Kindred
by Octavia E. Butler revolves around a woman named Dana and her experiences
time travelling from 1976 to the antebellum South slavery period. Dana
discovers as time moves on that she is continuously brought back to the same
person, Rufus whenever he is in times of danger. Dana figures out that Rufus is
a relative of hers and makes it her personal mission to keep him and the ones
around him safe from harm. Unable to predict when she travels, Dana recognizes
and exercises control when travelling back to her original and current time. She always returns when she is faced with
danger or a life or death situation. The violence that Dana faces increases
over time, hardening her into a part of this historic time period.
When beginning to read this novel, I
was slightly doubtful whether I would like it or not. Time travel is sometimes
a little iffy for me but I believe that Butler approached the science fiction of
time travel in an appealing manner. She made the “rules” of her version of time
travel very clear and made it easy for me to understand. Having completed the
novel, I am slightly upset that I own a rental book because I want to keep it!
The last half of the novel was hard to put down and I had no idea how this was
going to lead up to the end (the prologue). While exploring the idea of the
butterfly effect, I began to wonder while reading: is Dana going to cease to
exist? If Alice does not give birth to Dana’s grandmother, will Dana disappear?
As a reader, we see Dana struggle
with reminding herself of the concept of reality. When she is whipped for the
first time, the pain is registered and she finds herself realizing how dire
this entire situation is. Not only does she have to keep Rufus and Alice alive,
but she must also keep herself alive. There are many times where I want to root
for Dana and other times I want to shake her and ask, “What do you think you’re
doing?” When Dana attempts to run away to find Kevin, she states: “I felt almost
sick to my stomach with fear, but I kept walking” (Butler 171). In this moment,
I knew in my gut that she was not going to make it. Sure, Dana was very smart
about running away; disguising herself as a man and waiting for everyone to see
her go to sleep, but I was worried about her safety. I knew Rufus is not as
consistent as his father when it came to threats and punishment but I was sure
she wasn’t going to get away from the Weylin’s that easy.
After her failed attempt of running
away, Kevin does eventually make it back to the Weylin plantation. Dana makes
an assumption that she and Kevin can quietly slip away from the home and get
away from the Weylin’s but Rufus has something else in mind: “And without
warning, with no perceptible change in mood, Rufus turned slightly and trained
a rifle on us… I kept thinking I knew him, and he kept proving to me that I
didn’t” (Butler 186). Rufus is completely against the idea of Dana leaving him
that he threatens their lives if they don’t stay with him. Dana constantly has
this idea in the back of her head that she can change Rufus and I seriously
doubted that she could and this moment solidified that belief for me.
This novel overall was exceptionally
written and kept me on my toes, wondering what was going to happen next. Even
though I wanted Dana to succeed, I was constantly questioning whether she was
capable or not. What made Dana an appealing character was that she never truly
gave up on Rufus. As much as she wanted to hate him, she found herself caring
for Rufus and wanting to shape him into a good man. As a protagonist, Butler
shapes Dana and creates her character development pleasantly, recognizing her
faults and recognizing her strengths. My question to you all is this: Did you have any trouble trusting Dana? Were there any significant points where you began to root for her or want to shake her?
I was also rooting for Dana to be able to change Rufus and to be able to survive everything she went through not just physically but also mentally. With the stories that we’ve read in class that pertain to slavery it is clear to me that slavery was much like an airborne poison that couldn’t be avoided. Dana is such a great character for this story because she is smart, independent, not racist, and has good intentions. It was easy for me to trust her and know that this wasn’t all in her head. However, as the story progressed I could see a change in her character because of her forced role as a slave. In the scene where Dana must tell Alice that Rufus wants Alice to go to his bed quietly and she starts to ask Dana what she should do. Dana responds with “I can’t advise you. It’s your body,” (Butler 167). This was disturbing to me because it seemed like Dana was going to allow rape to occur to Alice. Dana is a modern woman that probably wouldn’t advise someone to engage in sex that isn’t consensual. I wasn’t sure if it was to ensure her future through rape or if she was simply trying to have as little influence as possible on her ancestors “courtship” because of the butterfly effect. This scene shows how easy it is to ignore what the moral thing to do is when you are trying very hard to simply survive.
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