The Diversity on Pern: Dragonsdawn Character Diversity Analysis

SPOILER Warning: This post will contain many spoilers for Dragonsdawn. Go read the book first. You have been warned!

Dragonsdawn is a book that details the lives and struggles of Pern's first colonists. They arrived on the planet 200 years after the initial "survey" said that it was a safe, habitable planet. Coming in on three different ships: the Yokohama, the Bahrain, and the Buenos Aires and posessing a wide variety of skills from space-travel technicians to botanists and biologists to farmers and vets and cooks and so on. These colonists came to Pern supposedly to avoid the problems that plagued the "Federated Sentient Planets" including Earth and First Centauri and some others. They come from a space-faring age but are all willing and eager to settle into a "pastoral" lifestyle with much less technology on this new planet. Almost all of them, that is.

The big baddie in this novel is motivated by greed and ends up feeling "stuck" in the "backwater" that is Pern. Especially when things start to go wrong and the colonists face a lot of unexpected challenges that threaten their lives in a very real way. The book is engaging and full of tension while providing a very interesting "origin story" for how Pern came to be the way it is and how the dragonrider society developed. Another seemingly great thing about the book is that the author seems to be trying to put in a lot of diversity among the colonists. The problem with this is that while there might be many names of diverse characters (and that really is a positive step if you compare it to other sci fi) these character suffer from the same old limited roles that token characters normally have. She seems to have tried hard, but as a non-White person reading the books I've always found it very awkward to think about how the "diversity" in this book is handled.

One of the oft-repeated premises in the novel is that Earth is a distant memory for these people and that even the immediate problems we have today in the world are a distant, distant past for these people. Humanity had, apparently, moved on from many things. Including, for example, religion. The colonists on Pern have supposedly come here precisely to shed problems like racism and clannishnes and so on so whenever they think of someone as being like them or different from them they keep reminding themselves that this Pern now and they're all Pernese. This sounds like a well-intentioned attempt to write a future with no racism or prejudice. The problem is that the author didn't leave Earth's problems as far back as she thought she did. The Pern that develops is a very whitewashed one in many ways.

For example, they mention that religions and the "different" customs of people are a thing of the past, but then they really specifically mention the Bible and draw their idea of a day of rest directly from it, saying that while that was a book from the past, the idea of a day of rest makes sense. What about all the other religions of Earth, have they all just disappeared? Do they no longer exist? Don't they, too, have some common-sense things in them?

The same goes with cultures and languages. There are lots of names that seem a bit different belonging to different colonists, but these people all seem to have the exact same culture and language. As if the only vestige of their difference that is left is the names and otherwise, everyone is exactly the same. Characters with names like Nabhi, Ezra, Boris, and so on all act like your average white person and they all seem to have the same culture as the Paul and Emily and others. Now, I wouldn't actually mind this "leaving differences behind" nonsense if the author actually stuck to it. But apparently, although they all left their religions and different cultures behind a "long time ago" the Irish characters seem to have come right out of today. Why did the culture of the Irish Travelers not dissolve into the mainstream? How come the Japanese geneticist Kitti Ping who studied with really advanced aliens and can bio-engineer a dragon without breaking a sweat remain unable to leave her "traditional" thinking behind and end up engineering a sexist impediment for the female gold dragons?

When you put all of these things side by side it seems like the author was just using the excuse that they'd left it all behind so she wouldn't have to "deal" with differences - as if they were a tough thing to deal with/a bad thing - while at the same allowing herself to keep and showcase the differences she liked / wanted to talk about. Based on the few examples I've given above it might seem a bit ridiculous to say this, but when you take a look at ALL the characters that have been mentioned in the book you can clearly see a pattern. So without further ado I'm going to present a big list of all the characters mentioned in the book and some of the issues that their mentioned or not mentioned cultures and backgrounds pose for the "diversity" of Pern's colonists.

