The Ship

Much of the novel takes place in a strange space that the Oankali refer to only as "the ship." Although it appears to be under the control of the Oankali, and takes the shape of recognizable inanimate structures, the ship is in fact made of organic matter, something Jdayah explains to Lilith. All of the novel's events take place aboard this ship, and the symbiotic relationship it has with the Oankali functions as a representation of the frustrating power of the Oankali. In other words, the setting of the novel is not a neutral one; while the Oankali are able to move freely through the ship thanks to the genetic relationship they have with it, Lilith is helpless to do so until she allows herself to be genetically modified, thus making her captivity total and environmental rather than surmountable or circumstantial. This total captivity is an important...