Function and Meaning of Literary Devices in

Function and meaning of literary devices in "Bloodchild"
Octavia Butler wrote the short story "Bloodchild." It accounts for the experiences of Gan, a young man living on an alien planet. Gan is a Terran, a community of humans living among aliens called Tlic, who resemble an insect species. The human beings and the alien entered into a mutually benefiting agreement for humans to be hosts to Tlic's eggs while they (Tlic) protect them from harm, including not feeding on them. Gan accepts to become T'Gatoi's carrier, a Tlic. Initially, Gan does not question his role until he watches Lomas, another man, go into labour. T'Gatoi asks Gan to find and slaughter an animal and bring it so that the hatching Tlic eggs can be implanted. Gan returns with the slaughtered animal and meets a horrific scene of Loma's labour. This makes him change his mind about being a carrier, but he soon accepts it to save his sister and brother. Butler uses various literary devices, including symbolism, imagery, irony, and personification, to develop the plot in "Bloodchild".
Butler extensively uses symbolism in "Bloodchild" to engage the reader's critical thinking abilities. Symbolism uses symbols like marks, words, people, abstract ideas or locations to represent another thing beyond the literal meaning. Among the symbols Butler used in the story is blood, cage and resemblance of Tlic to insects and warms. The author uses blood graphically to symbolize the bond created between the humans, who are the hosts and the Tlic's children. Traditionally, people who share a blood relationship have a strong bond. In the story, the humans host eggs, and the resulting creature after labour is a Tlic, but the pregnancy experience creates a bond based on the blood that Tlic's larvae feed on from humans until they are born. Blood is also shed during pregnancy, forming a scar that remains for a lifetime and the resulting baby after birth matches the blood of both humans and the Tlics, thus enhancing the bond. This makes the use of blood literal and symbolic at the same time.
The second instance of symbolism is the caging of humans by the Tlics. The Tlics welcome the importance and the preciousness of humans with full body grip that Gan says, "I'm told I was first caged within T'Gatoi's many limbs only three minutes after my birth. A few days later, I was given my first taste of egg. I tell Terrans that when they ask whether I was ever afraid of her. And I tell it to Tlic when T'Gatoi suggests a young Terran child for them and they, anxious and ignorant, demand an adolescent" (Butler 4). The cage in this context symbolizes the new relationship between Gan and T'Gatoi, which he does not know how to escape. It is an unpleasant lifetime of imprisonment, but Gan cannot leave it because he was caged at birth. T'Gatoi embraces Gan in a double-sided grip where on one side, she predates on him and wants to use him as a host, but on the flip side, the grip is romantic, provoking intimate feelings. Butler uses the caging symbol positively and negatively to demonstrate the complexity of relationships between the humans and the Tlics.
The author also describes Tlics as insect-like to symbolize humans' discomfort in trusting and engaging them. Tlics look like millipedes provoking disgu...