Bloodchild

by

Octavia E. Butler

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Terran Term Analysis

The name used to describe humans who live in the Preserve.

Terran Quotes in Bloodchild

The Bloodchild quotes below are all either spoken by Terran or refer to Terran. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Coming of Age Theme Icon
).
Bloodchild Quotes

T’Gatoi was hounded on the outside. Her people wanted more of us made available. Only she and her political faction stood between us and the hordes who did not understand why there was a Preserve—why any Terran could not be courted, paid, drafted, in some way made available to them. Or they did understand, but in their desperation, they did not care. She parceled us out to the desperate and sold us to the rich and powerful for their political support. Thus, we were necessities, status symbols, and an independent people.

Related Characters: Gan (speaker), T’Gatoi
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:

Years passed. T’Gatoi traveled and increased her influence. The Preserve was hers by the time she came back to my mother to collect what she probably saw as her just reward for her hard work.

Related Characters: Gan (speaker), T’Gatoi, Lien
Page Number: 8
Explanation and Analysis:

I had been told all my life that this was a good and necessary thing the Tlic and Terran did together—a kind of birth. I had believed it until now. I knew birth was painful and bloody, no matter what. But this was something else, something worse. And I wasn’t ready to see it. Maybe I never would be.

Related Characters: Gan (speaker)
Page Number: 16-17
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Bloodchild LitChart as a printable PDF.
Bloodchild PDF

Terran Term Timeline in Bloodchild

The timeline below shows where the term Terran appears in Bloodchild. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Bloodchild
Coming of Age Theme Icon
Gender and Power Theme Icon
Interdependence Theme Icon
Gan reflects on T’Gatoi’s struggle to keep the Terrans in the Preserve safe. The masses of Tlic outside all want access to the Terrans... (full context)
Coming of Age Theme Icon
Interdependence Theme Icon
...was killed with a firearm and confiscate the rifle. Guns had been outlawed after the Terrans and the Tlic had spent several years fighting and killing each other, before peace had... (full context)
Coming of Age Theme Icon
Interdependence Theme Icon
...already. If it had been left any longer, it would have started to eat the Terran’s body, and the toxin released from the egg would have poisoned him to death. Lomas... (full context)
Coming of Age Theme Icon
Interdependence Theme Icon
...and great satisfaction at the number of eggs that have grown to size, remarking that Terrans make ideal hosts. She seems unperturbed by Lomas’s suffering or the procedure at hand. (full context)
Coming of Age Theme Icon
Interdependence Theme Icon
...he wonders if she remembers the taste from when she drank the blood of her Terran host. It makes her appear alien to Gan, which he would never have thought possible. (full context)
Coming of Age Theme Icon
Interdependence Theme Icon
A car arrives at the house carrying Qui, a Terran doctor, and T’Khotgif Teh. Gan explains what has happened and that there were many healthy... (full context)
Coming of Age Theme Icon
Interdependence Theme Icon
Qui and Gan argue about whether or not the Tlic view the Terrans as mere host animals. Gan tries to defend the Tlic, but as he is arguing... (full context)
Coming of Age Theme Icon
Interdependence Theme Icon
...to the house. It is getting dark, but he can hear voices, both Tlic and Terran, in another room. Gan goes to the kitchen and sits at the table that his... (full context)
Coming of Age Theme Icon
Gender and Power Theme Icon
Interdependence Theme Icon
...they are far more than host animals, and reminds him that the Tlic gave the Terrans protection on the reservation even when the Terrans were still trying to kill the Tlic.... (full context)
Coming of Age Theme Icon
Gender and Power Theme Icon
...forbidden, but Gan is insistent, telling her that if these are adult matters and the Terrans truly are more than host animals to the Tlic, she must accept the risk inherent... (full context)
Coming of Age Theme Icon
Gender and Power Theme Icon
Interdependence Theme Icon
T’Gatoi understands that seeing Lomas’s birthing made Gan very afraid and she insists that Terrans should never see that. Gan disagrees, however, arguing that Terrans should see the birthing process... (full context)
Coming of Age Theme Icon
Gender and Power Theme Icon
Interdependence Theme Icon
...could not have shot T’Gatoi. She is too important to him, too vital for the Terrans’ protection, and she was even birthed out of his father’s own body. When T’Gatoi asks... (full context)