IMAGO

 

 

Imago, Octavia E Butler, Warner Books, 1989, 225 pp

 

After finishing Adulthood Rites, I went right on to the final book in Butler's Lilith's Brood series because there was nothing else I wanted to read right then. I had to know how the story ended.

Lilith increases her brood with Jodahs, the first construct ooloi. The alien Oankali comprise three sexes: male, female and ooloi (non-sexed or combined or androgynous, referred to as "it.") How ahead of her time Butler was, though in fact she was preceded by Ursula LeGuin in some ways.

A construct ooloi then is non-sexed Oankali plus part human. The ooloi are genetic manipulators. They can cure genetic diseases, the kind that are passed on hereditarily, with just a touch of a tentacle.

Jodahs is looked upon as a dangerous new sort by both Oankali and humans. It has equal ability to cure and deform or even create plagues. What will it do when reaching maturity?

In Dawn, the first book, Lilith became the first construct female. Adulthood Rites featured a construct male. Now in Imago, the first construct ooloi emerges. Though all three books contain much emotion, Imago is the most emotional yet. Written in first person, the reader gets to feel the androgynous point of view which can be strange for a male or female individual. Yet not so strange after all once one has read the book.

I was deeply moved by this one. Jodahs's quest is to create a new state of affairs on Earth by merging and modifying both Oankali and human. It felt hopeful to me. Not that I would necessarily want to become part alien but that by weaving and blending sexual orientation, race, genetics and customs, a "construct" society might be able to live in some kind of peace.

I have been coming to the idea, for some time now, that human beings are all on a spectrum, sexually, emotionally, mentally and racially. We could create a better sort of life by recognizing that in each other instead of violently rejecting differences.

More Octavia Butler, please.