The question Stephen asked Rone in Clays Ark was “What is the Chemical composition of Love?” I did some research on Oxytocin, otherwise known as the “love” hormone. Oxytocin acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain that regulates social interaction and sexual reproduction. This hormone is released in situations like sexual encounters, breastfeeding, birth, and when we hug or kiss someone we love. When this chemical is released in the brain it allows a person to trust and love another.
When thinking about the chemical composition of the Ina’s saliva that causes attachment and unconditional love of the Human symbionts, it’s easy to assume that oxytocin could have a part in this. The ‘love’ hormone is necessary to human being survival because it bonds not only protection and (in some cases procreation) pairs of people, but also parents and their children. Like human beings use of oxytocin for survival, the vampires need human beings to trust and obey them to survive. Before Wright is bitten (pgs.8-10) he is frustrated by Shori’s impertinence. It is obvious that he wants to get her to her home, a police station, or the hospital. In my reading of this scene I saw him as viewing Shori as not his problem. Then when she bites him, and activates her saliva in his system, his entire demeanor changes. Wright after being bitten is more willing to help Shori, to bond with her, and to have sex with her even though she looks like a child. If my hypothesis is true, and oxytocin plays a part in the chemical composition of the Saliva of the Ina, then this book is a cautionary tale about how powerful the chemicals in our brains really are.