We tacitly accept many ideas in sci-fi as permanent trappings of the genre: Starry-eyed futurism, techno-fetishism that serves as both the main source of conflict and mankind’s salvation. When you consider the elements of classical science fiction these ideas come with the territory, they are the Coke and fries that come with the meal of mainstream science fiction. Even the grittiest science fiction ventures to the existence of humankind in a far future. Based on our species’ nuclear and environmental track record I posit any story set more than five years in the future is a bit over presumptuous. It is in this frame of mind that I approached Lilith’s Brood by Octavia Butler.
Butler’s perspective as a woman science fiction writer [gasp] of African decent [double gasp] decimates the dull assumptions of an entire genre. She creates a world that is completely unique, bizarre and believable in equal measure. The sharp and resilient protagonist Lilith embodies her fresh contribution to sci-fi characterization. Lilith’s womanhood plays an important part in her struggles with an ambiguous alien sexuality. She is forced to reassess the meaning of her genetic heritage and her intrinsic concepts of motherhood.
In Lilith’s Brood if not for some fortuitous (and weirdly erotic) alien intervention, our species would have vanished completely from the universe without so much as a whimper. Much has been made of Octavia Butler’s self-proclaimed pessimism, but this is just the shell of a complex and nuanced point of view. Butler seems to be operating from the assumption that humanity’s self-destruction is a foregone conclusion. And not just in the Cormack McCarthy sense, where after the apocalypse some grizzled men scurry around and engage in stern melodrama. Butler’s vision is complete annihilation; gone, dead, the humans are no more. Though she certainly does not posses the same glowing regard for mankind’s ability to triumph over all odds as many of her contemporaries, her apocalypse is not without the occasional hopeful glimmers.
By starting the story after humanity’s alien-assisted resurrection Butler attempts to shed some light on humankind’s Promethean tendencies. She seems to share the point of view her Oankali alien race. The Oankali essentially view the Human race as a room full of violent, highly intelligent toddlers who should not be left alone under any circumstances. But is there anything our species can do to avoid certain annihilation? Conventional science fiction would purpose the standard raft of ideas: Spaceships, war, wormholes, bigger spaceships, mind-expanding drugs, Robots! Butler takes a differing standpoint. It is clear she does not believe that Humanity can transcend its genetic dead man’s switch unassisted. In Lilith’s Brood the answer to Humanity’s salvation is though a process of dispassionate genetic manipulation. The Oankali can take even the worst aspects of our species’ biology and by combining it with their own genetic material, transform into strengths. Butler is probably not advocating for genetic manipulation as a solution to all mankind’s ills, rather she is purposing that the problems our species faces are much deeper than we would like to think. Perhaps too deep for us to escape from. Is the divisive, hierarchical nature of mankind encoded on a cellular level? An impossible question to be sure, but maybe the key to our salvation lies in a different direction.
The prospect of any one individual in our species bringing about the destruction of our entire race seems ridiculous, even the most dangerous among us subject to human limitations. However when we think stop thinking of individuals and start thinking about groups the scenario becomes frighteningly plausible. Though details are scarce in Butler’s vision it is implied that a nuclear attack by an extremist group is what finally renders the world uninhabitable. Perhaps then the message should be to keep a more critical eye to those who vie for ultimate power over others. While we wait for our grotesque-yet-sexy alien overlords to breed away our malignant natures, some gentle, massive restructuring of civilization wouldn’t hurt. We might consider allowing for more diverse perspectives like Butler's to permeate our societies. A more diverse sampling of viewpoints would shift the balance of power in the favor of a species made up of individuals, over divisionary factions made of ideas.
Butler’s perspective as a woman science fiction writer [gasp] of African decent [double gasp] decimates the dull assumptions of an entire genre. She creates a world that is completely unique, bizarre and believable in equal measure. The sharp and resilient protagonist Lilith embodies her fresh contribution to sci-fi characterization. Lilith’s womanhood plays an important part in her struggles with an ambiguous alien sexuality. She is forced to reassess the meaning of her genetic heritage and her intrinsic concepts of motherhood.
In Lilith’s Brood if not for some fortuitous (and weirdly erotic) alien intervention, our species would have vanished completely from the universe without so much as a whimper. Much has been made of Octavia Butler’s self-proclaimed pessimism, but this is just the shell of a complex and nuanced point of view. Butler seems to be operating from the assumption that humanity’s self-destruction is a foregone conclusion. And not just in the Cormack McCarthy sense, where after the apocalypse some grizzled men scurry around and engage in stern melodrama. Butler’s vision is complete annihilation; gone, dead, the humans are no more. Though she certainly does not posses the same glowing regard for mankind’s ability to triumph over all odds as many of her contemporaries, her apocalypse is not without the occasional hopeful glimmers.
By starting the story after humanity’s alien-assisted resurrection Butler attempts to shed some light on humankind’s Promethean tendencies. She seems to share the point of view her Oankali alien race. The Oankali essentially view the Human race as a room full of violent, highly intelligent toddlers who should not be left alone under any circumstances. But is there anything our species can do to avoid certain annihilation? Conventional science fiction would purpose the standard raft of ideas: Spaceships, war, wormholes, bigger spaceships, mind-expanding drugs, Robots! Butler takes a differing standpoint. It is clear she does not believe that Humanity can transcend its genetic dead man’s switch unassisted. In Lilith’s Brood the answer to Humanity’s salvation is though a process of dispassionate genetic manipulation. The Oankali can take even the worst aspects of our species’ biology and by combining it with their own genetic material, transform into strengths. Butler is probably not advocating for genetic manipulation as a solution to all mankind’s ills, rather she is purposing that the problems our species faces are much deeper than we would like to think. Perhaps too deep for us to escape from. Is the divisive, hierarchical nature of mankind encoded on a cellular level? An impossible question to be sure, but maybe the key to our salvation lies in a different direction.
The prospect of any one individual in our species bringing about the destruction of our entire race seems ridiculous, even the most dangerous among us subject to human limitations. However when we think stop thinking of individuals and start thinking about groups the scenario becomes frighteningly plausible. Though details are scarce in Butler’s vision it is implied that a nuclear attack by an extremist group is what finally renders the world uninhabitable. Perhaps then the message should be to keep a more critical eye to those who vie for ultimate power over others. While we wait for our grotesque-yet-sexy alien overlords to breed away our malignant natures, some gentle, massive restructuring of civilization wouldn’t hurt. We might consider allowing for more diverse perspectives like Butler's to permeate our societies. A more diverse sampling of viewpoints would shift the balance of power in the favor of a species made up of individuals, over divisionary factions made of ideas.
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