The following are discussion questions for our Week 2 readings, "Bloodchild" by Octavia Butler, "Sea Oak" by George Saunders, and "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" by Karen Russell.
You don't have to answer all of them. Just get the conversation going!
Bloodchild Discussion Questions:
In "Bloodchild," the Tlic need human (Terran) or animal bodies to bear their young and provide the Preserve as a living space for them. Does this mean they should have the rights to human bodies? Explain why or why not. Also, who is the antagonist in this story? In this world? Explain your reasoning.
Do you think Gan loves T'Gatoi? Does T'Gatoi love Gan? Explain your reasoning.
In "Bloodchild," the Tlic eggs are "harmless" in that they don't result in negative side effects. They taste good, relax you, make you feel nice, and they even slow your aging! And yet, Lien doesn't allow herself to partake. Why? If you lived in this household, would you partake in egg every now and then? Why or why not?
Sea Oak Questions:
What was your first impression of "Sea Oak"? Of Aunt Bernie? How did you feel about the characters and their situation by the end?
The narrator in "Sea Oak" has a job at a male strip club called Joysticks. Based on the narration, how are we (the reader) made to feel about the clientele? Have you ever had a job where customers treated you poorly, or where you had to be chipper when you weren't really feeling it?
Consider the shift in characterization between Aunt
St. Lucy's Questions:
In "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves," Claudette (formerly known as TRRR) manages to achieve Stage 5 and graduate as a human girl, ready for human society. What do you think about her "first human lie" at the end? Would you have made the same choices Claudette made throughout the story? Why or why not?
To what extent to you think this story is simply about:
Growing up, making the transition from childhood to adulthood?
Schooling or education?
The experience of those who are bilingual or even bi-cultural?
Consider the world building in this piece. How and when does
Bloodchild
2. I think Gan’s brain is finding the best way to protect him by “loving” T’Gatoi in the same way that victims come to love their abusers at times if they are trapped. He can either love her or he can drown in the despair that he will never escape or be anything more than a possible breeder. T’Gatoi does not and cannot love him in the way we know. She must find a body for her eggs and what greater comfort is there than Gan? He is the son of her “friend” and she has known him all his life. Her love for him is not the ideal give-and-take variety each of us hope for.
Sea Oak
1. Sea Oak began and I wondered if it was a parody for how women are treated in society (sexualized, mistreated, etc). As it went on, I realized it was like reality… but with a dent in it. Something was off, but the rest of the picture remained whole.
I pitied Aunt Bernie. She was someone with a heavy past who decided optimism and ignoring misfortune was the way to plow forward in life. When she came back in life, all the feelings she should have let herself feel came out in full force. She was sad and angry, decisive and bitter. Instead of plowing ahead, she fell apart.
We saw the extremes in how she dealt with her reality and as a result, the other characters suffered. When she was overly optimistic, nothing really changed. She annoyed others and lived an unfulfilling life. When she was angry and decisive, she tried to bully everyone into doing what was best for the family. Neither helped and I don’t think the changes forced on the characters will stick long-term.
St. Lucy's
1. I would have absolutely made the same choices as Claudette. Her first human lie tells us that she has realized it is impossible for her to live as a wolf when she is actually human. It is a slow realization, one made slower by Jeanette’s borderline obnoxious successes and Mirabella’s failure.
2. The stumble between childhood and adulthood is not always hormone-based. It’s about adapting to your peers, realizing that there is more to the world than how you were raised. Learning from others and becoming a person outside of the moldings of childhood is adolescence. It’s awkward and unbecoming at times as teens learn about themselves and who they want to be. They’re presented with a multitude of scenarios and questions; each one shapes them in a way their upbringing couldn’t. For Claudette, she is learning that the childhood she had is a foundation but she must build her own house on it because she is not a wolf. She is a human.
Schooling and education is just as important in this story, too. Schooling is being told what to learn, what to expect, what to do. Education comes when schooling, experience, and choice come together. For Claudette, the beginning of St. Lucy’s is schooling. It is words that have little weight to them, especially to someone who is so wildly out of her element. When she tells her human lie, we understand that she is aware of who she is and what she wants to be-- not a wolf.
I had not thought about this relating to the experience of someone who is bilingual or bi-cultural until this question. I had to sit back and think on it. You could compare Claudette to Lola from “Wildwood” in this sense. Claudette, however, will reject her original culture. Perhaps it won’t be entirely, but she will have to reject most of it if she is to adapt to her desired culture—being human.