Bloodchild Octavia Butler Character Analysis

The characters are very important in Octavia Butler’s science fiction short story “Bloodchild”. A character is a person presented on a dramatic or narrative work. When it comes to the story of “Bloodchild”, most people would agree that gender roles are reversed. This agreement may end, however, on the question of character in Butler. It is safe to say that understanding the characters, who they are and what they do, help explain the theme of gender roles. Change in gender roles can be seen in “Bloodchild” by the position that the female character T’Gatoi has over the other Tlics, the way characters act, female characters killing and providing food for their family, and the fact that the female body does not carry the Tlic eggs, the male body does. While reading Butler’s story “Bloodchild”, one can see that the common gender roles of a male and female are flipped. Not only is it flipped for childbirth, but also by power and authority. Generally, the male population is seen with dominance over the female

It is common to see males in high positions, and Butler made it clear, on page three, that T’Gatoi is the most important Tlic on their planet. Also, males are often viewed to be aggressive and demanding, so Butler gave those traits to T’Gatoi, as seen on page five. Also, on page eleven, it is shown that Lien is going out to hunt animals to bring food back to the table. Finally, on page twenty-five, Butler shows that the gender role of pregnancy is also reversed. She made it where the male body the one to get pregnant instead of the female. By understanding the characters in “Bloodchild”, it can be seen that Butler reversed the roles of