The Hero Characters: 

Admiral Paul Benden 
Famous space-war admiral who participated in some legendary battle and gained hero status.
On Pern he keeps saying that he wants to leave it all behind and just be a normal dude, but when problems arise he keeps ending up as the leader anyway.
Ethnic origin not really mentioned, but his name suggests he's your average white male.
Age: in his sixth decade.

Governor Emily Boll
Very famous/respected Governor who got her planet First Centauri through a five-year siege.
Age not mentioned, but she's past child-bearing.
Ethnic Origin not mentioned but name suggests average white female.

Sallah Telgar 
Seems to be average white female.
Her first name is an Arabic male first name, which is very confusing.
Age: Not mentioned, but sounds young-ish and starts a family with several kids on Pern.
One of the space-shuttle pirates who seems to be very intelligent. She investigates when she thinks others are up to something and ends up dying heroically while trying to thwart Avril's plans.

Sorka Hanrahan
Redeheaded Irish girl.
Age: around 12 when they first got off the ships onto Pern.
Becomes Vet like her father and, along with Sean Connel, discovers the Fire-Lizards and makes several positive contributions to the colony including being one of the original dragon-riders.

Sean Connell 
Irish Traveler.
Age: a couple of years older than Sorka.
Starts off suspicious that his family of Irish Travelers will get their fair share on Pern, but ends up the leader of the dragonriders. Had an accent at first, but it disappeared when he became a leader.


Other Important Secondary Characters/Sorta Heroes: 

Kenjo Fusaiyuki 
Japanese space-pilot. One of the most skilled pilots of past wars and clearly the most skilled on the Pern expedition.
Age: not mentioned.
Saves fuel by flying expertly and hoards it secretly so he doesn't have to be stuck on the ground/without flying. Struggles with a little guilt/not knowing how to tell the leaders about his hoarded fuel. Leads the pilots fighting thread and volunteers to take shuttle out into space to get thread samples. Considered something of a hero, but no one bothers to make sure his family's ok when they leave landing and his fuel-hoarding is constantly mentioned in an awkward way every single time his name comes up.

Pol Nietro 
One of the biologists who is instrumental in helping explore the fire-lizard's abilities and works on the dragon program with Kitti Ping.
Age not mentioned. Male.
Ethnicity Not mentioned through first name suggests Swedish or Dutch and last name sounds possibly Italian-ish.
Married to Bay.

Bay Harkenon
Biologist instrumental to the dragon program along with Pol.
Age Not mentioned. Female.
Ethnicity: Not mentioned.
Married to Pol.

Kitti Ping
Genius geneticist who was the only human to study with the "Eridanis".
Her house is very "traditional" and everyone sits on cushions and so forth.
Age: in her tenth decade. Her frailty and "small size" is constantly mentioned.
Nobody really finds her company comfortable, but they all respect her skills.
She's very "traditional" and ends up programming a sexist impediment for the female dragons preventing them from chewing fire-stone/fighting thread.

Tarvi Andiyar
Head geologist on the Pern colony.
Age: In his sixth decade when they arrive on Pern.
Indian origin. Talks in a strange/kinda poetic way and sometimes says words in another language. Has a fascination with caves and geology and an almost mystical/spiritual attatchment to uncovering things from the earth.
He's very thin, but had muscles and is quite strong. Can work for long hours.
Married to Sallah, but never expresses his love for her (despite their four children!) or truly appreciates her until it's too late. After her death he changes his name to Telgar in her honor and helps the colony a lot also in her honor. He's the one who finds the cave they turn into Fort Hold.

Jim Tillek
Harbormaster on Pern.
Loves Ships.
Middle-aged white male.
Keeps showing up to help out when main colony gets into scrapes, helps Ezra Keroon figure out what's going on with the red star.

Ezra Keroon
Hero of the war - served under Paul Benden
Astronomer and Captain of one of the colony Ships, the Bahrain
Ethnic Origin not mentioned, but first name is a Hebrew name
Male, age not mentioned
Instrumental in the team trying to figure out what's going on/what the thread is, etc.

