The visceral emotions fostered by the slave narrative interpretation of “Bloodchild” appeal directly to human instinct, whereas the idea that humans serving as egg carriers for an alien species could be a positive thing is abhorrent. However, Butler is not trying to propose that this is the best way for humans to live or that we are made to be subservient or even that the humans in her story aren’t abused or taken advantage of at times. What she is ultimately creating is a tale of survival and adaptation that can even lead to love. Contemporary human society values individual freedom greater than life itself, at least in principal; a brief consideration of the movies, novels, music and everything else we create clearly puts this idea at the forefront of our identity – give us liberty or give us death. Butler proposes, however, that perhaps this sort of freedom is not the most important or even noble cause for humankind. In “Bloodchild,” the most important thing for the humans is survival, and the humans join in a symbiotic relationship with the Tlic because it is the only way for them to survive, though not unchanged. The ability to change without compromising identity is the central issue for the humans of “Bloodchild” and, indeed, in many of Butler’s other works as well.

Despite the instinctual aversion readers may feel towards the human-alien symbiosis Butler creates, the story itself provides an escape from this reaction. The instinctual response is based on a clear-cut dichotomy of good and evil, but in the story this division does not exist. T’Gatoi cannot be considered evil; she genuinely cares for her human “family” and cares about who carries her children. She specifically tells Gan she would not trust her offspring with someone who would hate them – she cares about the relationship between Gan and herself. The experiences the two share can even become romantic in this light; her touches are described as caresses and her underbelly like velvet. The implantation scene is full of sexual overtones, as well as indications of a real relationship: when Gan accidentally hurts T’Gatoi during the process, he reacts by compromising and holding her in a position he was initially uncomfortable with. When Gan suggests that Terrans be educated about the birthing process, T’Gatoi honestly takes his comments into consideration even though his suggestion went against her own ideas about the Tlic-Terran relationship. There is a clear give and take in their encounter. T’Gatoi also goes to great lengths to protect and preserve human existence, preventing other Tlic from reverting to the system where humans were used as farm animals. It is true that the system she perpetuates strips humans of many freedoms and places new and foreign requirements on them, but she does so out of a desire to create a better life for the humans and herself by making families that connect the two species. Her actions cannot be described as wholly good or wholly evil; instead, she has a real personality, makes real choices, and challenges any preconceived ideas the reader might have about alien behavior.

On the human side, a variety of opinions and responses are shown: Qui feels enslaved and maniuplated, Lien shows a defeated resignation mixed with willing acceptance to the family’s situation, Xuan Hoa portrays a desire to be a host, and Gan experiences the entire spectrum of these emotions and makes his own decision about his life. Each character elicits sympathy for their own cause and none of them is better than the others. There is no absolute good or absolute evil, just those who survive. However, Butler shows that good can come from any kind of survival, no matter what the adaptation is, as long as personal identity can be maintained; Gan does so by learning to love T’Gatoi in spite of the strange evolution human existence has undergone.

This is a very foreign concept to the average reader, yet it is exactly how Butler explains her story: a love story and a brutal survival tale. These two disparate themes meet in the form of the symbiotic relationship between Terran and Tlic.

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