Bloodchild
I have read a short story by Octavia Butler before, so I
have some familiarity to the topics and writing style. Her work is wonderful, I
like trying to sift through the deeper meanings within the seemingly outrageous
events happening. Such as how there’s this story about a kid interacting with
his alien overlord, who is trying to convince him to allow her to lay eggs in
his body. Generally, whenever I read a story, I try to implant myself into it;
that way I can contemplate about the lessons that are written in subtext. I
think Ocatavia Butler is very good at using these sorts of mechanisms to craft
really intriguing and winding tales. All of the overt science fiction themes
are over course interesting and at times the concepts can seem grotesque; such
as the brutal outcome of a male host being torn apart by the worms inside his
body. What I took from this tale wasn’t any of the bizarre events taking place,
but the relationships developed between all the characters. The human’s
relationship with these aliens is one way symbiotic, but I think the more
sinister theme is a sense of being held hostage/indentured spawning pool; and
deeper than that is the personal relationships of the families and the aliens.
Twisted love, manipulation, and hidden agendas are all over this story, twisted
love comes about more so to me than anything. T’gatoi seems to be very elegant
in her manipulation of Gan, and Gan has developed a distorted and forced sense
of love because of that. Despite seeing the horrific birthing operation, which
was seemingly covered up as a freak accident, it seems like Gan still has
feelings for T’gatoi in the end, but T’gatoi uses Gan’s feelings for his
family’s welfare on him to complete the impregnation. It’s like a cautionary
tale about co-dependence when breaking it down to a more human level, these 2
characters are making moves that almost ensure a future of mutual destruction,
on the one hand Gan potentially could be ripped apart, and on the other is a
gun the family gets to keep that could be turned on T’gatoi should the outcome
of the birth be disastrous; and the deal is sealed with his impregnation. All
of Octavia’s stories should be made into an anthology type show on a streaming
service, considering shows like Black Mirror, X-files and Twilight Zone. It
would be very rewarding to see her legacy secured, considering that making a
series in this way means that it has a higher chance to stick to the source
material, which is already stellar.
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