Zi Ongola 
Male, age and ethnicity not mentioned.
Handles meteorology and communications. Volunteers to go with Kenjo on his mission to explore the thread's origins, but gets injured.

Joel Lillienkamp
Stores manager at main colony.
Takes bets on stuff and generally "wins" - has a great memory.
Has an "engaging monkey face".
Age and ethnicity not mentioned, but name suggests German origin.


Other Good Secondary Characters

Red Hanrahan 
Irish Vet.
Sorka's dad.

Mairi Hanrahan
Irish
Sorka's Mom.
Takes care of everybody's kids when they're off being heroes or getting themselves killed.

Drake Bonneau 
Young white male.
Good pilot, but described as a show-off. Campaigns to have the lake named after him.
Helps fight the thread and takes leadership role with training the sled fighters.

Fulmar Stone
Builds and fixes stuff. Old white man.

Ozzie - helps Tarvi carve out fort hold.
and Cobber Alhinwa - also helps carve out fort hold.
The only two characters with distinct accents when they speak and they aren't made to sound too bright.

Pierre de Courci
Cooks for landing's population. Not often mentioned, but nice guy whose food everyone appreciates. Name suggests French Origin.

Dragon Riders: 

• Sorka Hanrahan - Irish - leader
• Sean Connell - Irish - leader
• Dave Catarel
• Peter Semling
• Tarrie Chernoff
• Shih Lao
• Otto Hegelman
• Paul Logoridges
• Nyassa Clissmann
• Marco Galliani
• Kathy Duff
• Nora Sejby
• Catherine Radelin-Doyle
• Jerry Mercer
• Alianne Zulueta

That's right, out of all the dragon riders the only two with non-white names are Aianne Zulueta and Shih Lao and they're not mentioned as often as the others. Nyassa also has a weird name and Marco sounds Italian. Other than that - white folks! 

Now onto the bad guys! 

Bad Guys: 

Avril Bitra 

Female. 

Age not specifically mentioned, but her beauty and sexuality are constantly constantly mentioned. 

Ethnicity not mentioned, but her Black Hair is constantly alluded to along with her unpleasantness as if they are related. First name suggests French origin, Bitra is an Indian last name. 

Her ancestor Shavva Bint Farroud (ridiculous/not real Arabic-sounding name) is one of the experts on the original pern survey and leaves her a gem and notes that make Avril interested in Pern from a greed perspective. 

Everyone hates her, except the males she is currently trying to ensnare who figure out her untrustworthiness pretty quickly. Paul Benden is ashamed of his relationship with her aboard the Yokohama. 

She kills Kenjo and seriusly injured Ongola in her bid to steal the space shuttle and get off Pern with her gems. 

The big baddie in the novel. Acts as the catalyst for the discontent/mess-ups of other bad characters. 

Ted Tubberman 

Male Botanist. 

Ethnicity not mentioned, but name suggests either white dude or Jewish origin. 

Goes crazy after his daughter's death in the first threadfall and starts causing all kinds of trouble and dissent. Everyone hates him, except the unnamed idiots who fall for his rumors. 

His main qualm with everyone is that he wants a distress call sent while the colony votes against it. Steals equipment and gets Steve Kimmer to help him launch a distress call anyway. 

Gets shunned onto his own stake/farm and ends up bio-engineering plants that are resistant to thread and some cheetahs that end up killing him. 

Stev Kimmer 

Get srecruited by Avril Bitra and helps her mine out valuable gems and gold before she double-crosses him. Helps Tubberman launch the distress signal. Goes to Kenjo's stake to look for stashed fuel instead of helping everyone at landing. Becomes VERY unpleasant in the short/novella Rescue Run (which you should never read). 

Age and origin not mentioned but name evokes Eastern European. 

Nabhi Nabol 

Arabic first name. 

Age not mentioned. 

