An Afrofuturist Reading of Ethical Dilemmas and Historical Metaphors in Bloodchild
Journal: Arts Studies and Criticism DOI: 10.32629/asc.v6i6.4755
Abstract
Octavia Butler’s short story Bloodchild is a classical work of Afrofuturist literature, depicting the living conditions of humans after they have fled to the another settlement, the Tlic’s. This paper examines the historical metaphors and ethical dilemmas through the relationship between humans and the Tlic species by using Afrofuturism as a theoretical framework. It is found that Butler’s speculative narrative reconstructs the possibilities to imagine the future for African-American people and challenges historical oppression. It also exposes moral and ethical dilemmas under power subversion, highlighting the author’s reimagining of African American subjectivity beyond mainstream narratives.
Keywords
Octavia Butler; Bloodchild; Afrofuturism; ethical dilemmas; historical metaphors
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[3]Dery, Mark. “Black to the Future: Interviews with Samuel R. Delany, Greg Tate, and Tricia Rose” [C]. Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture. Duke UP, 1994:179–222.
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[5]Moody Turner, Shirley. “African American Writers at the Turn of the Twentieth Century”[C]. A Companion to American Literature: Volume II: 1820–1914.Wiley. 2020: 455–69.
[6]Yaszek, Lisa. “Afrofuturism in American Science Fiction”[C]. The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction. Cambridge UP, 2015: 58–69.
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