Bloodchild Response

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?
 I found this work disturbing and a horrific view on a fairly common Science Fiction theme.  A lot of Science Fiction works examine a reality where humans aren't the dominant species any longer, but Bloodchild did it in a more disturbing way, having the eggs be used as a way to control people.  Having that existence be a fate male humans didn't choose for themselves adds another element to how disturbing this story is.
 
2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss what elements of the story with which you were able to connect?
Bloodchild had some interesting parallels to how humans treat different species on earth.  Being the dominant species means there isn't much to challenge us and prevent us from using other creatures to further our own species.  The Tlic were similar, using humans to further their species.  Their morality concerning the situation is similar to our morality around breeding and eating animals.

3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you choose; what changes would you make?
I feel like Bloodchild works well as a non-visual medium.  I feel like leaving room to imagine the Tlic and the scenarios Gan was in added to the story.  I feel like this story could also work as a longer film.  It's set in an interesting world, that could easily be expanded upon to have more characters and more human perspectives.  Gan's relationship with his family could also have been expanded upon, and would've added an interesting element to the story.

4. Are there elements of this work that you would consider afto-futurist?
The relation between humans and the Tlic resembles a lot of African culture throughout history.  The stripping of human culture that came with living on a new planet resembles the loss of African culture through slavery and assimilation.  This relationship between the humans and the Tlic gives Bloodchild afro-futurist elements, and creates a different perspective in science fiction.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream Response

Despite not being a big fan of Sci-Fi, Harlan Ellison is one of my favorite authors.  I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is an interesting concept.  I like the set up of society creating technology that is so far outside of our control, and also highly intelligent and so filled with hatred for humanity as a whole.  I love the detail of how AM's name changed, from Allied Mastercomputer to Adaptive Manipulator and finally to Aggressive Menace.  Just the changes in names show how society created AM as something to help society, and ended up losing control of a highly intelligent being.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream stands out to me as a Sci-Fi novel mostly because of the character interaction.  Ted is interesting as a narrator, being the only one of the five completely unaltered by AM.  This leaves Ted paranoid that everyone he is trapped with hates him, and makes his perspective as a narrator interesting.  It also makes his decision to sacrifice himself at the end to free the other four from their life of torment interesting as well.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is an interesting perspective on sentience and what it really means to be alive too.  None of the characters are truly what we would consider "alive," the humans are maintained by AM but not truly living, and AM himself leads an agonizing existence.  AM's hatred of humans stems from being not truly alive.  He is highly intelligent but doesn't have the ability to form meaningful connections or have any sense of community.  By keeping the humans trapped in the world he created, he is attempting to take away their humanity and torment them with the same meaningless life he lives.  Despite all the torture the five humans undergo, having Ted's self sacrifice at the end shows that none of them really did lose the parts of life integral to being human. 

Shards of Honor Response

I found the tone of Lois McMaster Bujold's novel inconsistent and difficult to get into.  I've never been a big fan of sci-fi in general.  I wanted to give Shards of Honor a chance because, as a space opera, it seemed to be structured more like a high fantasy novel.  I found the tone of novel confusing at points, which made it difficult for me to fully get into it.

Shards of Honor seemed to be focused around the central love story while waving away a lot of trauma.  The love story plot seemed too lighthearted for all of the serious things Cordelia was faced with.  There were a lot of moments where I believed the story was going to take a much darker turn than it did.  When Cordelia got back to Beta Colony, her treatment is so unsettling that it seemed like the story was going to take a much darker turn.  Instead, it's kind of passed over without any acknowledgement of how traumatizing everything must have been for Cordelia.

American Gods Response

American Gods is one of my favorite novels by Neil Gaiman.  I like how he managed to include a theme of change between old mythology and new traditions without coming off as pretentious or condescending.  The overarching theme of needing to worship something, whether that something is the old gods or something like technology, was interesting and well done.  Gaiman has an interesting message about the human need to believe in something, and that this culture can be double edged.  The gods in American Gods are only powerful as long as people believe in them.  The gods and their destructive attempts to make humans continue to believe in them is an allegory for people and their ability for believe to become destructive and their ability to negatively affect their lives and the lives of others.

