Bloodchild by Octavia Butler
1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?
My first instinct is to say that I thought the writing was very good and engaging. I typically don't enjoy works like this, and I don't love science fiction or the creation of other worlds that seem so different from our own. That being said, the way Octavia Butler wrote this piece was really interesting and somehow relatable. The main character, Gan, is strangely relatable and I'm not quite sure why yet. Somehow, I can't help but think that this story is fairly relatable because I'm a woman, and I feel like it takes a stance on feminism. Gan is expected to bear a child-like creature from the time he is very young, and in some ways cultures do that to women quite often. It was interesting to see a male character go through the reproductive expectations that women often go through. The fact that this story was written by a woman only supports my theory that this is somewhat of a feminist story, switching genders in order to see things from a more objective and disconnected point of view. I think that there are more themes happening in this story, and I definitely need to keep thinking about the deeper meanings behind it.
2. What connections did you make with the story that you read? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect.
As I previously mentioned, I feel like there's a connection made with Gan, the main character. Although the world is becoming more progressive and not so tied to traditional ways of thinking, oftentimes women are fully expected to have children. It isn't typically considered that a woman might be scared, and it is often seen as an honor to have kids. This is very similar to what Gan is experiencing in the short story. The Tlics train the humans to think that they're so privileged to be able to carry their young, but it's overlooked how it's dangerous and a lot of the time, unwanted. There's also a parallel between the story and real life where Lomas' character is concerned. Much like his Tlic left him alone, it's often that women in the real world get "this privilege of having children", only to be left alone and feeling used in the end.
3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?
I think that this short story would translate very well to film. Although it's already very interesting and well-written, I think a change that I would make is to incorporate more of Bram Lomas' story. He has an entire backstory that we don't get much of, and I'd like to see the relationship he had with his Tlic prior. I would love to be able to see that and compare it to Gan and T'Gatoi's relationship. This way, viewers and readers could hypothesize about the fate of Gan and T'Gatoi.
My first instinct is to say that I thought the writing was very good and engaging. I typically don't enjoy works like this, and I don't love science fiction or the creation of other worlds that seem so different from our own. That being said, the way Octavia Butler wrote this piece was really interesting and somehow relatable. The main character, Gan, is strangely relatable and I'm not quite sure why yet. Somehow, I can't help but think that this story is fairly relatable because I'm a woman, and I feel like it takes a stance on feminism. Gan is expected to bear a child-like creature from the time he is very young, and in some ways cultures do that to women quite often. It was interesting to see a male character go through the reproductive expectations that women often go through. The fact that this story was written by a woman only supports my theory that this is somewhat of a feminist story, switching genders in order to see things from a more objective and disconnected point of view. I think that there are more themes happening in this story, and I definitely need to keep thinking about the deeper meanings behind it.
2. What connections did you make with the story that you read? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect.
As I previously mentioned, I feel like there's a connection made with Gan, the main character. Although the world is becoming more progressive and not so tied to traditional ways of thinking, oftentimes women are fully expected to have children. It isn't typically considered that a woman might be scared, and it is often seen as an honor to have kids. This is very similar to what Gan is experiencing in the short story. The Tlics train the humans to think that they're so privileged to be able to carry their young, but it's overlooked how it's dangerous and a lot of the time, unwanted. There's also a parallel between the story and real life where Lomas' character is concerned. Much like his Tlic left him alone, it's often that women in the real world get "this privilege of having children", only to be left alone and feeling used in the end.
3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?
I think that this short story would translate very well to film. Although it's already very interesting and well-written, I think a change that I would make is to incorporate more of Bram Lomas' story. He has an entire backstory that we don't get much of, and I'd like to see the relationship he had with his Tlic prior. I would love to be able to see that and compare it to Gan and T'Gatoi's relationship. This way, viewers and readers could hypothesize about the fate of Gan and T'Gatoi.
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