Reading response to the novel Octavia Butler, Fledgling (2005)

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Fledgling
“Fledgling” is a science fiction novel that was written by Octavia Butler in 2005, that explores the lives of Ina, a kind of vampire. The central character in the novel is Shori Mathews, who seems to be an African-American girl aged ten but is, in fact, a fifty-three-year-old woman. She is considered to be an advanced Ina due to her dark skin, as she can easily walk in the sun, unlike the other Ina. As portrayed in the book, the Ina has close relationships with humans as they cannot live without their blood. They form mutually dependent relationships with human, known as symbionts
How do the Ina make families (both with other Ina and with humans)?
According to the book, a group of female Ina siblings regularly mates with a group of male Ina siblings and the two genders live separately. When children are born, daughters are raised by the female Ina groups while sons are raised by the male Ina groups. A child can have multiple mothers and fathers. The Ina also make families with human beings, but not of biological nature. Ina lives off drinking human blood. However, they barely kill humans but have a very close relationship where they are mutually dependent on each other. These humans are known as symbionts and they would die if separated from the Ina. The Ina live with their symbionts and they become members of their families. When Shori meets Wright at the start of the novel, she bites his neck (Butler, 14), drinks his blood and the scent of her venom makes Wright be interested in her sexually. He becomes her symbiont and they become famil...