Despite the destructive capabilities of belief, Gaiman also shows that this belief and these stories and mythologies are essential to human's ability to form a community.  Having something that is a common interest among a diverse group of people allows societies to form a better community.  American Gods illustrates that the common interest could be a number of different things, and that societies view and belief in these different things grows weaker or stronger throughout time.

American Gods also focuses on the growth and change prevalent in American culture.  There is a generational divide between the people who brought to life the "old" gods and the "new" gods that formed with modern American culture. The gods show the divide between wanting constant change in the name of progress and clinging to the past. 

Harry Potter Response

I reread the first Harry Potter novel for the first time since I was eleven or twelve, and was surprised by how much I noticed when I wasn't invested in just the story.  There was a lot more exposition than I remembered.  I believe it was more noticeable the second time reading it because I already knew the rules of the world, and didn't need to be immersed the same way I did when I read it the first time.  I was also a little surprised at how much less believable some of the characters seemed.  It felt very much like a fairy tale, with children living through life changing events and not reacting how you would expect a child to actually react.

I also noticed a lot more themes the second time reading it.  Many of the themes prevalent in the first novel are reoccurring in later novels.  The idea of a found family is one of the bigger ones.  It's established early in the novel that Harry's blood relatives are not the ones who care about his safety and well-being.  A lot of the first novel is establishing Harry's friends, and giving him an "actual" family that he can rely on through the next six novels.

I think it's interesting that, like The Hobbit, Harry Potter changed the way we view a genre.  Witches and wizards are commonly seen portrayed more similarly to the witches and wizards in Harry Potter than traditional witches and wizards.  Harry Potter has become a large part of pop culture, and because of that has changed the way we view different parts of fantasy and magic. 

The Hobbit Response

     I reread The Hobbit for the first time in years, and it was interesting it view it in a different light.  When I was younger, it was just an epic fantasy novel.  Now, more themes and deeper meanings became evident.  Bilbo's quest follows the hero's journey almost exactly.  Heroism is a theme in The Hobbit, and while the novel is defined by many common fantasy tropes, the idea of the "hero" is a bit more complicated.  Heroism is comprised of multiple elements, and characters who are skilled in only one of them find themselves falling short of their goals. Bilbo is different, despite not beginning the novel as a hero, he finds he acquires the skills required to be successful on his journey.
     While Bilbo isn't the traditional "coming of age" protagonist, his quest still taught him to grow up.  By having a full grown character as the protagonist, Tolkien highlights how we are never truly done growing and maturing.  Bilbo's experiences help him to become stronger and more independent, which could not have happened if he had stayed home and not gone on this quest.
     Despite the changes Bilbo undergoes throughout his quest, he never truly rejects the life he had before his adventure.  This theme is prevalent throughout, with Bilbo having regrets and wanting to return home when the adventure is done.  Even though he grows throughout the novel, he never forgets where he came from, just begins viewing it with a new perspective.

Akata Witch Response

     Nnedi Okorafor’s Akata Witch is often compared to Harry Potter.  While there are similarities, writing Akata Witch off as just “the Nigerian Harry Potter” is an unfair and overgeneralized analysis of Okafor’s novel.  Both books do share similarities.  The protagonists are both children who walk into a world of magic.  They both have physical traits that differentiate them from the rest of the charactersー in Harry Potter it’s the scar, and in Akata Witch it’s the fact that Sunny is albino.  The friend dynamic in both novels is also similar, with a group of three characters going on adventures and defeating some evil.
    Despite these similarities, it is unfair to label Akata Witch as nothing more than “the Nigerian Harry Potter.”  Akata Witch is a unique fantasy novel based in a culture that doesn’t normally receive a lot of attention in the fantasy genre.
     Akata Witch also focuses a lot on Sunny's identity.  Throughout the entire novel Sunny struggles with “otherness.” Her albinism makes her stand out and prevents her from playing soccer int he sun, moving from another country separates her from the people who have lived there their whole lives, and learning she has magical abilities separates her even more.  The novel explores Sunny’s journey to discover herself, and to realize that being herself is essential to her fulfilling her destiny.
     All of the central characters in Akata Witch exist to support the idea of staying true to yourself.  All of them are in some way “others.” Orlu is ashamed of his dyslexia, Chichi and Sasha both accept their “otherness” but must learn to respond to it differently to become their best selves.  Okorafor uses all of her characters to support her theme of self discovery and accepting yourself to become the best version of yourself.