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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Book 1, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Food as Therapy:
In Book 1, Chapter 1, Lilith Awakens in her isolation room to find an unappetizing bowl of food, introducing the motif of food in the novel:
She saw the food first. It was the usual lumpy cereal or stew, of no recognizable flavor, contained in an edible bowl that would disintegrate if she emptied it and did not eat it.
In Dawn, food appears as a representation of human culture and expression. In isolation, humans are served “lumpy cereal,” which Lilith later learns is very nutritious and keeps her healthy in isolation. Regardless, the food is flavorless, providing no sense of comfort or satisfaction. To humans, food can be an art, a vehicle for memories, or even a type of therapy. To the Oankali, however, food is sustenance to live on, nothing more and nothing less.
In Book 1, Chapter 4, Jdahya brings Lilith a banana, the first food she eats other than the nutritious mush:
He brought her something that so surprised and delighted her that she took it from his hand without thought or hesitation: A banana, fully ripe, large, yellow, firm, very sweet. She ate it slowly, wanting to gulp it, not daring to.
Lilith’s experience eating a banana demonstrates the pure joy that humans derive from delicious food: sweet fruit, salty snacks, or meaty meals. Her satisfaction is clear in the way she hyperbolizes the banana as “literally the best food she had tasted in two hundred and fifty years.” It is only after Jdahya brings her the banana that she begins to warm up to his alien appearance. The comfort that good-tasting food brings Lilith allows her to open herself up to new ideas.
In Book 2, Chapter 1, Lilith Awakens, exhausted, after spending a day outside of her isolation room and meeting Jdahya’s family:
Now food and forgetting.
Food and pleasure so sharp and sweet it cleared everything else from her mind. There were whole bananas, dishes of sliced pineapple, whole figs, shelled nuts of several kinds, bread and honey, a vegetable stew filled with corn, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, herbs, and spices.
Even though Lilith is consumed with questions about the Oankali and concerns about her future, everything is made better with the decadent meal offered by Jdahya’s family. The abundance is so overwhelming that Lilith can clear her mind, forgetting momentarily about the end of civilization and her captivity on a ship in space.
In Book 3, Chapter 3, Lilith wakes up two more women, Celene and Leah. Lilith notices that the women are much more amenable to their current situation and to Lilith’s explanations when they are fed:
She took them to the room that would be Celene’s and watched their eyes widen when they saw, not the expected bowls of god-knew-what, but recognizable food.
It was easier to talk to them when they’d eaten their fill, when they were relatively relaxed and comfortable.
Throughout Dawn, food serves as a therapeutic device for the humans, giving them much-needed comfort and familiarity in a frighteningly alien situation. This motif highlights the underlying cultural differences between humans and the Oankali. These differences demonstrate that no matter how scientifically effective the Oankali believe crossbreeding with humans will be, the two species will never be able to truly integrate.
Related Themes:
Book 1, Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Food as Therapy:
In Book 1, Chapter 1, Lilith Awakens in her isolation room to find an unappetizing bowl of food, introducing the motif of food in the novel:
She saw the food first. It was the usual lumpy cereal or stew, of no recognizable flavor, contained in an edible bowl that would disintegrate if she emptied it and did not eat it.
In Dawn, food appears as a representation of human culture and expression. In isolation, humans are served “lumpy cereal,” which Lilith later learns is very nutritious and keeps her healthy in isolation. Regardless, the food is flavorless, providing no sense of comfort or satisfaction. To humans, food can be an art, a vehicle for memories, or even a type of therapy. To the Oankali, however, food is sustenance to live on, nothing more and nothing less.
In Book 1, Chapter 4, Jdahya brings Lilith a banana, the first food she eats other than the nutritious mush:
He brought her something that so surprised and delighted her that she took it from his hand without thought or hesitation: A banana, fully ripe, large, yellow, firm, very sweet. She ate it slowly, wanting to gulp it, not daring to.
Lilith’s experience eating a banana demonstrates the pure joy that humans derive from delicious food: sweet fruit, salty snacks, or meaty meals. Her satisfaction is clear in the way she hyperbolizes the banana as “literally the best food she had tasted in two hundred and fifty years.” It is only after Jdahya brings her the banana that she begins to warm up to his alien appearance. The comfort that good-tasting food brings Lilith allows her to open herself up to new ideas.
In Book 2, Chapter 1, Lilith Awakens, exhausted, after spending a day outside of her isolation room and meeting Jdahya’s family:
Now food and forgetting.
Food and pleasure so sharp and sweet it cleared everything else from her mind. There were whole bananas, dishes of sliced pineapple, whole figs, shelled nuts of several kinds, bread and honey, a vegetable stew filled with corn, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, herbs, and spices.
Even though Lilith is consumed with questions about the Oankali and concerns about her future, everything is made better with the decadent meal offered by Jdahya’s family. The abundance is so overwhelming that Lilith can clear her mind, forgetting momentarily about the end of civilization and her captivity on a ship in space.
In Book 3, Chapter 3, Lilith wakes up two more women, Celene and Leah. Lilith notices that the women are much more amenable to their current situation and to Lilith’s explanations when they are fed:
She took them to the room that would be Celene’s and watched their eyes widen when they saw, not the expected bowls of god-knew-what, but recognizable food.
It was easier to talk to them when they’d eaten their fill, when they were relatively relaxed and comfortable.
Throughout Dawn, food serves as a therapeutic device for the humans, giving them much-needed comfort and familiarity in a frighteningly alien situation. This motif highlights the underlying cultural differences between humans and the Oankali. These differences demonstrate that no matter how scientifically effective the Oankali believe crossbreeding with humans will be, the two species will never be able to truly integrate.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Food as Therapy:
In Book 1, Chapter 1, Lilith Awakens in her isolation room to find an unappetizing bowl of food, introducing the motif of food in the novel:
She saw the food first. It was the usual lumpy cereal or stew, of no recognizable flavor, contained in an edible bowl that would disintegrate if she emptied it and did not eat it.
