Genre Study of “Bloodchild” - Octavia Butler

  In his famous review of Hawthorne’s Twice-told Tales, Edgar Allan Poe classifies the short story based on its “unity of effect and impression.” Building on this idea, literary critic Brander Matthews (1901) adds that this “essential unity of impression” “shows one action, in one place, on one day. A Short-story deals with a single character, a single event, a single emotion, or the series of emotions called forth by a single situation.” Considering your observations of any one of the texts that we’ve read so far, how can we add to, challenge, and revise Poe’s and Matthews’ dicta? What other generic characteristics define the short story form? Try to contrast the form with other, more familiar literary genres, such as novels and poetry. Focus your analysis on a single formal trait (with concrete, directly quoted examples) from one text.  

    Octavia Butler’s “Bloodchild” is a take on merging two different popular genres to convey and explore deeper themes and meanings to the overall short story nature. In addition to these formal traits of the story tone, Butler seems to somewhat conform to the traditional short story form that Poe proposed; classifying the short story based on its "unity of effect and impression." Butler’s central style of writing also reflects horror sci-fi extremely well by introducing a new, alien-like world and environment for humans to exist and coexist in. By introducing interdependence between two species, the Tlic who are alien-like and dominant, and Terrans, being the humans with no power, as well as incorporating interspecies relationships between the two, Butler sets up a premise for unity. Bloodchild is centered solely on the experiences of one character; that being of Gan. The focus is held on his future as a prospective N'Tlic, or host for the alien species, and revolves around that singular experience changing his outlook on his life. This main choice allows Poe and Matthew's dicta to remain true for even the most complex short stories. In addition, this narrative presents dystopia in a couple of different senses. 

Dystopian literature is closely tied to the science fiction genre, where something horrible often due to supernatural reasons or corruption situates the world into a haphazard, corrupt world. By relocating power to a dominant, alien species (Tlic), the once ever-powerful human race (Terrans now), are forced to submit to the power of a being higher than us, where normally, humans are dominant and in control in relation to most other species. Additionally, interplanetary conflict is pertinent to dystopian-science fiction genres, in which the Terrans and Tlic have been fighting each other since the Terrans fled their homeplace. The “social contract” held by the Terrans and Tlic of the preserve was mentioned as the only thing stopping the “hordes of Tlic” outside the preserve waiting to devour the Terrans. In Gan’s position, it is T’Gatoi that is completely dominant towards him and other members of his family. Gan, contrasting traditional gender roles, is taught to be subservient to T’Gatoi, “My mother used to try to tell me how to behave with T'Gatoi - how to be respectful and always obedient because T'Gatoi was the Tlic government official in charge of the Preserve, and thus the most important of her kind to deal directly with Terrans.” These factors combined reveal the main challenge/conflict Gan experiences throughout the story, which can challenge Poe's statements on the short story being that many factors can influence the emotions of the character.

Butler also effectively demonstrates how the idea of fear is present within this society through the experiences of Gan and other Terran species. Specifically with Gan, his experiences can be viewed as a coming of age story, with his traumatic experience of viewing a birthing process gone wrong being the catalyst. Gan is originally naïve to the world around him, relaxed in a different lifestyle than the rest of his family but ultimately never questions it. It’s only when a psychologically horrifying scene takes place– the birthing process of Bram Lomas, does Gan fully realize the hazards of his relationship with T’Gatoi. Butler introduces the terrifying way T’Gatoi uses her razor sharp claws to dig into and cut open Lomas’ flesh while retrieving bloody grubs, all while Lomas is partially conscious and screaming from pain. While this is happening right in front of Gan’s eyes, he starts to internally freak out and worries for his own safety with T’Gatoi, who he then deemed as “never having been more alien-like and terrifying”. The bloody imagery and initial shock that Butler implants into Gan’s mind, sufficiently portrays the more psychological horror aspect of the genre that she wants to get at. 

After the shock, Gan debates what to do; from questioning his life with T’Gatoi to considering escapism like his brother Qui, through a rifle pointed at his jaw or by unloading his birth responsibility to his older sister. It is at this point that Gan realizes that he doesn’t want to shield himself by sacrificing one of his family members to the social contract upheld in their society. Furthermore, due to Gan’s circumstances being born into this society that is centered on interdependence, he decides to take the responsibility to host T’Gatoi’s eggs as part of his “duty” to protect his family. In doing so, Gan is taking a risk into the unknowns of the future, never sure whether his birthing process could end up botched or successful. In the end, T’Gatoi promises to take care of him and the story seems to come to a resolution, indicating a singular morale of some sort. This is commonly present within Poe's dictum of the reason behind a story, as each of Poe's short stories follows a certain lesson to be told at the end; which provides another aspect we can add on to. Ultimately, Gan’s actions and choice to come of age are inspired by the circumstances of his environment; the concept of a sci-fi world paired with a traumatic experience is what pushes him to grow and make a dedicated choice for the future. Keeping in mind, the entire story is told over relatively a short instance of time in a singular day, which unlike a novel, could have been expanded on much more and could have several different conflicts due to the nature of society in this story. Butler therefore, highlights only one part of the story in order to make a certain statement about one experience relating to taking risks, which builds on the idea "unity of effect and impression."