Olivia Butler writes in the afterword of “Bloodchild” that it’s not a story of slavery, and evidence from close reading can be used to support this statement. Butler uses the human form as a vehicle for defamiliarization to show the mechanical functions readers serve themselves and others. Furthermore, this process is able to reveal their passive nature and ultimately highlight the human allowance for manipulation. She brings light to these behaviors by showing a lack of respect for human life, an unbalanced power relationship between the Tlic and the humans, and Gan’s stripped cognitive process. Although readers connect with a similar form and the “Terran” name, humans are identified as not respecting the intrinsic value of being human. “And toward the end of his life, when he should have been slowing down, he had married my mother and …show more content…
“For several seconds, I stood in front of the closed door wondering why I suddenly felt afraid” (Butler 13). Gan feels something T’Gatoi didn’t imbue, so he knows it must be wrong. Gan now has a feeling he knows what “afraid” is, but he’s still unsure of how to express that. In conclusion, readers identify with the human form and use it as a vehicle for defamiliarization to show the mechanical functions they serve themselves and others. The characters in “Bloodchild” behave as part of a process and show a lack of respect for their human qualities. As they desensitize their bodies, they allow the Tlic to engage with them in an unbalanced power relationship. Then, the Tlic interact with them in a sheltering way and inhibit their thought process. Through this interaction chain, Butler effectively conveys that the way humans treat themselves will dictate how others treat them. As the afterword said, “Bloodchild” is not about slavery; it’s about the relationships humans take on because they allow themselves to be
Detrimental stereotypes of minorities affect everyone today as they did during the antebellum period. Walker’s subject matter reminds people of this, as does her symbolic use of stark black and white. Her work shocks. It disgusts. The important part is: her work elicits a reaction from the viewer; it reminds them of a dark time in history and represents that time in the most fantastically nightmarish way possible. In her own words, Walker has said, “I didn’t want a completely passive viewer, I wanted to make work where the viewer wouldn’t walk away; he would either giggle nervously, get pulled into history, into fiction, into something totally demeaning and possibly very beautiful”. Certainly, her usage of controversial cultural signifiers serve not only to remind the viewer of the way blacks were viewed, but that they were cast in that image by people like the viewer. Thus, the viewer is implicated in the injustices within her work. In a way, the scenes she creates are a subversive display of the slim power of slave over owner, of woman over man, of viewed over
A key part of the title of the poem, the word “blood” can be used as a motif in many works of literature as a representation of family, heritage, and background. All of these lend themselves to the division of people into groups of which they often cannot control the formation. The second half of the title is the term “nobility.” This word, by definition, implies that certain groups of people are inherently more privileged or morally competent than other groups of people. Combining these two elements of the title, we achieve a meaning that states that certain people, people of a certain “blood,” have a different level of “nobility,” or privilege, than others. The last three words of this poem are “entitlement of birth,” which encompasses this idea completely. The audience that the speaker of “Nobility of Blood” addresses regard themselves as the “moral majority,” a group of people who are inherently more moral and consequently do not suffer from the AIDS disease. This is yet another instance of how Ramos Otero points out the hypocrisy in the audience’s beliefs, since under the Christian faith, it is believed that God loves all His children, and everyone is equal under God. Similar to how Fury attempts to universalize the disease through her artwork’s high level of diversity, Ramos Otero wishes to point out flaws in the
Science fiction captures the imaginations of its readers allowing their minds to run rampant as they immerse themselves into a world beyond reality. Science fiction also allows its audience to consider the possibilities of things beyond their normal life and draw parallels to the world around them. Octavia Butler’s short story, “Bloodchild” is a prime example of a well written scientific fiction containing elements of wonder, thrill, and adventure. “Bloodchild” is about humans who take refuge on an alien planet and must and must coexist with with the native species called Tlic. To maintain peace, the humans are granted space to live in exchange for host bodies used as vessels to birth the Tlic’s offspring. The protagonist, Gan, is a male chosen
... slave and the cruelty of it. It’s important to literature because if the reader didn’t have the perspective of an actual slave, nobody would no what slavery actually did.
What defines an individual’s racial characteristics? Does an individual have the right to discriminate against those that are “different” in a specific way? In Octavia Butler’s works, which are mostly based on themes that correlate to one another, she influences the genre and fiction in ways that bring light to the problems of societies history. Through Kindred and the Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler examines themes of community, racial identification, and racial oppression through the perspective of a black feminist. In each novel, values and historical perspective show the hardships that individuals unique to an alien world have to face. Through the use of fictional works, Butler is able to delve into historical themes and human conditions, and with majority of works under the category of science fiction, Butler is able to explore these themes through a variety of settings. This essay will discuss two of Butler’s popular works, Kindred and the Parable of Sower, and will interpret the themes of women, race, independence, and power throughout the two novels.
The killings made by the slaves are saddening, too. Mutilating the whites and leaving their bodies lying is inhumane. It is such a shocking story. This book was meant to teach the reader on the inhumanity of slavery. It also gives us the image of what happened during the past years when slavery was practised.
