While reading “Imago,” I was continually struck by the growing resemblances between the Oankali and Humans. And I am not referring to the Humans that lived with Oanklai, but rather the Humans who had refused to assimilate with the aliens. I first noticed an Oankali acting uncharacteristically human when Jodahs and his family must leave their village. Nikanj has to be assured that Lilith brought her machete. Jodahs narrates, “It could not have gotten more attention if it had screamed. I focused on it to the exclusion of everything, felt pulled around to face it. Oankali did not suggest violence. Humans said violence was against Oankali beliefs. Actually, it was against their flesh and bone, against every cell of them” (564). While Nikanj is of course rational in his fear of Human violence being inflicted on his family, he is speaking against a fundamental Oankali code. Nikanj does reiterate that violence should only be used when absolutely necessary but Jodahs’ dismayed reaction is proof of how atypical Nikanj’s question was. Throughout the trilogy, the Oankali consider themselves on a more sophisticated plane than Humans because they do not harbor the genetic inclination towards violence. The Oankali claimed that they had the need to heal. They justified mass sterility because they were convinced that humans would breed violent creatures. So for Nikanj to even suggest violence is rejecting everything its species stands for.

Soon after Jodahs encountered Tomas and Jesusa, I recognized several qualities they shared with the Oankali. On a purely aesthetic level, the siblings are as grotesque looking as the aliens. Their tumors are the equivalent of the growths Jodahs must experience during his metamorphosis. These humans can empathize with the feeling of being completely aware that people find them hideous. The Oankali are so fascinated by the Humans that they find them to be beautiful. This is not a shared feeling for the Humans. They feel sexually attracted to the ooloi but this scares many of them. Like Jodahs says at one point – Humans are incredibly concerned with physical appearance. They find the Oankali outwardly hideous creatures and thus cannot bear the thought of sexually desiring them. A random side note: What if the Oankali were incredibly attractive aliens. Would Humans still have been so reluctant to breed with them even though they would still be alien creatures?

But I digress. Before finding out Jesusa and Tomas are siblings, Jodahs believed they were mates. The two share a strong connection, similar to the ones Oankali siblings feel with each other. When attempting to understand why Tomas and Jesusa did not care how they looked Jodahs writes, “Perhaps it was because there were two of them. If they were siblings they had been together most of their lives. Perhaps they sustained one another” (625). This special closeness obviously becomes more like an Oankali siblinghood when Jodahs wants the two to mate with each other. But something that struck me as even more prevalent in “Imago” was the Human sense of compassion. Jesusa is shocked when Jodahs doubted whether they would stay with him through metamorphosis. They want to do everything they can to help him through the process. Akin’s Human friends acted the same when he underwent his maturation. These are Humans who have isolated themselves from Oankali way of life and yet they still have the urge to heal. Not all humans need to be violent just like not all Oankali are genetically absolutely resistant to using violence. The Oankali continually tried to draw a distinct line between their genes and Human’s genes. Their lives circle around the needs of the group so it makes sense that they would view Humans as one group of hierarchal species. But they fail to realize that there are individual exceptions and these are illustrated through several of the Human characters in the story.