Power In Kindred By Octavia E. Butler

Did you know that 20% of the American population during the Antebellum Period were African Americans? In Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, the author deeply describes how the discrimination of Africans living in America leads up to conflict in the novel. Relating to reality, slavery has been one of the biggest conflict in the past for many years and still occurs today. Kindred will show the people today how we look back in time to see what we have done. The historical time period in the 1800s developed the theme and the character of the time period, but mostly the conflict is deeply expressed.

Butler chose to use direct over indirect characterization for this aspect of Dana’s identity because of its importance to the plot of the novel. If Butler had done this directly, the readers would take longer to realize,

Using time travel, Octavia Butler creates a new view of racism in her novel, Kindred, by having Dana experience the life of a slave from an outsider's perspective. Though Dana’s present is far from a race utopia, it has drastically improved the problems of the past. In the past, Dana is surprised to find herself growing used to the injustices which surround her. Overall, traveling gives Dana first-hand experience at how slavery warped slaves’ perception of freedom.

The fire in this case was incendiary, or intentional. We know this because of the traces of gasoline in the remains of the home, the trail of the fire, and the gas cans left empty in the living room of the home. Investigators can rule out that the fire was any of the other three because of the evidence found in the home, along with the circumstantial evidence involving the

I, myself, can think of many possibilities of what caused the fire. One possibilities could have been that he was making something on the stove and didn’t notice and/or didn’t smell something weird. Another possibility is that the smoke detector

After the assailant inflicted the wounds on her, he set fire to her bed. The room filled with smoke which alerted the townsfolk, Helen's body was recovered but one side of her was badly burned.

Another example of power in Kindred is right after Rufus sent Dana into the field to get beaten by Fowler “Sent me to the field, had me beaten, made me spend nearly eight months sleeping on the floor of his mother's room, sold people… He's done plenty, but the worst of it was to other people.” (Butler 167) Dana finally realizes and admits that everything Rufus has done is terrible. While Rufus has a lot of power and good use to improve people's lives he chooses to abuse his power whenever he feels he like it. The last example of power in Kindred is when Dana Murders Rufus “I pulled the knife free of him

Octavia Butler uses the motif of “time travel” to convey the quick acceptance of slavery because when Dana travels back in time, she goes straight home and there is no time between the shift. Octavia Butler also uses Dana’s arm as a symbol to show that the past will “live” in her presence. During Dana’s final return to the past, she kills Rufus while his hand is still gripping on to hers and this causes her to lose her arm. When Dana returns back to her house, she describes her current situation, “I was back at home- in my own house, in my own time. But I was still caught somehow joined to the wall as though my arm were growing out of it- or growing onto it… my left arm had become part of the wall.

Recalling the influence she has had in the past, Dana makes threats that touch on all the good she once did, making them more believable. An example of this is when she is speaking with Mr. Weylin, discussing Rufus’s condition after coming home drunk and sick. Even as time has elapsed, Mr. Weylin continues to be condescending and aggressively rude towards Dana. Threatened by this demeaning attitude, Dana says, “‘If you can manage to put up with me a little more humanely, I’ll go on doing what I can for Mister Rufus.’ He frowned.

The slaves are often warning Dana to be careful how she talks as it is dangerous to be educated or free since in this society black people are oppressed and enslaved. “Sold them. First, my man died - a tree he was cutting fell on him. Then Marse Tom took my children, all but carries. And, bless God, Carrie ain’t worth much as the others ‘cause she can’t talk.

Dana even had to save Rufus from getting in trouble by his dad a few times. Dana would have to make excuses

Power is the ability or capacity to do something or act in a particular way, Power is not only strength it is a human relationships, power is the authority one person holds over another. In the play The Crucible,written by Arthur Miller. Three characters Abigail Williams, Reverend Hale, and Judge Danforth. All want to gain power as the play goes on. But it takes a turn and influenced them negatively.

(Butler 125). Although the amount of power Rufus has over Dana is quite evident, he tends to forget that Dana does have power over him as well, however, she does not make it as translucent as Rufus does. In an instance, Dana could let Rufus die, so she has to remind him of what she is capable of doing, without actually harming him. Dana explains that what she is trying to convey is “more of a reminder than a threat.”

One day, Jeannette was playing with fire by lighting toilet paper on fire and flushing it when the fire became too big. A couple of nights later, Jeannette “smelled smoke and then saw flames leaping at the open window… [she] saw one of the curtains, only a few feet from the bed, was ablaze” (33). Jeannette has had past trauma with fire, so she is curious about it. She lights things on fire as a coping method because of what she went through.

(ii) Power and Conflict: The capacity the one person has the influence over the other persons such that other persons act in accordance with his/her wishes can be defined as ‘Power’. Conflicts could be both positive and negative. Good conflicts could be encouraged but bad conflicts ought to be prevented.