Julia Sandoval
ENGCMP 0200
Assignment #2
March 24, 2009
It seems to me that the more powerful a group or person gets, the subject of morality plays a lesser role in how and why they do things. Morals are most apparent in the simplest communities, for example convents; but even in the same religion as one particularly moral convent, blown up and with way too much power, for example the Vatican, can become corrupt. In the late 1490s, Pope Alexander VI had seven illegitimate children. The main problem in humanity is our tendency to adhere to hierarchical status. These people have too much power and these once moral people can revert away from their teachings and completely alter what is to be allowed and what is controversial. In Octavia Butler’s Adulthood Rites, the Oankali-Earth, morality is a question that can be argued according to which village and race is discussed. The aspect of morality varies, but from my point of view in this day and age, it is safe to say that their ideas of morality have shifted and are useless in their quest to fulfill their hierarchical tendencies and save the human race, which was ironically the very reason for the failure of the human race to begin with.
The Oankali are the most powerful and levelheaded characters in the book. Even their small genetic influences in humans create much more intelligent, rational beings. Their ideas about morality, however, are flawed. They mean well in “trading” with the human species, but denying them the right to procreate without their consent is certainly unethical and immoral. The Oankali think that because they know something is good, because they know they are good even if the humans do not, that they are morally justified to do what they please. When Nikanj inadvertently forced Joseph to lie with him and Lilith, there was a great moral conflict. From our perspective, he raped Joseph in engaging him in sex with himself and Lilith. From the Oankali perspective, the ooloi Nikanj had read Joseph’s body and noticed that he did in fact want to join in their sex. Now, a common defense of human rapists is that they perceived their victims as “asking for it.” This could be the same situation, yet the human would not actually know what the body and mind were feeling, unlike the Oankali.
As mentioned before, the Oankali trade fairly and rationally, yet without the consent of humans to do so. They mess with their bodies while in captivity and in turn restore them and Earth to their full potential. The most immoral thing though, is that when they do get to Earth and settle, the Oankali deny the rights for any human to have children unless they agree to join them and produce Oankali-human children. This is in all essence a form of blackmail.
The way that humanity has changed from prewar Earth to the postwar Earth is striking. The people have essentially reverted back to either a cavemen lifestyle or primitive-but with great intelligence. Yet this intelligence as expected does not override the growing need for hierarchical order. The same people who once lived in our world, who lived moral lives and knew right from wrong, who knew about all the horrors of the world and did not practice them, are now in the postwar Earth doing the very things they once knew were abominably wrong. Mostly stemming from the fact that they cannot produce their own children, they trade women for goods or weapons, steal children and sell them, and use guns and weapons against anyone who contradicts their thinking. The hierarchical nature of humanity is most apparent here and unfortunately will probably again lead to the demise of the human race, that is, assuming they never choose to give into the Oankali cross-breeding in order to bear children.
Both races have completely different views on what morality means. The Oankali deem morality as conduct that they know will benefit everyone, even if the humans do not realize it. The humans deem morality as anything they can do to survive and take over the Oankali. Both are flawed and as Solaris states, “we are in a situation beyond morality,” it is apparent that in the times of intense confusion and frustration, morality is only a suggestion.
Butler, Octavia E. Adulthood Rites Wagner Books: New York, 1989
4 comments:
Sorry for the late post Julia. For your thesis you supported the Solaris notation that "we are beyond morality" in some way, but the paper tenuously grasps the intended statement until the final paragraphs. Perhaps begin describing this earlier so that you can develop more ideas about transcending morality and less in plot summarization. Stylistically, I enjoy the personal touch in wording, but in some instances the language was too conversational. Overall, I think that the addition of explicit explanation and connection of your arguments would serve to draw to bring the different directions of your paper into a cohesive whole. Hope this helped. Good luck
Julia Sandoval
ENGCMP 0200
Assignment #2
March 24, 2009
Morality
It seems to me that the more powerful a group or person gets, the subject of morality plays a lesser role in how and why they perform an action. The main problem in humanity is our tendency to adhere to hierarchical status. These people have too much power and these once moral people can revert away from their teachings and completely alter what is to be allowed and what is controversial. Without the strong moral conviction to shape how society is run, a society cannot be a success. In Octavia Butler’s Adulthood Rites, the Oankali-Earth, morality is a question that can be argued according to which village and race is discussed. The aspect of morality varies, but from my point of view in this day and age, it is safe to say that their ideas of morality have shifted and are useless in their quest to fulfill their hierarchical tendencies and save the human race, which was ironically the very reason for the failure of the human race to begin with. When all is lost, morality is not a priority. In the book Solaris it is said that “we are in a situation beyond morality.” This demonstrates how in the most desperate times, the human race will not concern itself with ethics and morals, but rather with what is to be done in order to survive.
