Bloodchild

I can't say I enjoyed this story very much. If I had to go for favorite short stories, I’d pick H.P Lovecraft. I found it interesting, though and I liked how the reader is forced to pick things up without being fully explained as to what it means. The way I see it is that as readers, we’re being dropped into a foreign land without knowing the language, culture or social norms. We are being forcibly assimilated into something we know nothing about. I like that, again it’s like being dropped in the middle of…China and seeing how well you cope with the change.

I also like two specific things from the story: the egg and the Tlics- or whatever they are. Let’s start with the egg. Point blank, it’s fascinating. We don’t know what the egg actually looks like. Maybe it looks like the eggs we’re used to. Maybe it’s soft, like when a turtle or a snake first lays their eggs. Maybe it’s actually a container with liquid inside that’s called an ‘egg’. Who knows? Personally I’d like to think of either soft shelled snake egg or the container theory.

Aside from just what an egg is or looks like, I’m really interested in the effect of it. It seems very similar to smoking pot or having morphine in your system. You feel good, maybe a little sleepy, no pain is felt and it actually de-ages you. From what I can see the egg, if taken frequently enough, can prolong life by at least three times! Of course, how long is a lifespan in this story? Is it like ours, somewhere around 80 years? Shorter, longer? Who knows? But the egg definitely prolongs it.

Of course, there’s also the liberal usage of the egg. It’s safe to say, I think, that it’s fairly addictive. Because people (I hesitate to say human because for all we know they could be humanoid but not actual humans) start off on the egg at an early age, they’re used to the altered state it brings. Crave it even, like Gan’s brother Qui who “always demanded his share of egg.” (9) As far as the egg goes, it’s an excellent way to control people. In some small away, perhaps it does…

I’m going to quickly touch on that a bit before moving on. Although Butler says this isn’t a story on enslavement, I think I have to disagree a little bit. Is it complete enslavement? Well, no. After all, the people don’t really seem to care most of the time. However it seems that the Tlics (that’s what I’m going to call them) need people far more than people need them. So yes, perhaps it is a form of control over them, just to keep them near.

Now…onto the Tlics. I’m not quite sure what to think of them. Okay that's not completely true. The Tlics remind me of these pink bugs: It's in Greek I know, sorry. It was the best one I could find. Only instead of having short arms maybe they're more like centipede legs. Or maybe they're like this. Eh. Whatever. What I really like about them was their titles. T' might means "miss" as far as I know... N' is someone who's preggy and Ch' is a Tlic who's widowed? Well that's my understanding of it anyway. What I'm fairly sure of is that I probably wouldn't want to see one in real life.