A Close Reading of a Passage from "Clay's Ark"

Excerpt:

“He had hidden for five days and two nights, had wandered for nearly three nights with no destination, no goal but food, water, and human companionship.  During this time he killed jack rabbits, ate raw splashing their blood over his ragged coverall, drinking as much of it as he could.  But he had found little water.

Now he could smell water the way a dog or a horse might.  This was no longer a new sensation.  He had become accustomed to using his senses in ways not normally thought human.  In his own mind, his humanity had been in question for some time.” (Clay’s Ark, 457)

This passage, at the very start of this novel, caught my eye because it deals with the humanity of the subject.  I’ve noticed that Octavia Butler is very interested in human nature and what it means to be human.  She screws with the humanity of almost every one of her characters, in fact.  So, on the first page of Clay’s Ark she introduces a character and immediately, before even telling the reader his name, she has him drinking blood and splashing it on himself and then goes on to call into question his humanity.  

This being the last published book in the series or the third if read chronologically, readers are likely prepared to look for psionic characters.  But this ability, heightened smell, is new in Butler’s work and it comes as a shock when the reader later learns that the ability is actually the symptom of an extra-terrestrial, ultra-infectious disease.  

Within the gruesome scene and revealing of his ability, Butler does add a hint that the subject does retain some of his humanity when she describes one of his only goals as “human companionship”.  The reader can relate to this desire, giving them one reason to like the subject.  But there is also reason to mistrust him and I found myself withholding deciding if I liked him or not.  In fact, I found myself struggling with that decision the entire book.  Butler continuously makes it very difficult to decide which characters to admire and which to despise.  

I also think it of note that Butler compares his ability to that of an animal.  Throughout the series she calls into question what it means to be human in comparison with animals.  I wonder if she wants to challenge the idea that humans are so different than animals.  

Discussion Question:

How does Butler question what it means to be human through the characters of “Clay’s Ark”?

I realize it is a broad and seemingly simple question, but I found myself struggling to make sense of it in writing this post.