My first reactions to Lilith's Brood:
1) Heriarchy is not a genetic trait.
2) The Oankali (especially Ooloi) manipulation of humans is immoral.
3) The Oankali are no more moral than humanity, since both are driven by supposedly inescapable genetic tendencies.
1) Hierarchical behavior is too complex to be purely genetic. Unless Butler can point to specific evolutionary pressures that would cause such a trait to occur, I'm going to have to call bullshit on that whole idea. Without that specifically ingrained trait, there is no reason for the Oankali to render all humans sterile (until Jodahs) without an Ooloi. Without that trait human behavior could simply be re-trained. The Ooloi are spectacularly effective manipulators, after all. (I'll ignore the biological impossibility of heirarchical behavior being genetically inherited in my subsequent points, and instead examine morality in Butler's universe, where this is true) And that brings me to my second point:
2) Despite the supposed genetic predisposition of the Ooloi to find new things, to heal them, and to bring them in line with their own idea of morality, I think that their extended manipulation of humans is morally suspect. The Oankali as a race, and the Ooloi in general, do not treat humans as if they have any level of choice, and simply manipulate them. They assume that the humans do not have choice because of their biological contradiction, and the Oankali assume they must choose for Humanity. The way that Nikanj uses Lilith, using it's own pheromones to bind her tightly to it, without telling her about the side effects (She can't touch Joseph), is presumptuous to the extreme and, I believe, morally wrong. Even worse is Jodahs' unwillingness to tell his soon-to-be mates the same facts, despite seeing how hard it is for his human mother, Lilith, to deal with what Nikanj did to her. He assumes he knows what's best, he assumes it will be OK, but really all it is is biological greed driving him. Which brings me to my third point:
3) Here's the Oankali Contradiction: They believe they have the right and the ability to choose for humanity, because humanity is biologically flawed, and the Oankali can "correct" that. But the Oankali themselves are driven by an immensely powerful biological need, that manifests itself in a particular set of morals. These morals are thus no more pressing, no more valid than the supposed lack of morals that the humans exhibit. Both are driven by biology, in this world, and so what we see in the end is a triumph of Oankali biology over human biology, instead of the morally righteous triumph of an angelic race.
-CZ
I agree that hierarchical behavior is not a trait purely determined by genetics. However, I kind of reacted strongly when I saw that you called genetic manipulation "immoral".
Humans today practice all kinds of genetic engineering; most of the food we eat contains GE plants modified to resist insects and have longer growing seasons. Maybe my politics are affecting this (in favor of stem cell research, etc.) but personally, I don't understand why it's so different and immoral to extend that genetic manipulation to humans. If anything is immoral, it's that the humans have little choice in the matter; the Oankali change their body chemistry without really even asking for consent. However, this is due to a cultural difference; the Oankali believe that they are helping humans to reach their full potential.
So yeah, I was cool with the genetic manipulation...I wasn't cool with the humans being treated like weak, inferior creatures with no say in their own existence.
I'm not sure you can call something as complicated as what the Oankali are doing amoral, simply because it doesn't coincide with the Human races wishes. Clearly most people don't think that neutering pets is amoral, even though that would seem contradictory to the pets wishes. That is exactly how the Oankali see it. Sure, Humans might see it differently, but to the Oankali, human beings are part of an inferior race. Why shouldn't the Oankali try to help humans as they see fit? The stupid race already blew itself up, anyone alive now are only alive because of the Oankali anyway. That leads into my main point.
Morality is relative.
Whithin the cultures of the world, almost everyone has a different morality code than the others. Sure, they are all recognizable as human, but there are certainly doubts on how to treat women, children, men, lower class people, different races, and so on. While people do it, ascribing one's own morality code to some other culture and calling their actions wrong completely fails to take into account that culture's morality. Now as a human, I don't like what the Oankali do the the race. But from the Oankali perspective, it is completely moral.