Bloodchild Analysis

In “Bloodchild” by Octavia E. Butler, slavery is a recurring theme throughout the short story. The Tlic are portrayed as the more dominant race, while the humans, or Terrans, are more submissive. Terrans must give one of their children to a Tlic in order to be able to nurture their own human children. Gan’s mother decides to sacrifice one of her children to a Tlic named T’Gatoi, because of their childhood friendship and the political power T’Gatoi holds. Gan always knew he would be the chosen one to give birth to T’Gatoi’s children. After witnessing Lomas, a Terran, give birth to an alien, Gan is terrified and doesn’t want to be the vessel for T’Gatoi anymore. T’Gatoi threatens Gan by telling him if he does not agree to be her vessel, she will impregnate his sister instead. Wanting to protect his sister from the pain of giving birth to an alien, Gan agrees to be impregnated by T’Gatoi.
The Tlic
The author does this by using words like “caged” and “obeyed” throughout the short story. When T’Gatoi uses the human bodies to warm herself, the humans feel confined. “I had always found it comfortable to lie that way, but except for my older sister, no one else in the family liked it. They said it made them feel caged” (6). The reader can infer that the humans feel imprisoned while in T’Gatoi’s limbs. Even if Gan’s family don’t like how it feels, T’Gatoi cages the humans in her limbs because she benefits from the warmth of their bodies. Gan’s mother tells him to always “be respectful and always obedient” (1) to T’Gatoi. Gan’s mother wants to make sure T’Gatoi is satisfied because T’Gatoi is what stood between the humans and the hordes who did not understand why the humans were kept in a Preserve; who the Terrans couldn’t be paid, drafted, or made available in other ways. For this reason, the humans complete any task given to them by the Tlic without