Throughout the entire world there is one thing in life that millions of people have never even considered. This is the idea of holding something or someone and keeping them for your own use. After reading "Bloodchild" by Octavia Butler I personally, have put much thought into this idea. One of the most significant ideas presented in this reading was displayed when we got to the part where the aliens (T'Gatoi) used humans to reproduce.
The aliens using the humans to reproduce would normally be considered absolutely unjust and resemble a parasitic relationship, however the humans benefit significantly at the same time because when an alien uses a human, the human's life expectancy becomes greatly extended. Taking only this into consideration would actually be a difficult choice to many, because one could live a much longer giving one more time to enjoy life, but it would different life and would contain a horrendous ending. This is not the case though, and not only do the humans have that to take into consideration, but they're already cooped up like cows on a farm as it is so its almost like the humans are being captivated and bred. So what is actually never put into consideration, is how easy it is to think about cows being forced to eat certain foods and coop them up in a fence their whole life and then in opposition, look at it as completely inhuman and wrong to do the same to our own species.
-Derek Guarino
You make some very interesting observations about issues of slavery in "Bloodchild" as you did in class discussion as well. It is interesting that we as readers can be so shocked by the relationship between the Tlic and the Terrans, however humans and animals (cows) have a seemingly similar relationship at present. It is interesting to think whether this comparison allows us to better understand the alien/human relationships represented in the story.
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