Text EXPLORATION #1

Text-Exploration #1

The passage below is Gan’s reaction to witnessing T’Gatoi rip open Lomas to extract the young tlics (maggots) out of his abdomen. From this passage I am hoping to understand how the horror of the pregnancy affects Gan as a character and how it affects others.

“I knew birth was painful and bloody, no matter what. But this was something else, something worse.”- pg16

Wording: From the word “knew” we are able to conclude that Gan has had a previous idea on pregnancy and what he expected and what he didn’t. While he did have his own ideas on what it was they are thrown out the window when experienced first hand and has an obvious traumatic effect on him. From this we know that Gan actually had understood the concept of humans behaving as hosts for the Tlic’s. What we don’t know for sure is if he was aware that he was going to be the one to undergo the procedure.

Word Definition : According to the OED the definition of the word painful is, “causing or accompanied by mental pain or suffering; distressing, hurtful.” The word bloody according to the OED is, “Covered, smeared, or stained with blood; bleeding.” This was Gan’s previous idea of birth. But the book simply states that birth is painful and bloody which not only applies to the birth of Tlics but to the birth of humans as well.

Connection/Trouble : And yet by humans, the birth of humans is seen as beautiful while the birth of Tlics is seen as cruel while both births contain blood and pain. While Gan has understood that birth was as bloody and painful as this he seemed to be comfortable with the fact that it’ll be his sister undergoing the birth until after he viewed it. Therefore what are the teenagers like Gan showed in the diagrams and sketches that are used to describe the birth? Is understanding that your abdomen gets ripped open sounds as painful and bloody as it really is? (cause I’ve seen the walking dead and yes it really is.)

Syntax: “..something else, something worse.” From this statement we understand that Gan sees the concept of birth a new way beyond what he could’ve imagined and that can only be described as worse than what he had originally imagined.

Paraphrase: It is from this moment on where Gan understands the relationship of the Tlics and Terrans and begins reconsidering it. It is this moment that he describes the last night of his childhood as he questions what is he and his siblings to T’Gatoi and whether he should be the one to undergo the pregnancy.