{"id":11631,"date":"2025-04-02T23:41:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T03:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/?page_id=11631"},"modified":"2025-04-10T12:53:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T16:53:02","slug":"scifiapril08","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/scifi2025\/scifiapril08\/","title":{"rendered":"April 8th: Octavia Butler\u2019s Dawn (Parts I and II)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Announcements<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Braver Angels Debate: Is the American Dream Still Achievable?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wednesday, April 9th, 3:30pm-5:30pm<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Food is at 3:30pm; event starts at 4:00pm<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Student Union Room 200<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/e\/braver-angels-collegiate-debate-unc-charlotte-tickets-1284237762719?aff=oddtdtcreator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Food!!! Registration link<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I will give you extra credit for attending. If you\u2019ve missed (or plan to miss) more than four (4) classes,* it would be VERY good for you to show up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>American Forensics Association Nationals\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recap on the Weekend<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>*Please review&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2025\/01\/ENGL3050-SciFi_Fall2025syl.pdf#page=3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the syllabus Attendance policy<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;for more information on absences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Plan for the Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>1A on NPR: &#8220;The advent of artificial general intelligence&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Very interesting discussion of AI because they actually have a real computer scientist who tempers the sci-fi speculation of sentient computers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Overall, the guests assume General AI is going to be here soon.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>No humanists were guests on the show (unless I missed something during the 15 minutes of the episode I wasn&#8217;t able to see)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Octavia Butler&#8217;s <em>Dawn<\/em>, Parts I &amp; II<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Octavia Butler\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Dawn<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Octavia_E._Butler\" target=\"_blank\">Octavia Butler<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;is probably best known for&nbsp;<strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Octavia_E._Butler#Early_stories,_Patternist_series,_and_Kindred:_1971%E2%80%931984\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Kindred<\/em>&nbsp;(1979)<\/a><\/strong>, 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&nbsp;<em>Dawn<\/em>, consider these questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What does the benevolent overlord plot communicate?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>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?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why was Lilith chosen to lead this group of humans?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Part I: The Womb<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ch. 1, p. 5: &#8220;She did not own herself any longer.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ch. 2, p. 11: &#8220;She was not afraid. She had gotten over being frightened by &#8220;ugly&#8221; faces long before her capture. The unknown frightender her. The cage she was in frightened her.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ch. 2, p. 14: &#8220;Humanity in its attempt to destroy itself had made the world unlivable.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ch. 2, p. 17: &#8220;That sounded like a horrible existence&#8211;not to be able to close one&#8217;s eyes, sink into the private darkness behind one&#8217;s own eyelids.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ch. 3, p. 20: Why did the Oankali leave a scar on Lilith?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What other out-of-this-world text does this remind you of?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 21: What is an <em>ooloi<\/em>?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ch. 3, p. 22: &#8220;\u2026overwhelmed by panic\u2026.a true&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/xenophobia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">xenophobia<\/a><\/strong>\u2026&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ch. 3, p. 25: &#8220;Maybe they&#8217;d heard the part she hadn&#8217;t been told about yet: the reason for all this. The price.&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Our lives are better left to chance<br>I could&#8217;ve missed the pain<br>But I&#8217;d have had to miss the dance (<a href=\"https:\/\/genius.com\/Garth-brooks-the-dance-lyrics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Garth Brooks, &#8220;The Dance&#8221;<\/a>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Hope I never see the price of my freedom&#8221; (<a href=\"https:\/\/genius.com\/Better-than-ezra-cry-in-the-sun-lyrics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Better than Ezra, &#8220;Cry in the Sun&#8221;<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ch. 5, p. 30: &#8220;&#8230;Lilith could see color and light&#8211;green, red, orange, yellow&#8230;&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/81MvpnR5tnL._SL1500_.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Dawn<\/em>&#8216;s Grand Central Publishing edition cover (2021)<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ch. 5, p. 39: &#8220;&#8230;a mismatched pair of genetic characteristics&#8230;.If [humans] had been able to perceive and solve their problem, they might have been able to avoid destruction.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ch. 5, p. 40: Jdahya tells Lillith, &#8220;&#8230;intelligence does enable you to deny the facts you dislike. But your denial doesn&#8217;t matter.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Part II: Family<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides being important to Vin Diesel, what&#8217;s <em>family<\/em> got to do with this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>pp. 49-50: What do you think, metaphorically of course, the point about the Oankali being able to neutralize poisonous substances and &#8220;learn to eat&#8221; unfamiliar foods is?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 60: &#8220;And what useful tools would they modify human beings into?&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Are we useful tools?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>pp. 61-62: Lilith wanted to catch the Oankali in lies and figure out why they wanted to breed humans in captivity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 66: &#8220;&#8230;but somehow the illusion of freedom lessened her despair.&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>aj Dinso<\/em>: the way the Oankali name family members<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;The Dinso group was staying on Earth, changing itself by taking part in humanity&#8217;s genetic heritage, spreading its own genes like a disease among unwilling humans&#8230;Dinso. It wasn&#8217;t a surname. It was a terrible promise, a threat.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What&#8217;s <em>in<\/em> a surname?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 75: Changing brain chemistry to learn better.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 85: Nikanj needs Lilith &#8220;to help me through my final metamorphosis<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Finish Up Dawn<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Finish&nbsp;<em>Dawn<\/em>&nbsp;on Thursday, 4\/10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Announcements *Please review&nbsp;the syllabus Attendance policy&nbsp;for more information on absences. Plan for the Day Octavia Butler\u2019s&nbsp;Dawn Octavia Butler&nbsp;is probably best known for&nbsp;Kindred&nbsp;(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&nbsp;Dawn, consider these questions: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":598,"featured_media":0,"parent":11366,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11631","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2HAOx-31B","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11631"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11654,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11631\/revisions\/11654"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}