In Dawn, food appears as a representation of human culture and expression. In isolation, humans are served “lumpy cereal,” which Lilith later learns is very nutritious and keeps her healthy in isolation. Regardless, the food is flavorless, providing no sense of comfort or satisfaction. To humans, food can be an art, a vehicle for memories, or even a type of therapy. To the Oankali, however, food is sustenance to live on, nothing more and nothing less.
In Book 1, Chapter 4, Jdahya brings Lilith a banana, the first food she eats other than the nutritious mush:
He brought her something that so surprised and delighted her that she took it from his hand without thought or hesitation: A banana, fully ripe, large, yellow, firm, very sweet. She ate it slowly, wanting to gulp it, not daring to.
Lilith’s experience eating a banana demonstrates the pure joy that humans derive from delicious food: sweet fruit, salty snacks, or meaty meals. Her satisfaction is clear in the way she hyperbolizes the banana as “literally the best food she had tasted in two hundred and fifty years.” It is only after Jdahya brings her the banana that she begins to warm up to his alien appearance. The comfort that good-tasting food brings Lilith allows her to open herself up to new ideas.
In Book 2, Chapter 1, Lilith Awakens, exhausted, after spending a day outside of her isolation room and meeting Jdahya’s family:
Now food and forgetting.
Food and pleasure so sharp and sweet it cleared everything else from her mind. There were whole bananas, dishes of sliced pineapple, whole figs, shelled nuts of several kinds, bread and honey, a vegetable stew filled with corn, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, herbs, and spices.
Even though Lilith is consumed with questions about the Oankali and concerns about her future, everything is made better with the decadent meal offered by Jdahya’s family. The abundance is so overwhelming that Lilith can clear her mind, forgetting momentarily about the end of civilization and her captivity on a ship in space.
In Book 3, Chapter 3, Lilith wakes up two more women, Celene and Leah. Lilith notices that the women are much more amenable to their current situation and to Lilith’s explanations when they are fed:
She took them to the room that would be Celene’s and watched their eyes widen when they saw, not the expected bowls of god-knew-what, but recognizable food.
It was easier to talk to them when they’d eaten their fill, when they were relatively relaxed and comfortable.
Throughout Dawn, food serves as a therapeutic device for the humans, giving them much-needed comfort and familiarity in a frighteningly alien situation. This motif highlights the underlying cultural differences between humans and the Oankali. These differences demonstrate that no matter how scientifically effective the Oankali believe crossbreeding with humans will be, the two species will never be able to truly integrate.
Related Themes:
Book 3, Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Food as Therapy:
In Book 1, Chapter 1, Lilith Awakens in her isolation room to find an unappetizing bowl of food, introducing the motif of food in the novel:
She saw the food first. It was the usual lumpy cereal or stew, of no recognizable flavor, contained in an edible bowl that would disintegrate if she emptied it and did not eat it.
In Dawn, food appears as a representation of human culture and expression. In isolation, humans are served “lumpy cereal,” which Lilith later learns is very nutritious and keeps her healthy in isolation. Regardless, the food is flavorless, providing no sense of comfort or satisfaction. To humans, food can be an art, a vehicle for memories, or even a type of therapy. To the Oankali, however, food is sustenance to live on, nothing more and nothing less.
In Book 1, Chapter 4, Jdahya brings Lilith a banana, the first food she eats other than the nutritious mush:
He brought her something that so surprised and delighted her that she took it from his hand without thought or hesitation: A banana, fully ripe, large, yellow, firm, very sweet. She ate it slowly, wanting to gulp it, not daring to.
Lilith’s experience eating a banana demonstrates the pure joy that humans derive from delicious food: sweet fruit, salty snacks, or meaty meals. Her satisfaction is clear in the way she hyperbolizes the banana as “literally the best food she had tasted in two hundred and fifty years.” It is only after Jdahya brings her the banana that she begins to warm up to his alien appearance. The comfort that good-tasting food brings Lilith allows her to open herself up to new ideas.
In Book 2, Chapter 1, Lilith Awakens, exhausted, after spending a day outside of her isolation room and meeting Jdahya’s family:
Now food and forgetting.
Food and pleasure so sharp and sweet it cleared everything else from her mind. There were whole bananas, dishes of sliced pineapple, whole figs, shelled nuts of several kinds, bread and honey, a vegetable stew filled with corn, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, herbs, and spices.
Even though Lilith is consumed with questions about the Oankali and concerns about her future, everything is made better with the decadent meal offered by Jdahya’s family. The abundance is so overwhelming that Lilith can clear her mind, forgetting momentarily about the end of civilization and her captivity on a ship in space.
In Book 3, Chapter 3, Lilith wakes up two more women, Celene and Leah. Lilith notices that the women are much more amenable to their current situation and to Lilith’s explanations when they are fed:
She took them to the room that would be Celene’s and watched their eyes widen when they saw, not the expected bowls of god-knew-what, but recognizable food.
It was easier to talk to them when they’d eaten their fill, when they were relatively relaxed and comfortable.
Throughout Dawn, food serves as a therapeutic device for the humans, giving them much-needed comfort and familiarity in a frighteningly alien situation. This motif highlights the underlying cultural differences between humans and the Oankali. These differences demonstrate that no matter how scientifically effective the Oankali believe crossbreeding with humans will be, the two species will never be able to truly integrate.
Related Themes:
