Bloodchild Assessment
1. My reaction to the text I just read was really jarring at first. I was a little confused with how everything was put in place at the beginning but after a few pages I was able to follow along a little easier. I have read another one of Octavia Butler's works before and this one was so different from Kindred. It left me feeling extreme discomfort, but not in the sense that I did not like the piece, but the subject matter, and what took place in the story is incredibly chilling a concept. The idea of being subservient to insect like creatures, acting as their breeding livestock, constantly being subjected to stings and eggs to preserve their youth and ignorant blissfulness.
2. Being brainwashed or otherwise blissfully unaware of something fairly dark and sinister is something that is a particular fear of mine. Not one where I am constantly worried about encountering it like clowns or trypophobia type fears, but I was subjected to this kind of treatment. Not to the same extremity thank god, but growing up I was very sheltered in my raising. My grandfather was a pastor and my mother was very controlling to the point it was abusive. At first it was blissful ignorance, I served her because I was raised to honor my mother and father. In high school though I realized how one sided our exchange was, and the more I began to realize this and grow depressed because of it my mother tried to continue brainwashing me with subservience. If I was ever really low, she would ask me if I was reading the bible, or listening to Christian music, or taking my medication. Hell there was a point in time that she had me convinced I was possessed, and wanted to perform an exorcism. I am not as profoundly religious as I use to be because of that, but additionally now more than ever I am alert to situations where I am being fed some sort of emotional or even psychological narcotics that could allow someone to overpower me after they run out of sweet words.
3. It would be a really curious thing adapting this short story into some sort of game. Where you play as a Terran that is slowly discovering the horrors that await you. Something similar to "We Happy Few" where you are trying to survive, but also be able to convince others that you are brainwashed without truly being so. Perhaps consuming eggs help sustain health but they also cause the player to hallucinate, blackout and dream, maybe it will put them back in a risky place. Find your way out of the Preserve without becoming an egg host.
2. Being brainwashed or otherwise blissfully unaware of something fairly dark and sinister is something that is a particular fear of mine. Not one where I am constantly worried about encountering it like clowns or trypophobia type fears, but I was subjected to this kind of treatment. Not to the same extremity thank god, but growing up I was very sheltered in my raising. My grandfather was a pastor and my mother was very controlling to the point it was abusive. At first it was blissful ignorance, I served her because I was raised to honor my mother and father. In high school though I realized how one sided our exchange was, and the more I began to realize this and grow depressed because of it my mother tried to continue brainwashing me with subservience. If I was ever really low, she would ask me if I was reading the bible, or listening to Christian music, or taking my medication. Hell there was a point in time that she had me convinced I was possessed, and wanted to perform an exorcism. I am not as profoundly religious as I use to be because of that, but additionally now more than ever I am alert to situations where I am being fed some sort of emotional or even psychological narcotics that could allow someone to overpower me after they run out of sweet words.
3. It would be a really curious thing adapting this short story into some sort of game. Where you play as a Terran that is slowly discovering the horrors that await you. Something similar to "We Happy Few" where you are trying to survive, but also be able to convince others that you are brainwashed without truly being so. Perhaps consuming eggs help sustain health but they also cause the player to hallucinate, blackout and dream, maybe it will put them back in a risky place. Find your way out of the Preserve without becoming an egg host.
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