Imago

Part 2 ends with a further exploration and problematization of truth and The Nature of Autonomy and Consent in Alien/Human Relationships. Jodahs breaks from Oankali tradition by telling Jesusa about the aliens’ eventual departure that will strip Earth. Jodahs confides, “I’m going to tell you something my own Human mother didn’t learn until she had given birth to two construct children. Your people are not usually told this at all. I… I should not tell it to you, but I think I have to” (115). By choosing transparency, Jodahs gives Jesusa knowledge to guide her actions regarding her own fate and that of her villagers. The admission opens a window for improved human-Oankali relations built on honesty, yet the truth’s content merely confirms the reality of the Oankali’s power and the futility of the humans’ desire to reclaim Earth. From the humans’ perspective, the truth confirms their fears of the Oankali as a repressive force.

In contrast, from the Oankali’s perspective, the “truth” is not that they are a dominating presence, but rather, that humans are genetically destined to destroy themselves. They feel a moral obligation to intervene, raising questions about The Ethics of Genetic Engineering and Posthumanism. They operate on a model of ethics and consent that is radically different from humankind’s. The Oankali’s inability to understand this difference is one of their greatest flaws and, in the context of consent, one of their greatest violations. Jodahs assures Jesusa that it is sympathetic to human resisters and tells her, “I’m Human enough to understand what they’re trying to do” (114). Yet, one of the internal conflicts in the novel is Jodahs’s withholding of a deeper, more coercive truth: Its pheromones and chemical touch will permanently bind its human mates to it. Jodahs admits, “I couldn’t lie to her, yet I couldn’t tell her everything. I was desperate to keep her and Tomás with me” (114). In keeping this information from the siblings, Jodahs chooses its own best interests over those of humanity. This decision adds a layer of complexity to Jodahs as a hybrid subject. It shares the humans’ refusal to submit to the Oankali’s control, yet it also holds the Oankali’s imperative to secure mates. If Jodahs can reach a resolution within itself, it will offer a key to a more harmonious future between humans and Oankali.

The tension between truth and silence translates to the difference between honesty and betrayal. Jodahs recognizes that its decision to withhold the truth about the chemical bond is wrong and concedes, “I said nothing at all to Tomás. Someday he would curse me for my silence” (124). Jodahs does not act out of malice but from desperation, insecurity, and fear. Jodahs and Aaor will be exiled if they do not find mates that stabilize them, and most of Jodahs’s encounters with humans have been violent and hostile. Jesusa admits that she was raised to believe the Oankali were “devils” and had reflexively shot at Jodahs. Given these experiences, Jodahs believes that no humans will willingly bond with it. Later, Jesusa will demonstrate that humans are indeed capable of both empathy and agency: She agrees to risk her life to save Aaor, an ooloi to whom she is not bonded. Jesusa will protect the Oankali and wrestle with her fears of betraying her people.

The success of human-Oankali relations is not only in Jodahs’s hands but equally in the hands of Jesusa. When Jodahs encounters the siblings, they are wandering the forest for a similar reason Jodahs is— as a reprieve from the isolation and repression in their community. The similarity between Jodahs and the siblings as outsiders builds an empathetic alliance. In a rare moment of levity, Jesusa jokes about how her tumors are “uglier” than Jodahs’s tentacles, highlighting their shared experiences of being outcasts and discriminated against because of their appearances. Jesusa’s humor reveals her reevaluation of her prejudices about the Oankali. Isolated in the mountains, the inhabitants are so insular that they are unaware of the Mars colony as an option. Elders force people to reproduce within their population and pass on painful and often fatal genetic conditions. The mountain village is the main setting for the novel’s treatment of Reproductive and Sexual Freedom as Forms of Female Agency. Tomás rejects the village outright, whereas Jesusa vows to never reveal the village’s location. At the end of Part 2, Jesusa adamantly declares, “I know I won’t lead you or anyone else to my people […] nothing you can say would make us help you” (141). The scene highlights Jesusa’s complex loyalties and her ethical stance to serve the greater good over her own and Tomás’s welfare. Her subsequent alliance with the Oankali comes as both a surprise and a revelation that humans, like Jesusa, can be non-hierarchical and value the life of all beings, including the Oankali.