bugs in alnst
bugs are used throughout alnst to symbolise different things, but it primarily refers to the food chain & hierarchy. humans have the rights of animals in this universe, and therefore are directly compared to bugs to emphasise this point. this is mostly used around sua, ivan, and luka, who are all exposed to this at a young age, therefore informing their worldview, and subsequent obedience. mizi is also similar, but since she's associated with sea creatures and not bugs, she won't be discussed explicitly. her difference is mostly her occasional use of violence to restore her place within the hierarchy, and therefore resilience through violence rather than vulnerability through compliance.
the food chain broadly thematically encompasses all characters since it represents the nature of their world - humanity's comparable fragility and replaceability to segyein, the power segyein hold over humanity because of it. however, there are different specific bugs that mean different things to the individual characters.
sua: carnivorous bugs. this refers to the relationships within her family that are both affectionate and resentful - vicarious.
ivan: parasite. this refers to his self image and place within his environment.
luka: caterpillar & butterfly. this refers to chrysalis, and his (lack of) maturity and (lack of) freedom.
the space beetle is also a specific bug mentioned that represents a competitor in reference to sua & luka (till & hyunwoo respectively). sua gives a dead beetle to till to remind him of his place as competitors and commodities; luka's only understanding of the world is of competition, and he crushes hyunwoo without guilt because of it. after all, it's crush or be crushed. sualuka have themes of competition due to growing up with siblings, ie competitors, which ivan lacks.
this is reflected in ivan's idea and self perception as a parasite. he understands the world and how it works, its hierarchies and power exchanges, because he had to internalise these things to survive in the slums and in his path to anakt. but because he believes he provides nothing to till while taking and indulging in till's pain to keep himself satiated - an unequal exchange - he compares himself to a parasite. he lives off his host, and his host suffers because of it. it's something he must do to survive, it's in his nature as a bug in the food chain.
of course, he visualises himself as a centipede, which is not actually a parasite, because this perception of himself is biased and incorrect in reality. he feels like a parasite because he refuses to express his emotions; till compares his hallucination of ivan to a parasite because he refuses to acknowledge his emotions. without communication, their relationship can only drain them rather than sustain them. it is their faults, but not their nature, per se.
however, the centipede, a carnivorous bug, still fits ivan. after all, he still does take and benefit from his proximity to till as he learns and replicates his behaviours. the other contributing factors to the choice of a centipede are: his background in the slums, his survival under those conditions, the disgust you feel when you see a creature with too many legs, venomous bug, nocturnal bug, etc.
in contrast to sualuka's perception of bugs, this comparison only serves to separate him more from his peers rather than put them on the same level (ie, sualuka think of their peers/competitors as other bugs/the space beetle, while ivan thinks he is uniquely monstrous, a parasite of a host of another species). while all three of them are distant from their peers socially on some level, sua keeps away on purpose to not get hurt by attachment or her competitors, ivan keeps himself away on purpose because he feels he does not belong due to his limited socialisation and background, and luka has no socialisation and cannot connect with anyone not as sympathetic as hyunwoo and hyuna are.
(i've talked about luka & bugs before in slightly more detail here)
luka's emotional growth is purposefully stunted due to the pervasive and controlling abuse he faces. he is compared to a caterpillar in an initial wiege storyboard, which connects him to the butterfly and chrysalis imagery in wiege and karma. this is a very simple visual representation: the caterpillar is immaturity, the chrysalis is the transition point, and the butterfly is maturity and freedom.
while this imagery represents all the children raised in anakt and their stunted growth due to their environment, luka is a particularly good example of the inability to mature. while being the oldest in the cast, he is also simultaneously the most childish of them. his connection to childishness can be seen in the way trauma shapes his worldview (the conflation of love and ownership, his overreliance on hyuna, the inability to understand the consequences of his actions, etc), and in his trauma responses (regressing to cope with overwhelming emotions).
additionally, within alnst's critique of the nuclear family, any person still under the control of their parent/owner is essentially a child. under heperu's control, luka is unable to escape chrysalis even when he is knocked out of his childish worldview by hyuna and forced to mature without her. he will never be able to mature as long as he stays trapped under his father.
to keep someone trapped in this way is to have possession over them - to live through them vicariously. nigeh keeps her pets close: their cute, girlish nature, and their popularity is hers by proxy. hia keeps sua close: her position as the favoured child is hers by proxy.
these carnivorous bugs feed off other bugs, malicious by design, hungry and envious by nature. under nigeh, to be loved is a competition, so the girls lash out at each other to regain a sense of power. this resentment is fed by the contradictory and often changing standards of girlhood that they are forced to live up to, a thing that is impossible to achieve, so they are always found lacking. the only way to possess these lacking traits is by possessing another, which forms the basis of hia's attachment to sua. natural affection is manipulated by this resentment, so with the same web she comforts sua with, she traps, immobilises, and feeds.
sua replicates this pattern in her relationship with mizi, even though she tries not to show her resentment outwardly and hurt mizi like her sister did to her. however, she still does so, occasionally condescending towards mizi, commanding and correcting her presentation of girlhood, jealously holding onto her like she's a possession, and hurting her irreparably when she's about to lose her. like all the girls before her, her attachment to another girl is informed by her own insecurity. sua keeps mizi close: her life is hers by proxy.
as a bug, sua's lifespan is short, and her life is fragile. this is true for every human, but especially sua. girlhood has its expiry date, trends come and go, and inevitably she'll be thrown out when she ages, when popularity dies down, and when nigeh loses interest in her and moves on to the next thing. but for her short life, she works hard to elongate it and evade worse treatment - this is true for ivan and luka too.
by being alone, by being the most favoured, by demonstrating that their existence is unique and irreplicable, they have trapped themselves in the grasp of exploitation in order to survive. each of them face distinct versions of dehumanisation according to their respective childhoods, represented by their respective bugs. the food chain is simply the nature of the world, and they can't possibly break free from that, can they?
