Response to "Bloodchild" by Octavia Bulter
1) What is your reaction to the text you just read?
I am equal parts disgusted and interested. While the specifics of this text were gorey and gross, the premise of it is very interesting. The social dynamic between Gan and T'Gatoi is unique and forms a relationship I feel there is so much more to than the short text allows. Meaning, their relationship is hinted as being far more complex than it is shown to be on the surface.
I am also fascinated by the relationship between humans and the Tlic. It was said that humans or "Terrans" were fleeing from their homeworld to avoid enslavement, and found salvation as hosts for the Tlic. I'm interested in the fate of humanity on Earth. How did humans evolve to be compatible hosts for these creatures? What is Tlic society like? How do they truly see humans? What is outside of the Preserve? These questions posed by the short story leave me curious about the world created by it.
2) What connection did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect.
For me personally, I found the commentary on parenthood and child development interesting, and something I could connect with. Gan was raised to believe he was chosen for a purpose, to be a host for T'Gatoi. When he discovers the nature of what he is expected to perform, he has anxieties about a choice that was made for him when he was a child that is going to decide his future and violates his right to bodily autonomy. When he raises the issue with T'Gatoi, she manipulates him, threatens abandonment, and causes him to second guess himself.
To me, this spoke to me because it reflected a parental situation in which the parents have exercised an overstepped control on the life of their child. T'Gatoi has practically raised Gan, and he admits so himself, seeing her almost as a parental figure who's good favor he might maintain. As well, this might also mirror a relationship with a toxic partner. While T'Gatoi isn't an awful parent/partner (he can still change her mind, she still listens to his advice) her insistence that her needs are more important than his condemn his life and body to her will rather than his own. It seems to me that she let him have the illusion of choice, but through manipulative words and a threat to leave him for someone else did he chose to have her back. His consent under duress isn't actually consent at all, in my opinion. This concept of a toxic or abusive parent or partner is something I think we can all find somewhere in our lives or the lives of someone we know.
3) What changes would you make to adapt this story to another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?
There are very few changes that I would make, as the short story is very powerful as it is. To make it into another medium, I would perhaps just continue writing more. What happens when Gan's grubs begin to eat through their shells? Does the birth go as planned? Does he ever become released from her influence? As well, I would expand more on the history of this universe inside of Bloodchild. None of these are critiques of Bloodchild, I adore it the way it is, but if I were going to make a comic or a movie out of this story, these are the things I would expand on. I think this story could make a very gorey but very fascinating comic. In order to do that, I might also add more description to the appearance of the world inside of Bloodchild and to the Tlic themselves for artists to have a clearer idea of what they look like and for the setting of this piece. Again, this is no criticism of Bloodchild, as I think it was beautifully written and carries ample information for such a short text.
I am equal parts disgusted and interested. While the specifics of this text were gorey and gross, the premise of it is very interesting. The social dynamic between Gan and T'Gatoi is unique and forms a relationship I feel there is so much more to than the short text allows. Meaning, their relationship is hinted as being far more complex than it is shown to be on the surface.
I am also fascinated by the relationship between humans and the Tlic. It was said that humans or "Terrans" were fleeing from their homeworld to avoid enslavement, and found salvation as hosts for the Tlic. I'm interested in the fate of humanity on Earth. How did humans evolve to be compatible hosts for these creatures? What is Tlic society like? How do they truly see humans? What is outside of the Preserve? These questions posed by the short story leave me curious about the world created by it.
2) What connection did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect.
For me personally, I found the commentary on parenthood and child development interesting, and something I could connect with. Gan was raised to believe he was chosen for a purpose, to be a host for T'Gatoi. When he discovers the nature of what he is expected to perform, he has anxieties about a choice that was made for him when he was a child that is going to decide his future and violates his right to bodily autonomy. When he raises the issue with T'Gatoi, she manipulates him, threatens abandonment, and causes him to second guess himself.
To me, this spoke to me because it reflected a parental situation in which the parents have exercised an overstepped control on the life of their child. T'Gatoi has practically raised Gan, and he admits so himself, seeing her almost as a parental figure who's good favor he might maintain. As well, this might also mirror a relationship with a toxic partner. While T'Gatoi isn't an awful parent/partner (he can still change her mind, she still listens to his advice) her insistence that her needs are more important than his condemn his life and body to her will rather than his own. It seems to me that she let him have the illusion of choice, but through manipulative words and a threat to leave him for someone else did he chose to have her back. His consent under duress isn't actually consent at all, in my opinion. This concept of a toxic or abusive parent or partner is something I think we can all find somewhere in our lives or the lives of someone we know.
3) What changes would you make to adapt this story to another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?
There are very few changes that I would make, as the short story is very powerful as it is. To make it into another medium, I would perhaps just continue writing more. What happens when Gan's grubs begin to eat through their shells? Does the birth go as planned? Does he ever become released from her influence? As well, I would expand more on the history of this universe inside of Bloodchild. None of these are critiques of Bloodchild, I adore it the way it is, but if I were going to make a comic or a movie out of this story, these are the things I would expand on. I think this story could make a very gorey but very fascinating comic. In order to do that, I might also add more description to the appearance of the world inside of Bloodchild and to the Tlic themselves for artists to have a clearer idea of what they look like and for the setting of this piece. Again, this is no criticism of Bloodchild, as I think it was beautifully written and carries ample information for such a short text.
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