Assessment
1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?
Whilst reading Bloodchild by Octavia Butler, I was confused and mildly disgusted as the story unfolded. From what I understand of the plot, the human race has been taken over by insect-like creatures and the character T'Gatoi is the insect creature that stays with the main character, Gan's, family. These insect like creatures lay their eggs in a human and the humans act as an incubator of sorts for their babies. The part that most disturbed me was when T'Gatoi cut open Lomas' body in order to get rid of the grubs that were eating him inside out. I was also highly disturbed when T'Gatoi "impregnated" Gan with her eggs, as I am unsure of how that happens since from what I know, Gan is a male. The story is vague with the act of the impregnation, but nevertheless it is disturbing that it is on the borderline of being an act of rape against an adolescent. Initially, when Gan describes "sipping" eggs, which allow the humans to live longer and acts as a vice of sorts, I was confused as to what these eggs where. In my mind, they were chocolate creme eggs, like the ones they sell every year during Easter. I was mildly horrified to figure out that these were sterile insect eggs that came out of T'Gatoi.
2. What connections did you make with this story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect?
Although I cannot make any connections with most aspects of this story, for obvious reasons, I can relate to the part where Gan sacrifices himself and his potential future in order to keep his family safe. By doing so, he also protects his sister from having to be the "host." Even though he wavers when given the opportunity to not be the host, and T'Gatoi suggests his sister to be the substitute, ultimately he does not allow that to happen. He also strikes a deal of sorts with T'Gatoi that if he becomes the host of her eggs, his family could keep the rifle, an illegal object in the story. The act of sacrificing for your family is something that I have thankfully not gone through, but I would definitely without a doubt do if the situation came to it. I can also relate to Gan's mother. She does not consume the eggs even when their family has a constant source of them from T'Gatoi. Although Gan is confused on why she wouldn't want to live longer even when she is given the opportunity, and instead chooses to age, I can understand her reason why. I believe it's because she does not want to see her children suffer, or her grandchildren suffer from being hosts. She ages as she should, not wanting to prolong the time in which she must witness and experience being under the control of these insect creatures.
3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? Which medium would you use? What changes would you make?
I believe that there needs to be more context at the beginning of the story. For example, a compilation of short clips that showcase the take over of these insect creatures and how they came to have power over humans, with a narrator giving a brief description of how these insect creatures also use humans to incubate their child and show how this has affected society. Regarding medium, I could see this story as a Netflix series, seeing how Stranger Things, which has a couple of similar elements, has also been very popular. Knowing Netflix, this short story would probably be prolonged to become a four-season show. Therefore this story would definitely have to be written to be much longer, possibly incorporating an entire cast of teens, not just the character Gan, who are stuck in this world of insect creatures, and trying to escape from their fates and seek a "new world" or possibly revolt against the creatures.
Future in 15 years...
Hopefully the world would actually have dealt with world issues such as environmental problems and we would have world peace. However, judging from the direction we are heading in, it does not seem to be the case. I see the world in chaos and full of corruption, as the rich only get richer and the poor only get poorer. I am unsure of what my future specifically is going to look like, but I hope that whatever job I have, related or unrelated to my major of Graphic Design, that the job that I have is stable, and I enjoy it and am much less stressed than I am right now at Ringling. Hopefully I get more hours of sleep too. But maybe that's wishful thinking.
Future in 50 years...
Being from Hong Kong, I am scared to think about my future in 50 years. I don't think I want to imagine having my freedom of speech, freedom of expression or freedom of thought taken away from me after Hong Kong is taken back by China in less than 28 years. I honestly cannot think of my personal future, and I do not really want to think about it. I would honestly much rather not be alive to see it happen.
Whilst reading Bloodchild by Octavia Butler, I was confused and mildly disgusted as the story unfolded. From what I understand of the plot, the human race has been taken over by insect-like creatures and the character T'Gatoi is the insect creature that stays with the main character, Gan's, family. These insect like creatures lay their eggs in a human and the humans act as an incubator of sorts for their babies. The part that most disturbed me was when T'Gatoi cut open Lomas' body in order to get rid of the grubs that were eating him inside out. I was also highly disturbed when T'Gatoi "impregnated" Gan with her eggs, as I am unsure of how that happens since from what I know, Gan is a male. The story is vague with the act of the impregnation, but nevertheless it is disturbing that it is on the borderline of being an act of rape against an adolescent. Initially, when Gan describes "sipping" eggs, which allow the humans to live longer and acts as a vice of sorts, I was confused as to what these eggs where. In my mind, they were chocolate creme eggs, like the ones they sell every year during Easter. I was mildly horrified to figure out that these were sterile insect eggs that came out of T'Gatoi.
2. What connections did you make with this story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect?
Although I cannot make any connections with most aspects of this story, for obvious reasons, I can relate to the part where Gan sacrifices himself and his potential future in order to keep his family safe. By doing so, he also protects his sister from having to be the "host." Even though he wavers when given the opportunity to not be the host, and T'Gatoi suggests his sister to be the substitute, ultimately he does not allow that to happen. He also strikes a deal of sorts with T'Gatoi that if he becomes the host of her eggs, his family could keep the rifle, an illegal object in the story. The act of sacrificing for your family is something that I have thankfully not gone through, but I would definitely without a doubt do if the situation came to it. I can also relate to Gan's mother. She does not consume the eggs even when their family has a constant source of them from T'Gatoi. Although Gan is confused on why she wouldn't want to live longer even when she is given the opportunity, and instead chooses to age, I can understand her reason why. I believe it's because she does not want to see her children suffer, or her grandchildren suffer from being hosts. She ages as she should, not wanting to prolong the time in which she must witness and experience being under the control of these insect creatures.
3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? Which medium would you use? What changes would you make?
I believe that there needs to be more context at the beginning of the story. For example, a compilation of short clips that showcase the take over of these insect creatures and how they came to have power over humans, with a narrator giving a brief description of how these insect creatures also use humans to incubate their child and show how this has affected society. Regarding medium, I could see this story as a Netflix series, seeing how Stranger Things, which has a couple of similar elements, has also been very popular. Knowing Netflix, this short story would probably be prolonged to become a four-season show. Therefore this story would definitely have to be written to be much longer, possibly incorporating an entire cast of teens, not just the character Gan, who are stuck in this world of insect creatures, and trying to escape from their fates and seek a "new world" or possibly revolt against the creatures.
Future in 15 years...
Hopefully the world would actually have dealt with world issues such as environmental problems and we would have world peace. However, judging from the direction we are heading in, it does not seem to be the case. I see the world in chaos and full of corruption, as the rich only get richer and the poor only get poorer. I am unsure of what my future specifically is going to look like, but I hope that whatever job I have, related or unrelated to my major of Graphic Design, that the job that I have is stable, and I enjoy it and am much less stressed than I am right now at Ringling. Hopefully I get more hours of sleep too. But maybe that's wishful thinking.
Future in 50 years...
Being from Hong Kong, I am scared to think about my future in 50 years. I don't think I want to imagine having my freedom of speech, freedom of expression or freedom of thought taken away from me after Hong Kong is taken back by China in less than 28 years. I honestly cannot think of my personal future, and I do not really want to think about it. I would honestly much rather not be alive to see it happen.
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