Nature On Gender Roles : Bloodchild And Its Satirical

“Bloodchild” is a story that pushes the limits of humankind, creating blurry interpretations of good and evil that challenges everyday societal norms. Octavia Butler takes a traditional action-filled story and twists it into an unexpected and intensified tale. Through this heightened piece of work, the most compelling argument can be found from the structure of the narrative itself. From the first-person narrative, readers are able to receive first hand perspective in which no omniscience of any sort can be detected. Readers can acquire the character’s actions, thoughts, and interpretation of the things that happen to them. “Bloodchild” is a story of an alien planet where the Terrans are enslaved by an alien race called the Tlic. Gan, the protagonist, has been promised as a host for the alien embryos in which the story will later reveal a deeper meaning underlining the sacrifice.

Throughout American literary history, nearly every form of literature has covered the topic of slavery and black oppression in America. From William Lloyd Garrison’s abolitionist papers to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s controversial Uncle Tom’s Cabin to Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, the exploration of the black position in America has been a theme that engrossed generations. In the past century, as science fiction has established its place in the literary genre, authors such as Octavia Butler have become increasingly popular. In her short story "Bloodchild", Butler extends the discussion of oppression in America into the science fiction genre. In this manner her story, "…like almost all science

Bloodchild by Octavia Butler is seen as a story about the relationship between alien oppressors and a group oppressed humans. It has also been described as a love story between the human narrator and the chief alien. In her afterword, she describes “Bloodchild” as “a love story between two very different beings,” “a coming of age story” and a “pregnant man story.”(Hardy) However, when one comparing Butler’s “Bloodchild” to Simone De Beauvoir’s essay “The second sex”, similarities surrounding the social issues of gender inequality arise. The circumstances of the narrator mirror social issues affecting modern women. Bloodchild by Octavia Butler examines the dynamics of power between the sexes; by switching the gender roles in the

Picture books through descriptive language and symbolic illustrations can convey many meanings. In requiem for a beast the bull metaphorically represents many issues. On one level it represent anger, violence and hatred. On another level it conveys a road to redemption. The beast also embodies the boys fathers demons from his past mistakes and can illustrate a theme of memories and how they can help us deal with our demons.

Octavia Butler's short story “Bloodchild,” reinvents normative ideas of gender, power, and reproduction to demonstrate the discrepancies created by the aforementioned constructed ideals in society, both fictional and otherwise. Through the idea of embracing one’s differences Butler also builds the notion that the “Other,” in the short story is not simple because she assigns humanity to both the Tlics and Terrans creating a gray area for who is viewed as “Other,” which tells us that Butler’s idea of other is non-existent rather she focuses on accepting diversity of thought and appearance.

Chapter three of Ancestral Lines begins with Barker being taught how to paint a Tapa (a personally designed cloth) by two elder women, as the process is explained Barker compares the Tapa cloth to society “composed of basic elements that fit together to produce a whole.” (Barker 2017:75) Barker also breaks down the “three key facets of contemporary social organization: The socialization of children into gendered adults, the formation of kin- based groups and categories, and the formation of alliance between groups through marriage exchanges and life crisis ceremonies.” (Barker 2017:75-76) Things to note about children in general and as socialized gendered adults: when a child is born, they are not considered ‘socially human’ and are believed to be vulnerable to attacks from spirits because their souls are not yet attached to their bodies. Mothers are the main source of care. Girls are often put to work first, assisting their mothers with cooking, cleaning, and caring for infants. Boys contrastingly help their fathers with hunting, building, and protecting. While inequality is prevalent, women are not without power and enjoy high levels of security and influence. They also believe that men

Neo-slave narratives were initially defined by Bernard Bell and further solidified by Ashraf Rusdhy. With both of their ideas put together, they defined neo-slave narratives as contemporary novels that assume the form, adopt the conventions, take on the first person voice of the antebellum slave narrative. They are a product of the 1960s “intellectual and social conditions associated with the civil rights and Black Power Movements.” Neo-slave narratives questioned “race and racial identity, literature and literary history, texts and intertextuality.” On the other hand, traditional slave narratives differ from the neo-slave narratives in the sense that they have a set narrator. In Octavia Butler’s Bloodchild and Kindred, the literary tropes

Gan's rite of passage into adulthood occurs when he witnesses Lomas “give birth” to the baby Tlics. Gan held a sort of pride at being chosen to carry T'Gatoi's eggs. He thought the process wouldn't be as painful as it actual was. The “birthing” was the time his eyes metaphorically opened to his reality. The actual implantation of T'Gatoi's eggs in Gan can be seen as his lost of virginity. If a reader were to start the story off at this line: “Yet I undressed and lay down beside her. I knew what to do, what to expect. I had been told all my life” they would automatically assume this scene is the beginning of intercourse, thus, Gan's “transformation” into a man.

There are several sources that tell a person how to be a man or woman. Science tells us by recognizing the X or Y chromosomes. The media shows us through the physically ideal celebrities that grace the covers of magazines and flaunt their bodies in commercials. Sports, wrestling, cars, and blue for the boys. Dresses, make-up, painted nails, and pink for the girls. All of these sources, as well as others, have evolved into an expectation that has become institutionalized within society. This expectation, is placement and belonging into the binary system of person: the man or the woman. In Anne Fausot-Sterling's acrticles “The Five Sexes” and the “The Five Sexes, Revisited”, the

males to be precious and more prestigious than the females. The birth of a boy

Mitchell, Angelyn. “Not Enough of the Past: Feminist Revisions of Slavery in Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred.” The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, vol. 26, no. 3, 2001, pp. 51-75

Bloodchild tells the coming of age story of a young boy named Gan and this moral dilemma to bear his role as the carrier of an alien species’ eggs. Imbalancing the normalized gender roles of male and female, Butler plays with the idea of male pregnancy. At the same time, she also raises provocative questions about sex roles, self- sacrifice, and species interdependence. Living in a dystopian society, humans are controlled by a giant and power insect-like beings known as the Tlic. Their extreme physical forms make them monsters in the ideas of the reader, however, what is so monstrous about Butler's short stories Bloodchild is not the creatures that exist in it but the perversion roles of gender, sex, and sexuality.

There have been many theories and studies in support of the development of gender identity and gender roles. One major theory was the one put forward by Bandura and his social learning theory.

Whats interesting about Bloodchild is that for the first time, men are placed in a woman’s spot. They are required for the first time to consider the risks of child birth and facing the fact that they may suffer a fatality. It’s extremely interesting to see men place in this role for once and this was one of the first readings we had where I felt like both sexes were equal and plagued with the same obstacles and difficult decisions. It seems as if the science fiction stories are more favorable to women, it seems as if this genre anticipates the change towards more acceptable attitudes towards women. Futuristic women are pitched as strong relentless warriors which may be a consequence of their often dystopian surroundings. However, I definitely

Lorraine Hansberry was a forward thinker for her time in the 1950’s, which was evident in her writing. “It is believed that hidden behind her work was Hansberry’s own personal struggle with gender” (Wiener 10-11). After many years of marriage and eventually divorce, it was discovered that she was a closet homosexual (Wiener 11). Male and female gender roles are heated topics that have been debated for generations. Women in the United States are still regarded as taking care of and nurturing children as well as the responsibility for taking care of the home. The majority of women in America have a career outside the home, yet still