One of Avril's other conspirators. No one likes him. Doesn't actually do much until they ask him to pilot the shuttle out into the oort cloud and he tries to get Avril's gems out of space and mentions trying to follow her plan to get off the planet. He is described as a great pilot, but makes a very stupid mistake when coming back down causing his and Bart Lemos' deaths. 

Bart Lemos 

Mentioned as one of Avril's group. Doesn't do much until he kind of sort of doesn't object to Nabhi Nabol's plan. Even though he has less expertise than Nabhi he recognizes that something is wrong with the shuttle before Nabhi does and tries to warn him. 

Other Kind of Unpleasant Characters 

Wind Blossom 

Kitti Ping's granddaughter. Also a geneticist, but less skilled. Ends up making the watch-whers while she was attempting to make dragons. Everyone finds her weird/uncomfortable. She won't stop the dragon program and developing the watch whers even after everyone else wants her to stop. 

Families and StakeHolders and Groups Briefly Mentioned or Outside Landing  

The Connells 
Sean's Family. Irish Travelers. Survive by taking cover in a cave when Thread Falls. The dad Porrig Connel is described as an unpleasant man who doesn't care much for the Fire-Lizards.

The Tuareg 
another nomadic group from North Africa (berber origin). They all get killed in the first fall, every single one, except a baby who was stuffed into a metal box at the last minute.

The Galliani's 
One of their sons became a dragon rider. They're into breeding animals and growing things, but barely mentioned.

Milan Family 

Chernoff Family 

Fusayuki Family
No one bothers to check up on them during evacuation/crossing and they end up easy prey for Stev Kimmer.

I'm getting tired of looking for obscure characters, but hopefully by now you can see a pattern emerging. The main and important characters who are good are predominantly white folks and the bad guys or somewhat unpleasant characters or idiots are mostly the "different" folks. It seems to be that being "different" causes problems on Pern. Even with the Connells, whose son Sean became the leader of the dragonriders, they're not exactly looked upon favorably and Sean ends up shedding his connection to them and his uniqueness to become part of Landing. For the people outside Landing you're only lucky if you sound European, otherwise you either got killed in first threadfall or left behind when everyone moved North. I mean, Ted Tubberman supposedly caused everyone grief and was shunned but his wife got help from Landing despite that, because they felt sorry for her. I would have liked one person to even THINK of Kenjo's wife and kids on their distant stake, but no, they weren't important enough to be considered even though Kenjo died for the rest of the colony and was supposedly something of a (flawed) hero.

So by the time they make the crossing over to the Northern continent the differences have disappeared, the diverse stake names are gone, those Tuareg and the Japanese guys have conveniently vanished, and only white people are left. I'm not saying Anne McCaffrey is evil, but what I am saying is that the diverse characters who weren't white - and their cultures - were slowly but surely disappeared and all that remains of them on Pern, generations later, is some place names likes Nabol Hold and Bitra Hold and so on. And if you read later books you'll realize that there's a certain superiority in some places over others. Even generations later Bitra Hold and Nabol hold aren't seen as great places while Benden is always the best in every way...

The one pretty awesome, heroic, and well-liked Indian guy, Tarvi Andiyar, who actually made it into the big boys club and made the crossing with everyone? No, his name didn't survive, because he decided to change it to Telgar after his wife's death - because he hadn't properly expressed his love to her while she was alive.

This may very well have been unconscious on the author's part, but the end result is still depressing. Here's a tip, if you're only going to write a few - or even one - diverse characters try to make them awesome, with no holds barred. Like, they're different, but they didn't sneakily hoard fuel on the side, and then make their legacy survive in your world. If either Kenjo Fusaiyuki or Tarvi Andiyar's names and legacies had survived on Pern alongside Benden and the others I would have never written this post, I would have had much less qualms about the other diverse but bad or diverse but annihilated by thread characters, because at least there would have been two shining stars...

I also think Ted Tubberman should have been recognized for the genius he was in making those grubs/resistant plants. They did allude to this in the book, but they all really could have listened to him a bit more because he had a lot to offer!

What do other readers think?