Reversal of Power
In Octavia E. Butler’s Dawn after nuclear war destroys the world, the Oankali, an alien race, saves the remaining human survivors. The Oankali intends to crossbreed the humans they have saved with themselves and reintroduce them and their alien offspring to the earth. Butler depicts a reversal of power amongst gender and species. Currently, males are the dominate gender, and humans are the dominate species. However, in Dawn the aliens are the dominate species, and Lilith Lyapo a black female chosen by the aliens as the leader over the humans. In Dawn, the aliens have to find a leader for the humans. The purpose of a leader is to convince the humans to believe aliens as allies. Kahguyaht, Jdahya’s mate that is neither male nor female. Jdahya is the first Oankali Dawn meets. Kahguyaht thought that a man should lead humans but later found that to be wrong. “I believe that because of the way human genetics were expressed in culture, a human male should be chosen to parent the first group. I think now that was wrong” (110). He believes the humans are in need of something that a male leader could not give. “The way we think of it. To teach, to give comfort, to feed and give clothe, to guide them through and interpret what will be, for them, a new and frightening world.