For my first blog, I will be discussing the beginning of the short story and exploring flaws that lead to unanswered questions. Within the first few paragraphs, we are introduced to the family and T'Gatoi. T'Gatoi and Lien had a very interesting relationship, that I am trying to understand further.
In the first few pages, Butler discussed their relationship as long existing but hostile towards one another. Lien would not take any of the eggs and seemed distant with T'Gatoi being present in their home. Is it quite possibly because she wanted to live a normal life? Do you think that after living in the reserve and seeing her family 'get high' off the eggs, she would have the strength to say no? Why? She obviously did but I want to explore the idea of why. I personally think it is because she knows and wants a normal life. As we do not see that from the story, she seems to not be welcoming to anything that T'Gatoi has to offer.
Although, they were raised together and had a pre-existing relationship as best friends. Which could introduce the question into how long they have had the reserve. In my thought, I do not think for a long period of time. If it were years, I would assume that there would be almost no opposing thoughts. The residents would be raised with this lifestyle not knowing any other way, thus, not being able to reject.
I wish that we had a better understanding of the background of the story. I am aware that the point of this story to be a short story. I personally think that with just a few introduction paragraphs explaining the history, we would not have to raise questions into what happened. We would know the who, what, where, when, why and how. No questions would be left unanswered.
What do you think?
