Assessment

Assessment:

What is your reaction to the text you just read?

The text is rather disturbing due to the provocative nature of the subject matter. It handles interspecies relationships and provides a large amount of detail surrounding the reproductive acts the alien creatures “force” upon their human “Families”. I use quotations because these are grey areas, there can be arguments either way as to whether or not the humans are forced into this, and we are able to see how the dynamics between the main character and the alien develop after Lomas “gives birth” to the grubs. The gruesome nature of the ordeal, as well as the visceral imagery, are very effective at setting a mood and conveying some of the emotions. There is a sharp contrast between the mood at the beginning of the story and the mood towards the end, a journey has been made.

What connections did you make with the story?

I didn’t really make any connections with the story. I did not see any parallels between this story and my life or any metaphorical connections that relate to me. Some key elements that are interesting to dissect are the relationship between the Terrans and the Tlic, the responsibility for one species to allow another to survive and populate in exchange for health and extended life, and the morality questions revolving all of this.

The Terrans are confined with a “preserve” allowing the Tlic to impregnate them in exchange for “Eggs” implied to be produced by the creatures. Much like the Achti (presumably a type of livestock), the humans serve as almost pets to the Tlic, as something to hold and pet while laying on a couch.

What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

Film or television would likely be a good medium to adapt to this work. Television to expand upon the premise and allow the producer chances to explore the work fully as well as create new characters and frame them inside of this world. I would likely anthropomorphize the Tlic, creating a more recognizable creature, that is easier to either love or hate. The interspecies relationships allow for analogies to slavery as well and could be used to reinforce this as a metaphor for what happened in the past, but I think it would be more interesting to see less of that in the current year. Despite a large amount of material to unpack within the subject of slavery it seems unnecessary to rehash and likely detrimental due to the raw emotion that it carries with it. These emotions would likely overshadow the relationship between species and create profound negative emotion towards the Tlic. I think the incorporation of a treaty between species as well as a history of war and sharing of technology would be useful avenues to create stronger interspecies relations. In the current story, the Terrans seem to be completely submissive to the Tlic, imprinting to them at birth and not really seeing the manipulative nature of their masters until later in life. An interesting premise would be someone living in the Preserve learning about how the species are treated in a larger environment. How do they function in a business, how are the species able to coexist in an urban environment? Do they trade eggs as a form of currency? These are all useful primers for a variation on the current story within a new genre.