Kindred By Octavia E. Butler: Review

Analyzing Character Development: Dana Octavia Butler’s novel, Kindred, provides a unique look into slavery in the antebellum South through the eyes of Edana Franklin, a black woman living in the late 20th century, who is suddenly sent through time to the early 19th century where she is suddenly faced with the task of protecting her ancestor, Rufus, from many dangers in order to ensure her existence in the present. Dana begins her adventure with no knowledge of how or why she has been given this responsibility and, as a result, must adapt to her new and unfamiliar surroundings. As the novel progresses, the reader sees Dana’s internal battle with herself as she decides whether or not Rufus is worth saving, or if she should let Rufus die

In his “’No.’ : The Narrative Theorizing of Embodied Agency in Octavia Butler’s Kindred,” Bast underscores humanity’s desire for agency, one’s “ability to reach decision[s] about themselves and [express them]” and how one’s agency can benefit a society or a community (Bast 151). In the beginning of his article, Bast labels this decision-making and expression as beneficial and necessary for a community, while simultaneously underlining society’s limitations put on mankind’s freedoms such as discrimination, prejudice, or injustice. Nevertheless, he follows up by stating that it is simply human instinct to want to express thoughts even if other factors oppress them, undermining these social limitations.

Octavia E. Butler's novel Kindred tells the tale of American slavery from a more modern-day perspective through time travel. The novel includes many themes and recurring motifs, but it also includes many different characters with different motivations and personalities that all go through some sort of character development. No one character follows a certain archetype commonly found in a lot of other literary works, and it makes the story engaging and more realistic. First off is Dana, the main character of the story. At the novel's start, Dana has experience with doing hard labor to barely make a living, but her development starts after she travels back to the Weylin plantation.

Again, the slave owners of the American slave system saw their slaves as property and were known to discriminate against skin color, as mentioned in document 7. Also, they saw slaves less as people and more as “resources”. This “resource” was wanted by participants of the slave trade. This “resource” could be compared to gold during the Age of Exploration. Seeing the slaves were seen as nothing more than property, they were transported from place to place in horrible conditions and then, once they got to their destination, were put through the most strenuous work.

Kindred is a book written June 1979 by Octavia E. Butler comprised of two genres, historical fiction, and science fiction and as a result, the book classifies into a new genre. This book can be considered a historical fiction because it shows the history of the pre Civil War 1800s when there were still slaves and it shows the perspective of a slave's life in the south. This book can also be considered a science fiction because Dana can time travel. The logistical issues for it cause the effects to be considered science fiction. Kindred can also be called both of these two genres, but the genre it creates is something new.

There is still such a false concept floating around about slavery, even in the twenty-first century. I enjoy reading articles and documents, like the ones provided for this essay, to properly give me an idea of what slavery was like when our ancestors were around. Slavery, even today in schools, is not taught how it should be. Many people, especially in the South, try to ignore slavery as if it never existed, when it is definitely a part of our history. I think there is a falseness, on both ends of slavery, that many people do not talk about; these documents showed me just that.

Dana and Rufus’s Relationship Ever wonder what it's like to have a changing relationship with a plantation owner's son back in the 1800’s? Dana Franklin is a younger African-American woman married to Kevin Franklin who is a middle-aged man. Dana travels from California in 1976 back to the early 1800’s whenever Rufus is in trouble. Rufus is a plantation owner son and is also the father of Dana’s ancestor. Dana’s travels are random; she gets lightheaded and dizzy when she is about to travel.

When somebody doesn 't do the right they get hit with a whip till they do what is told. Slavery is nothing like doing chores for your parents it 's worse you can 't take a break until you are done you have to keep working until they tell you when your done, and you barely get paid for it. • B. Background information: There has been a lot of injustice in society in slavery like beating up up someone when they don 't do the right thing for the job. slavery isn 't there choice they have to do it for them not for

In the 1700-1800’s, the use of African American slaves for backbreaking, unpaid work was at its prime. Despite the terrible conditions that slaves were forced to deal with, slave owners managed to convince themselves and others that it was not the abhorrent work it was thought to be. However, in the mid-1800’s, Northern and southern Americans were becoming more aware of the trauma that slaves were facing in the South. Soon, an abolitionist group began in protest, but still people doubted and questioned it.

And Rufus was Rufus-erratic alternately generous and vicious. I could accept him as my ancestor, my younger brother, my friend, but not as my master, and not as my lover. He had understood that once” (260). Dana is distancing herself from being a slave doesn’t feel that she could ever be subjected to it like Alice was. She uses pronouns like “her” to describe a slave to show that she will be associated with one.

Dana was a positive part of Rufus’s environment because she was the one who really helped him through the good and the bad. Dana tried to help Rufe reach a realization that slavery was clearly wrong and tried . But in the end not much changed. “What’s he done to you?” ‘Sent me to a field, had me beaten, made me spend nearly eight months sleeping on the floor of his mother’s room, sold people. . .

In Kindred, Rufus is a man that is exposed to many different ideologies from his family and friends. Even though he is exposed to many ideas, he is influenced by his father’s, and Dana’s the most. From Dana, Rufus knows that there is a future without slavery, but he refuses to tear

Maryland in 1815, like much of the south, was a hot bed for slavery plantations. For slave owners in particular, it was a benefit if your slaves were not educated, as they would be less likely to question the oppressive treatment, and not adequately be able to express the conditions under which they labored. In the novel Kindred by Octavia Butler, various aspects of education are intertwined throughout, effectively depicting how education and slavery do not go together cohesively. Specifically, in the case of Dana, the novels protagonist, her intelligence led to her owners feeling inferior, which prompted many verbal and physical attacks, an exploitation of her abilities, and the overriding attempt to suppress the education of other slaves

Whether it is reality or books, there are always different types of relationships involved with the main characters. In the antebellum South, white people are taught to be dominant, leading to a feeling of superiority over black people. This leads to a stereotype of what types of relations you should have with those around you, though this leads to the white man doing what he wants and thinks is ok. Rufus is no exception to this matter, as he is raised in an environment with role models who exemplify this stereotype. In Octavia Butler’s Kindred, this environment leads to Rufus and Alice having a warped relationship because of their social standing, Rufus’ thoughts as he grows up with the conflicting views of a white man’s mentality, and Rufus’ action as he realizes the power he holds over Alice.

Kindred is a clear instance of the neo-slave narrative, an Afro- American genre of writing that recounts the personal experiences of slaves that examines the past of African-American slaves and represent the nineteenth century slave narrative tradition, that was first published in 1979. Ashraf argues "that there are three types of neo slave narrative: the third person historical novel of slavery, the first person narration of the life story of a slave, and the recounting of the traumatic legacy of slavery of slavery on later generations. This genre identifies historical narrations from those that follow the effects of slavery in the present. This book is the first person narration of the life story of a young Afro-American woman writer, Dana,