Sabrina Gogna

Professor Dowd

Writing 39B

30 January 2019

Analyzations and Connections

        African-American author Octavia Butler, in her speculative fiction short story Bloodchild(1984), conveys the recurring message that interdependence of two species is a crucial element of survival. She accomplishes this first by inserting symbolism to portray trust, partnership, and a prolonged life between the human-like creatures and the insect-like aliens, then by incorporating a frustrated tone to describe family dynamics, and finally by relating the Terrans and Tlics to slavery. She does this in order to offer a different perspective to put out into the world and to also challenge the thoughts and ideas of the younger generation. Butler not only writes this short story for young adults, but for all science fiction readers.

        Although Bloodchild does not contain many symbols, one of the two symbols that are present in this text are relatively important to the overarching message. The eggs signify a lengthened lifespan for the Terrans and a larger population for the Tlics: “‘You should take more,” T’Gatoi said. “Why are you in such a hurry to be old?’”(Butler 2). The human-like creatures are forced to consume the egg, so they can help reproduce the other species thus making both species become interdependent of one another. Such a simple food can help the growth of two communities that coincide with another. Additionally, in the speculative fiction genre or the science fiction genre as a whole, human and alien interactions are common; Aliens, though, interact with humans due to self-interest. Bloodchild is a clear representation of this overall conclusion because some Terrans are forced to eat the eggs--“Unwillingly obedient, my mother took it from me and put it to her mouth”(Butler 2). Tlics gain a greater benefit due to them obtaining many more human-like creatures to increase their fertility rates thus causing a larger population for them. This to compels the readers to ponder upon reality: how is the ecosystem or the environment dependant on humans and vice versa? In the article Ecosystem services or services to ecosystems? Valuing cultivation and reciprocal relationships between humans and ecosystems by Comberti, Thorntona,Wyllie de Echeverria, and Patterson, the authors discuss how humans and ecosystems around the world assist one another to grow and prosper. Many people think humans are only consumers of what the environment provides for individuals, but unfortunately populous amounts of people fail to see that humans “also contribute to their development, maintenance, and flows”(Comberti et al. 248). Individuals, in this circumstance, evaluate the societal beliefs or stereotypes about how humans remain inconsiderate to nature and ecosystems around us. However, Octavia Butler embeds the egg in the story as a means of a connection between the two species similarly to how humans hold ecosystems accountable for oxygen and how ecosystems hold humans accountable for providing habitats or things as simple as food and water (explained in the article). From Bloodchild to the article, the readers are mandated to consider how simple items hold a community strong together. With animals to nature and nature to humans, each community needs another community to withstand: interdependence.

        Butler adopts a frustrated tone throughout her short story to describe the family dynamics that occur throughout the short story. As gender roles are swapped in this story-males being impregnated, men sacrificing their bodies, and no official father figure being present-Octavia Butler develops interesting relationships within the fictional characters. Qui refusing to become a host places Gan as the only other option from that family to birth a Tlic: ““‘Go out and slaughter an animal that is at least half your size’”(Butler 6). Throughout this story, the readers begin to visualize how the relationships actually function. With observations from the story, T’Gatoi and Lein are the parent figures of the family: both are women and both overlook the family and make decisions for them. This leaves one person out of the family: the “father.” Lein is the obvious mother since she birthed the kids, but T’Gatoi enters their life and begins to project her voice and actions upon the family making her play the father figure of the family. This forces the readers to ponder about their personal beliefs and emotions regarding this topic: does each family need a man and a woman to be considered a complete family? When Bloodchild was published, the second wave feminist women's movement was descending and the third was rising. Many women, especially younger women who are reaching their years of pregnancy, encountered plentiful issues. In the article Multiracial Feminism: Recasting the Chronology of Second Wave Feminism by Becky Thompson, it is explained that many women of color and white women as well came together (at time different times among various women) to discuss how feminists react to certain events and to see if they actually are feminists or not. Upon discussing many factors, the adults in this movement practically belied “the sex roles that had traditionally defined domestic, economic, and political relations [to the young adults]”(Thompson 338).  Many women in the world believe they have the power to raise their own family without the male being present. In modern day, individuals witness single mothers raising their children to become independent, self-reliant, adn strong characters. They know the stereotype that goes around: women cannot do as much without the male being present in the family. Butler purposely doesn’t include the father in this short story to compel her audience to consider their beliefs and understandings of this certain concept.

        Slavery is a controversial topic in Bloodchild. She relates the lifestyle and the actions of the Tlic and Terrans relatively to the concepts of slavery and captivity. Butler starts her short story by illustrating that one of the children is being sold off the aliens which causes the readers to think slavery because that was witnessed in American history for more than a millenium: ‘“Did you think I would sell him for eggs? For long life? My son?”’(Butler 3). When one speaks about selling a human for a price or for a worthy item, the term enslavement comes to one’s mind. Going back to Butler’s message in this short story (the two species need one another to survive), it is portrayed that the Terrans are not meant to see one another birth the Tlic for various unknown reasons and some established reasons: not all births go correctly thus causing the remaining Terrans to develop a fear inside them and eventually rejecting the Tlics to reproduce for them. As the Terrans are being held captive on the alien planet, they are not all able to have access to guns or any dangerous weapons as much. In Karla Holloway’s article Private Bodies, Public Texts: Race, Gender, and a Cultural Bioethics, she examines multiple arguments Butler conveys in Bloodchild. One of the arguments Holloway speaks upon is the controversial slavery topic that Butler claims was not intended: “Preserve where humans live may be a kind of internment camp (humans cannot leave at will, nor are they permitted guns)”(Holloway 333). Although Butler did not intend to include any concepts of slavery throughout her short story, this interpretation is developed from many of her readers. If slavery is too specific of a term, the Terrans are practically held captive to help the Tlic reproduce which then leads the Tlic being dependant upon the Terrans. This causes the two species to become interdependent.

        Through the use of symbolism, a frustrated tone, and the juxtaposition of the species to slavery, Butler conveys an important message to young adults whose ideas are being questioned. She does this in order to question her audience how the future of science could significantly advance causing the societal norms to change--males becoming pregnant and switching the roles of the family members. It is evident that the people of the world are scared of change, so this leaves an impact on young adults since the world is in their hands to decide what they will make of it.