It leaves the readers in an awe of silence as they deliberate and take in the powerful message of Kindred. Octavia Butler extablishes the site of trauma as adaptation and the cause as the inhumane act of slavery. Butler led her audience to question the equality not only of the past, but also the present. Developing and critically thinking about the world around us is the message that Butler wanted to convey. Are black people really free? Have blacks gained all the right that are reserved to them by constitutional law? Those answers are to be decided by each individual, but in the words of Jesse Williams, “the burdened of the brutalized is not to comfort the bystander. If you have no interest in the equal rights for black people, then do not make suggestions for those who do. Sit down.”
Octavia Butler’s twist on gender constructs is in line with this notion. The more far-fetched the idea is the more readers will contemplate the idea. In reading this text, I did not question the validity of Gan acting as a reproductive host. I dissociated the Tlic world from my own and expected such a thing to be plausible. The Tlic’s societal construct was familiar enough for me to understand the plot, but different enough that I did not question the obvious differences to my own society. Butler capitalizes on cognitive estrangement effectively. Bloodchild serves as textual evidence of the ability of the SF genre to subvert normative gender roles, particularly sexual
Butler alludes to the significance of the problem by choosing the adjective kindred as a title for her work. Throughout this novel, familial bonds are built up, and at the very end get a perverse form because of gender and racial mistreatments. Throughout time, Dana witnesses families clinging to each other while they are treated unjustly. The veracity of this assertion is confirmed by examining scenes where the heroes stick together with their family because they are put in circumstances where it is impossible to escape racial violation. An example of such a case is the incident between the slave called Tess and Dana. After Weilyn sells the man for attempting to flirt with Dana, other slaves try their best to not displease their masters because they do not want to be separated from their family. This scene suggests that racial violation was so horrifying that African Americans could not even choose to live with their family, and it made them even more dependent on each
In Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, one of the major themes is how the institution of slavery has an effect on the moral health of the slaveholder. The power slaveholders have over their slaves is great, as well as corrupting. Douglass uses this theme to point out that the institution of slavery is bad for everyone involved, not just the slaves. Throughout the narrative, Douglass uses several of his former slaveholders as examples. Sophia Auld, once such a kind and caring woman, is transformed into a cruel and oppressive slave owner over the course of the narrative. Thomas Auld, also. Douglass ties this theme back to the main concern of authorial control. Although this is a personal account, it is also a tool of propaganda, and is used as such. Douglass’s intent is to convince readers that the system of slavery is horrible and damaging to all included, and thus should be abolished completely. Douglass makes it very clear in his examples how exactly the transformation occurs and how kind and moral people can become those who beat their slaves and pervert Christianity in an attempt to justify it.
The nonfiction book I read was titled Beautiful Child and was written by Torey Hayden. Beautiful Child follows the life of a special education teacher who is new to a school is met with a challenging class consisting of five children, all with very different needs. The class consists of a child who has tourette’s syndrome (Jesse), a child who we later find out has dyslexia (Billy), two twins who have fetal alcohol syndrome (Shane and Zane), and a young girl who is selectively mute (Venus.) Although through the story we see each child grow and progress, Venus is the main character and we see her open up to Torey through books and most important She-Ra comics. As Venus’ story unfolds, so do the horrendous details of her family that include a past of drug abuse and prostitution. The quietness of Venus that left many confused, begins to make
Lizzie tells Mr. Borden: “I’m supposed to be a mirror. I’m supposed to reflect what you want to see” (Pollock, 39). The literary technique used here is symbolism, because Mr. Borden represents society since Lizzie is “supposed to” do or “reflect” what society wants so that she can fit into it.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the physical burdens of slavery that he faced on a daily basis, it was the psychological effects that caused him the greatest amount of detriment during his twenty-year enslavement. In the same regard, Douglass is able to profess that it was not only the slaves who incurred the damaging effects of slavery, but also the slaveholders. Slavery, in essence, is a destructive force that collectively corrupts the minds of slaveholders and weakens slaves’ intellects.
Frederick Douglass’ landmark narrative describes the dehumanization of African-American slaves, while simultaneously humanizing them through his moving prose. Douglass shows the dehumanization of slaves through depictions of violence, deindividuation, and the broken justice system. However, Douglass’ pursuit of an education, moving rhetoric, and critique of his own masters demonstrates to the reader that African-Americans are just as intelligent as white people, thus proving their humanity.
Unlike in "Bloodchild" in "Amnesty" the violent collective power against the protagonists are humans. In the short story Noah is questioned and tortured to receive information about her experience with the communities. Obstruction of power is more painful when induced by those you trust as Noah reflects when she states, "The only difference between the way they treated me in the way the aliens treated me during the early use of my captivity was the so-called human beings knew they were hurting me questioned me day and night threatened me dragged me" (170). Butler uses Kinetic imagery when stating "dragged" to trigger a physical sensation. (QR/LD) Butler also suggests the reader to think about the people you believe you should trust the most should not be relied on. (CW) Similar to in "Bloodchild" Butler describes a multitude of emotions when she states, "Remembering humiliation fear hopelessness exhaustion bitterness sickness pain they had never beaten her badly[...] but it went on and on"(171). Butler's of grim Tone emphasizes the listed multitude of emotions similar to "Bloodchild" (QR/LD) Repetition of unjust actions causes powerless to completely lose hope and take extreme measures. (QR/CW) Noah provides a contrasting narrative of restraint of power, still pertaining to the common theme of multitude of emotions and self