The Oankali are the most powerful and levelheaded characters in the book. Even their small genetic influences in humans create much more intelligent, rational beings. Their ideas about morality, however, are flawed. They mean well in “trading” with the human species, but denying them the right to procreate without their consent is certainly unethical and immoral. The Oankali think that because they know something is good, and that thing is good (even if by a human perspective, it is not), that they are morally justified to do what they please. When Nikanj inadvertently forced Joseph to lie with him and Lilith, there was a great moral conflict. From our perspective, he raped Joseph in engaging him in sex with himself and Lilith. From the Oankali perspective, the ooloi Nikanj had read Joseph’s body and noticed that he did in fact want to join in their sex. A common defense of human rapists is that they perceived their victims as “asking for it.” This could be the same situation, yet the human would not actually know what the body and mind were feeling, unlike the Oankali.
Aforementioned, the Oankali trade fairly and rationally, yet without the consent of humans to do so. They tamper with their bodies while in captivity and in turn restore them and Earth to their full potential. The most immoral thing though, is that when they do get to Earth and settle, the Oankali deny the rights for any human to have children unless they agree to join them and produce Oankali-human children. This is in all essence a form of blackmail.
The way that humanity has changed from prewar Earth to the postwar Earth is striking. The people have essentially reverted back to either a cavemen lifestyle or primitive-but with great intelligence. Yet this intelligence as expected does not override the growing need for hierarchical order. The same people who once lived in our world, who lived moral lives and knew right from wrong, who knew about all the horrors of the world and did not practice them, are now in the postwar Earth doing the very things they once knew were abominably wrong. Mostly stemming from the fact that they cannot produce their own children, they trade women for goods or weapons, steal and sell children, and use guns and weapons against anyone who contradicts their thinking. The hierarchical nature of humanity is most apparent here and will probably again lead to the demise of the human race; that is, assuming they never choose to give into the Oankali cross-breeding in order to bear children.
Both races have strikingly different views on what morality means. The Oankali deem morality as conduct that they know will benefit everyone, even if the humans do not realize it. The humans deem morality as anything they can do to survive and take over the Oankali. Both are flawed and as Solaris states, “we are in a situation beyond morality,” it is apparent that in the times of intense confusion and frustration, morality is only a suggestion.
Butler, Octavia E. Adulthood Rites Wagner Books: New York, 1989
sorry about the lack of spacing!
Chris - You're touching on important issues, which is good - it would have been nice if you could have offered more *specific* suggestions, though.
Julia - You have some good ideas in your introduction, although genuinely bad proofreading (sentence fragments, poor word choice, etc.) greatly weakens it. I was also confused as to when you were describing the novel, when you were describing your own views, and what the relationship of the two views was - putting that relationship into a thesis statement would have been great.
In the long second paragraph (I'm doing my best to figure out the spacing), you again have some good ideas, but as Chris points out you spend a lot of effort basically summarizing, and the difference between summarization and argument can be pretty hard to puzzle out. One thing that I struggled with, again, is your views. You are raising some good questions about the actions of the Oankali - my favorite line, by far, is "This is in all essence a form of blackmail," which is the sort of straightforward formulation of an idea which sometimes eludes you - but you never really make clear what the essence or foundation of your own moral views is.
In the last couple paragraphs, unfortunately, your own views seem to recede even further: at the end you're basically just summarizing the plot (as Chris, again, had pointed out), and I'm not sure what you're doing with it, or how you're responding to it.
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