Bloodchild

1. Are there any prominent symbols in the story? If so, what are they and how are they used?

There are definitely symbols present throughout the entire story. The concept of the Preserve is basically one giant prison that the humans can roam around in, yet there's always the Tlic around which are more or less the prison guards. However, the Tlic beings aren't all bad because, just like the humans, they're just trying to survive. The Tlic use the humans to their advantage in order for them to reproduce but the humans just kind of go with it because they have no choice, really. And the cases are all different, too. For example, T'Gatoi actually feels love towards her human family. She wants them to be safe and happy and protected. But at the same time, she knows that she has a purpose and she's going to do whatever it is that she needs to do for her own sake.

2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements with which you were able to connect.

I connected to the plight of having an older sibling that (relatively) sucks. Growing up, my sister was always better than me at literally everything so it really sucked growing up in her shadow. It wasn't until later that I realized I didn't need to be in her shadow, but that's a completely different story. The way that Gan and Qui interact with each other, very aggressive and always having this underlying sense of bitterness and resentment toward the other, is exactly how I grew up with my sister. The only difference was that my sister and I didn't beat each other up in the front yard. 

3. What changes would you make to adapt this story to another medium? What medium would you choose? What changes would you make?

If I had to change this story into anything, I would definitely adapt it for the big screen. The entire time I was reading it, I saw the scenes in my head so I feel as though it would translate well into a film. I'm not sure that I would change anything but I would definitely add a little more backstory to the relationship between the Tlic and the humans. I feel like that element in the story wasn't elaborated on enough, like, I kept questioning why these beings were brought together. I mean, clearly the Tlic are using the humans to stay alive and vise versa (sort of) but my biggest question is why? Where did the Tlic come from and why did they choose the humans to use as breeding animals for themselves? That's really the only thing that would, not necessarily change, but add.