Announcements
- Braver Angels Debate: Is the American Dream Still Achievable?
- Wednesday, April 9th, 3:30pm-5:30pm
- Food is at 3:30pm; event starts at 4:00pm
- Student Union Room 200
- Food!!! Registration link
- I will give you extra credit for attending. If you’ve missed (or plan to miss) more than four (4) classes,* it would be VERY good for you to show up.
- American Forensics Association Nationals
- Recap on the Weekend
*Please review the syllabus Attendance policy for more information on absences.
Plan for the Day
- Octavia Butler’s Dawn, Parts I & II
Octavia Butler’s Dawn
Octavia Butler is probably best known for Kindred (1979), which is more of a magical speculative novel. It explores systemic racism through a time traveling protagonist dealing with contemporary (late-1970s) racism and early 19th-Century American slavery. As you read Dawn, consider these questions:
- What does the benevolent overlord plot communicate?
- Although DNA knowledge is much more advanced today, Butler extrapolated on DNA science. What comment might be made by having the Oankali manipulate human DNA?
- Why was Lilith chosen to lead this group of humans?
Part I: The Womb
- Ch. 1, p. 5: “She did not own herself any longer.”
- Ch. 2, p. 11: “She was not afraid. She had gotten over being frightened by “ugly” faces long before her capture. The unknown frightender her. The cage she was in frightened her.”
- Ch. 2, p. 14: “Humanity in its attempt to destroy itself had made the world unlivable.”
- Ch. 2, p. 17: “That sounded like a horrible existence–not to be able to close one’s eyes, sink into the private darkness behind one’s own eyelids.”
- Ch. 3, p. 20: Why did the Oankali leave a scar on Lilith?
- What other out-of-this-world text does this remind you of?
- p. 21: What is an ooloi?
- Ch. 3, p. 22: “…overwhelmed by panic….a true xenophobia…”
- Ch. 5, p. 39: “…a mismatched pair of genetic characteristics….If [humans] had been able to perceive and solve their problem, they might have been able to avoid destruction.”
- Ch. 5, p. 40: Jdahya tells Lillith, “…intelligence does enable you to deny the facts you dislike. But your denial doesn’t matter.”
Part II: Family
Besides being important to Vin Diesel, what’s family got to do with this?
Based on your participation, I’ll add important quotations from the novel.
Finish Up Dawn
Finish Dawn on Thursday, 4/10.