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A review by emlizzy
Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler
5.0
Adulthood Rites is the second novel in the “Lilith’s Brood” or “Xenogenesis” trilogy. As the title indicates, this is a coming-of-age story told from the perspective of Akin, a human-Oankali construct (hybrid) and son of Lilith Iyapo, the protagonist from the Dawn, the first book in the series. This story takes place thirty years after the events in Dawn.
Akin has five parents representing three genders and two species (yikes… that would make for a really complicated family tree…). Because Akin is a human-Oankali “construct,” he feels torn between belonging to neither group, and yet to both. He is highly intelligent – even learning to speak while still a baby. He is born in one of Earth’s “trade villages”, which is a community of humans and Oankali living together and interbreeding – building mixed families where everyone has generally accepted the situation in order to continue procreating and passing along genetic material, even if the result isn’t fully human.
However, the situation on earth is still not ideal. In addition to the “trade villages”, there are communities of resisters – people who have refused to join with the Oankali, but are allowed to live in their own communities. The Oankali have sterilized them, so in their frustration and anguish they resort to abducting construct children who look as close to “normal” as possible (ideally without the Oankali sensory tentacles). Unfortunately for Akin, he is the most human-looking child who has been born for far, and he is abducted. His kidnappers eventually sell him to a small resister town called Phoenix. The transition is difficult and confusing for him – he finds the humans both terrifying and compelling; resists his imprisonment yet learns from it; and comes to love some of his captors. He begins to connect with his human side, and to see the value in allowing humans to preserve their culture.
The Oankali initially search for him immediately following his abduction, but then through consensus decide to leave him in Phoenix for a year so he can learn and understand more about the humans. We come to find out that the purpose of his time with the humans is so that he can one day advise the Oankali about how to best handle the resisters. The Oankali eventually rescue Akin and bring him back to the trade village, but he decides to spend the rest of his youth traveling to resister villages and building relationships with humans. Balanced between both worlds, he is in a unique position to advocate for the resisters to have their fertility restored and to be sent to a terra-formed Mars to form their own civilization. The Oankali have reserved part of their population to continue independently (Akjai Oankali) without engaging in genetic trade with the humans, thus, why shouldn’t humans be given the same right?
As with Dawn, I felt like Butler portrayed both species with some ambivalence. Humans and Oankali both love, and yet equally use Akin for their own purposes – ignoring the traumatic effects these actions have on him and his childhood. Although Butler provides some balance, I still feel like she’s generally more pessimistic about the future of humanity without the Oankali presence to balance them. This is most notable in the human’s “inherent biological contradiction” of having both genetically developed intelligence and the need for cultural hierarchy. The contradiction rears its ugly head in the struggles the resister communities have with violent raiders and the reemergence of weapons (the fact that there is a need for them in the first place). In the 30-50 years since coming back to earth, people are already stealing, raping, and killing each other. Although the Oankali are convinced that humans are ultimately self-destructive and will lead to their own demise (again), they listen to Akin and decide to give humans a second chance.
When Akin is finally put in charge of starting the terra-forming and human colonization of Mars, he undergoes his metamorphosis into adulthood that masks all his physical human characteristics, so the humans’ biggest advocate now appears utterly alien. Yet, as Akin learned to tolerate and eventually admire human difference by living among the humans, so the humans (some of them) accept him in his new form and see that he is trying to help them develop an independent society. Regardless of his form, he believes in them - he thinks that humanity can breed out the violent tendencies (the biological contradiction).
Even though the Oankali believe they can predict the future of humanity based on the genetic/biological contradiction, it is Akin’s experience living in a culturally human setting that convinces him humans can change, and ultimately makes him an advocate for their rights. When Akin is removed from settings dominated by Oankali culture and thought (the human resister settlement) he quickly sees that, while human danger is real, so is Oankali manipulation and domination.
Although much of the focus of the story seems to be on biological differences (and how we define the “other” through appearance), I believe the story is actually focused on the characters’ capacity to learn and change with – and often in resistance to – their biology. They compromise. Some of the resisters learn to accept difference and an unlikely alliance with Akin; the constructs come to a better understanding of their dual nature as both human and Oankali; and the Oankali admit they may have been wrong to deny humans their own future – although they still fervently believe it will not end well. Akin acts as a mediator between cultures that he has learned are both hopelessly flawed and yet worthy of survival.
In short, Adulthood Rites grabbed me and kept me engaged in ways that Dawn didn’t. Not to say that I wasn’t engaged while reading Dawn (I also loved Dawn!); rather, I felt a greater sense of urgency to continue turning page after page of Adulthood Rites until I was finished. I’ve already gotten myself a copy of Imago, the final book in the trilogy. If the first two are any indication, I’m certain I won’t be disappointed. Butler’s capacity for dealing with complex social issues in ways that are subtle and non-preachy is impressive. Her world-building and character development is phenomenal and she writes in a completely believable and authentic style. She’s teaching us things about ourselves – as a species and culture – that we should not ignore. Is humanity destined for self-destruction?
