Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler

            This week is on Diverse Position Science Fiction, focusing on the works of people marginalized by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or residency in the third world. Octavia E. Butler is an African American woman author. When discussed, she says that her ethnicity and background does not affect her writings, but we can see in her writings that some things have made their way in as we discuss this week’s book.

            Bloodchild is a science fiction short story by Butler, which takes place in a futuristic universe. In this world, humans, or Terrans, have escaped the destruction of their home world and have taken refuge on a planet with centipede aliens called Tlic, where they have a seemingly symbiotic relationship. In return for protection, the Tlic use humans as hosts for their larvae babies. We follow Gan, the chosen child by T’Gatoi to host her eggs. Of course, we are dropped into the conflict without even know what T’Gatoi is. Throughout the entire beginning and middle, we are given details that make us think that being chosen as a host is a huge privilege and the Tlic are seen as maternal and a part of the family. We later find out that the process of removing the larvae from the host is extremely gruesome and awful. When Gan discovers the terrible truth, he must sacrifice himself instead of his sister to be the host to preserve her innocence. Gan finally sees T’Gatoi and the Tlic for what they really are, parasites.

            We can now see that Butler incorporates the history of African slavery into her writing, even if she didn’t realize it. These elements cannot exist without personal experience. Gan and all of the Terrans are slaves to the Tlic; humans are being forced to be hosts and are subjected to extreme pain and death. T’Gatoi feeds Gan and his family her eggs, which makes them trip. She uses these and her “love” to manipulate them. Butler uses afrofuturism- “insistence on hybridity beyond the point of discomfort" exceeds the doctrines of both black cultural nationalism and of "white-dominated" liberal pluralism.