Bloodchild and Other Stories

Many characters in these stories live on the fringes of society: Lynn is a pariah due to being a carrier of DGD, while Noah is seen as an alien conspirator who was experimented on by the Communities and the government. Even the innocuous Jane describes being an outcast at work because of her unusual strength and homely appearance. In “Speech Sounds,” Valerie Rye lives in a world populated by frustrated, confused people who are no longer able to communicate through verbal or written language, while “Bloodchild” alludes to the violent clashes between the Tlic and the Terrans when the latter first arrived on the planet.

Each of these is an example of society reacting violently towards unknown situations or entities, often out of fear and frustration, and, other times, in an attempt to gain power over another group. “The Morning and the Evening and the Night,” in particular, elucidates this theme powerfully through the relationship of the DGD patients to their own bodies. When patients start showing physical symptoms, their own bodies begin to feel like prisons, and patients will do anything, even destroy themselves, to get out. DGD patients manifest the literal self-destruction that mankind has displayed throughout its history when faced with unknown situations. Similarly, “Amnesty” ends with a chilling reminder that the human government tried to destroy the Communities with nuclear weapons, when they could not find any overt weaknesses. This standoff is reminiscent of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the U.S. and the Soviet Union nearly went to nuclear war after a standoff over Soviet nuclear missiles being sent to Cuba. In the immediate aftermath, a direct phone line was developed between the White House and the Kremlin, to prevent future incidents through enhanced communication. This incident is also where we get the term “Mutually Assured Destruction” (M.A.D.), which describes a deterrent to nuclear war between any two countries due to the fact that such a war would cause mass casualties on both sides. The historical secret that Noah tells the trainees at the end of “Amnesty” can be read as an extreme version of the M.A.D. principle. After the human government’s failed nuclear strike on the Communities, the aliens returned half of the nuclear weapons, and kept half for themselves, forcing the world’s governments not to try more military solutions out of fear of retaliation. 

Many of Butler’s stories and novels feature a black female protagonist as the survivor in a world ravaged by disease, invasion or catastrophe. Often, these characters become leaders and rally other groups, with the goal of transforming the world. In this collection, we see three prominent characters who exemplify this trope in order to look at gender norms. Gan, Noah and Lynn are all characters who struggle with notions of family, maternity, and love. Gan, from “Bloodchild,” was created as a way to explore the concept of male pregnancy. As such, Gan possesses many of the traits stereotypically associated with women, such as empathy, innocence and compassion. Though this is a bildungsroman, Gan’s coming of age turns him not from boy to man but from boy to woman, as he is impregnated by the seductive and powerful T’Gatoi, whose appendage for implanting Tlic eggs into Gan is unambiguously phallic. In being coddled, groomed and seduced, Gan takes the place usually reserved for feminine heroines. Qui, Gan’s older brother, serves not only as Gan’s foil but illustrates the opposing characteristics of masculinity that Gan does not possess. Qui is selfish, fearful and a bully. He resents Gan for being favored, and hates the Tlic, but also feels entitled to his share of egg. He is willing to hide behind Gan in order to be spared from the birthing process, while Gan, when faced with the same choice, is unwilling to let his younger sister take his place.

Selflessness and the ability to love and care beyond standard social boundaries is a trait shared by Noah and Lynn. Noah feels a kinship with the Communities and with humankind and works to mediate between the two, often at her own physical and emotional expense. Noah thus possesses characteristics typically associated with females, but also carries a masculine name and possesses the authority and solitary lifestyle usually associated with male heroes. While Gan’s ability to love is channeled into maternal caring, Noah states that she had two abortions while in captivity. The inability to bear children would normally signal a loss of womanhood, but Noah is able to redirect her maternal instincts into caring for humanity as a whole. As such, she is a powerful amalgam of gender traits.

Finally, Lynn Mortimer finds a level of power and control usually reserved for society’s white male elite. As the female child of two DGD-positive parents, Lynn emits a powerful scent that can influence DGD carriers. Her fiancé, Alan, is resentful of this power because it threatens his masculinity and makes Lynn unique and important. Like Noah, Lynn is a solitary hero, though in her case this is seen in her innate dislike for Beatrice, the female head of the ward, who explains that two females with that pheromone cannot be in close proximity because of their territorial natures. Fighting over territory is classically reserved for the male of a species. At the end of the story, it is implied that Lynn would choose to stay at the Dilg ward and sacrifice her relationship with Alan for the good of the other patients and humanity in general. This gesture of sacrificing personal love for the greater good is also typically reserved only for male heroes, yet Butler shows us how a female character, one who possesses a higher degree of empathy and altruism than her male counterpart, as well as a maternal instinct that can extend to all of humanity, is actually better-suited to fulfill this trope.