestly think it would be a lot more inhumane to test things on humans. If we decided to test on humans instead the question that would arise is, which humans get tested? Would the poor be the ones subjected to testing? I think with animals there are less questions that come up. Although cruel, animal testing is a necessary evil.