This review can also be found here: http://cactuswrenreview.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/adulthood-rites-by-octavia-butler/
Akin has five parents representing three genders and two species (yikes… that would make for a really complicated family tree…). Because Akin is a human-Oankali “construct,” he feels torn between belonging to neither group, and yet to both. He is highly intelligent – even learning to speak while still a baby. He is born in one of Earth’s “trade villages”, which is a community of humans and Oankali living together and interbreeding – building mixed families where everyone has generally accepted the situation in order to continue procreating and passing along genetic material, even if the result isn’t fully human.
However, the situation on earth is still not ideal. In addition to the “trade villages”, there are communities of resisters – people who have refused to join with the Oankali, but are allowed to live in their own communities. The Oankali have sterilized them, so in their frustration and anguish they resort to abducting construct children who look as close to “normal” as possible (ideally without the Oankali sensory tentacles). Unfortunately for Akin, he is the most human-looking child who has been born for far, and he is abducted. His kidnappers eventually sell him to a small resister town called Phoenix. The transition is difficult and confusing for him – he finds the humans both terrifying and compelling; resists his imprisonment yet learns from it; and comes to love some of his captors. He begins to connect with his human side, and to see the value in allowing humans to preserve their culture.
The Oankali initially search for him immediately following his abduction, but then through consensus decide to leave him in Phoenix for a year so he can learn and understand more about the humans. We come to find out that the purpose of his time with the humans is so that he can one day advise the Oankali about how to best handle the resisters. The Oankali eventually rescue Akin and bring him back to the trade village, but he decides to spend the rest of his youth traveling to resister villages and building relationships with humans. Balanced between both worlds, he is in a unique position to advocate for the resisters to have their fertility restored and to be sent to a terra-formed Mars to form their own civilization. The Oankali have reserved part of their population to continue independently (Akjai Oankali) without engaging in genetic trade with the humans, thus, why shouldn’t humans be given the same right?
As with Dawn, I felt like Butler portrayed both species with some ambivalence. Humans and Oankali both love, and yet equally use Akin for their own purposes – ignoring the traumatic effects these actions have on him and his childhood. Although Butler provides some balance, I still feel like she’s generally more pessimistic about the future of humanity without the Oankali presence to balance them. This is most notable in the human’s “inherent biological contradiction” of having both genetically developed intelligence and the need for cultural hierarchy. The contradiction rears its ugly head in the struggles the resister communities have with violent raiders and the reemergence of weapons (the fact that there is a need for them in the first place). In the 30-50 years since coming back to earth, people are already stealing, raping, and killing each other. Although the Oankali are convinced that humans are ultimately self-destructive and will lead to their own demise (again), they listen to Akin and decide to give humans a second chance.
When Akin is finally put in charge of starting the terra-forming and human colonization of Mars, he undergoes his metamorphosis into adulthood that masks all his physical human characteristics, so the humans’ biggest advocate now appears utterly alien. Yet, as Akin learned to tolerate and eventually admire human difference by living among the humans, so the humans (some of them) accept him in his new form and see that he is trying to help them develop an independent society. Regardless of his form, he believes in them - he thinks that humanity can breed out the violent tendencies (the biological contradiction).
Even though the Oankali believe they can predict the future of humanity based on the genetic/biological contradiction, it is Akin’s experience living in a culturally human setting that convinces him humans can change, and ultimately makes him an advocate for their rights. When Akin is removed from settings dominated by Oankali culture and thought (the human resister settlement) he quickly sees that, while human danger is real, so is Oankali manipulation and domination.
Although much of the focus of the story seems to be on biological differences (and how we define the “other” through appearance), I believe the story is actually focused on the characters’ capacity to learn and change with – and often in resistance to – their biology. They compromise. Some of the resisters learn to accept difference and an unlikely alliance with Akin; the constructs come to a better understanding of their dual nature as both human and Oankali; and the Oankali admit they may have been wrong to deny humans their own future – although they still fervently believe it will not end well. Akin acts as a mediator between cultures that he has learned are both hopelessly flawed and yet worthy of survival.
In short, Adulthood Rites grabbed me and kept me engaged in ways that Dawn didn’t. Not to say that I wasn’t engaged while reading Dawn (I also loved Dawn!); rather, I felt a greater sense of urgency to continue turning page after page of Adulthood Rites until I was finished. I’ve already gotten myself a copy of Imago, the final book in the trilogy. If the first two are any indication, I’m certain I won’t be disappointed. Butler’s capacity for dealing with complex social issues in ways that are subtle and non-preachy is impressive. Her world-building and character development is phenomenal and she writes in a completely believable and authentic style. She’s teaching us things about ourselves – as a species and culture – that we should not ignore. Is humanity destined for self-destruction?
This review can also be found here: http://cactuswrenreview.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/adulthood-rites-by-octavia-butler/