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?
I think that you bring up some very interesting points regarding the relationship between T'Gatoi and Lien. I can understand how feelings of hostility were picked up, however, I didn't get that impression from the story. After reading the entire story I felt that the relationship was strained but only as Gan got older. The older he got the closer he got to being T'Gatoi's N'Tlic. I think that was why Lien was distant during the egg sharing; she knew what T'Gatoi was really there to do. She knew that the time had come for her son to be implanted with eggs. We don't get a full sense of this until the end when Gan says, "Why else had my mother kept looking at me as though I were going away from her, going where she could not follow?" For me, the story really comes together at the end and we get a sense of resignation. Lien had promised T'Gatoi Gan when he was born and now that day had come and there was nothing she could do about it. I can only imagine what she must have been going through, knowing that her child was taking on this tremendous and dangerous thing and being helpless to stop it. I agree she wants a normal life but knows that can never happen.
ReplyDeleteAnother good point that you bring up is the length of time they have been on the preserve. We do not get a direct sense of how long has past but we do get a small inidcation that it has been at least a couple of generations. On page 12 when Gan is first speaking of the gun he says, "No one had shot a Tlic in my lifetime or my mother's." From this we begin to understand that they have been on the reservation long enough to have laws established against guns and that perhaps no one on the preserve remembers them being used on Tlic. Later, on page 26, when he is talking with T'Gatoi he states, "She was old enough to have seen what guns could do to people." So my thought is that they have been on the preserve for a couple of human generations but because the Tlic live longer it might only be one or two Tlic generations. I think you do a good job of questioning this. If they had been there a very long time they would not know any other way, there may be old stories but they would would just be stories of a time long ago and there probably wouldn't be opposing thoughts or open hostility. I do agree that is one area that could have been explored a bit more. Are there any humans left who remember the first encounter? How many generations back do they have to go? What type of impact do the eggs on prolonging life have with regards to life span. It also raises the question of what a year is considered on this planet, or a day. Do the humans even remember what that was on their home planet?
However, I feel that the quetions this story raise are what makes it a good story. If everything was explained and nothing was left to question it would be boring. By leaving some things unanswered Butler is allowing our own imaginations to take over and in a sense, fill in the blanks. It may seem frustrating at times and I agree that there were a few things she could have answered or explained better.
I always find it interesting the different feelings and ideas we get from reading stories and welcome the chance to share those with others. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and allowing me to share mine. By sharing thoughts we gain new insights into the story that we never would have thought of before. Your post was very interesting and enlightening, thank you again for sharing your ideas.
I have to completely agree with you. When I was reading Bloodchild, I had the same thoughts regrading the relationship between T’Gatoi and Lien. Butler describes their relationship as being close but yet distant and yes Lien definitely showed some hostile feeling towards T’Gatoi. But why? That was the question in the back of my mind through out the whole short story which I feel distracted me from other important aspects of the story.
ReplyDeleteIt says that they are life long friends and grew up together then why would there be any distance or hostile feelings towards each other? It makes you curious about the back story.
When she didn’t take the eggs as well it sprung curiosity about this character as well. Why wouldn’t she want to take the eggs and extend her life? I also, got the feeling that the reason why was because she was depressed. Considering that her husband had passed and she had to give her child to T’Gatoi. If you were placed in that situation wouldn’t you be a little depressed as well? Or maybe she didn’t take the eggs because she was being selfless and wanted her children to life a long, fulfilling life. Either way this story, I would have to agree, does leave you with unanswered questions but then again maybe that was Butler’s purpose in the first place.
I actually had the same question in my notes as to why Lien did not want to partake in the egg eating or getting high. I am sure that she had seen a lot of horrible things though out her life with the Tilc but you would think she would want to live longer to protect and be with her children. This actually leads me back to the question you had as to how long the reserve had been going on. I think that your idea of it going on for only a few years may be inacurate. Not only are their lives prolonged by the eggs but when Gan talks about how they use to keep the Terrans in pens it sounded like it happened way before he was around. It is definately hard to determine since it is a short story and information is limited because there is not much room for detail. I think they accept this way of life because they know they are in a much better situtaion than they had been. I know I would rather sit around and live a semi-normal life sitting around and getting high on some eggs than being penned up like an animal. I guess some would rather live like that cause at least they aren't obliviously high all the time and have more dignity knowing they are not going to give in.
ReplyDeleteExcellent comments, all of you!
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