Diverse Positions in "Bloodchild"

Octavia Butler’s “Bloodchild” is probably one of my favorite things that we have read this semester. This story focuses on an alien race that allows humans to live on their planet while also relying on them to reproduces, so a symbiotic relationship.

This story explores majoritarian culture in the way certain characters accepted their fate, while others didn’t. Gan is unsure as to whether or not he wished to have T'Gatoi's child, while his sister is fine with it and would happily do it. The humans have no choice, but to carry the Tlic's children.

Something I love about this story is the perception of love. Does T'Gatoi love Gan? Does Gan love T’Gatoi, or has he just been conditioned to?

It’s also a part of majoritarian culture to become a host for the Tlic. I found it interesting how Qui found the entire scenario to be disgusting. Even though T’Gatoi is an alien species, she never seems truly alien to Gan until she is licking the wounds of the N’Tlic and has no emotions towards him or his pain. We can assume that they have a sort of serious relationship due to the fact that Gan decides to have T’Gatoi’s eggs and she promises to protect him.

This story also plays on a strong female protagonist because of T’Gatoi. While T’Gatoi is a strong female character, Butler goes even further in the pro-female roles by placing the men in the “weak” role of women.

What is your reaction to the text you just read?

I found this story to be intriguing and disgusting all at once. It was really crazy to see how male pregnancy was explored in this symbiotic relationship. I also read more about the story and found that Butler was actually paranoid about a bug that does the same thing in a place she was visiting. She finds it funny that people relate this to male pregnancy.

What connections did you make with the story?

I mainly just connected with the fear of pregnancy and any foreign thing being in your body. I also hate bugs, so the thought of grubs trying to eat through my flesh was not a good one.

What changes would you make to adopt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

I would love to make this into a short film. It would be really gory, but so cool. I would definitely try to keep it more modern as well. I wouldn't make many changes. If anything I would continue the story a bit more or provide more of a background.