The novel “Kindred” by Octavia Butler talks about the tale of a black woman repeatedly being transported from her 1970s apartments to Maryland. The novel explores various issues associated with violence and loss of humanity that emerged due to slavery in the United States and its consequences on the modern society. Different racial and gender divides in the South are also presented. The black woman, Dana, through some unknown ways, she gets connected to young Rufus whenever his life is in Danger (SparkNotes LLC par 4). However, she doesn’t know that Rufus is from Adam which gets her in trouble.
Themes
The main themes highlighted within the novel include the deleterious effects associated with slavery, community, motherhood, past, present, and history, home and family. Power, and gender. In the novel, power is defined in various ways. For example, Tom and Rufus are in power since they owned property as white men though without honor, kindness, or education. In the 19th century, the blacks were not allowed to have powers: both men and women (Gunning 133). Based on the novel, each relationship involves struggling for power with each of the characters putting all his/her efforts to be leaders. For example, Dana and Rufus vied to compete for the leadership positions. There are also characters exercising their powers in nebulous manners including committing suicide and abandoning love. Although there are power hierarchies presented in the novel, there are meaningful ways of resisting.
Gender and family are also important themes. Although race defines the boundary between slavery and freedom, gender is considered crucial in leadership subtleties in the 19th and 20th centuries. For example, white women such as Margaret are inhabitants whose main roles involve being wives and mothers with husbands having a public presence with much freedom. However, women are victimized (Duffy, D., et al 152). In the 20th century, women such as Dana suffer from patriarchy while those in the 19th century experiencing discrimination and rape and deprived important roles such as being wives and mothers. In home and family these, Dana and Kevin are surprised to view Weylin plantation as their home and the experience they had in 1976 in their Altadena home after the journeys. Characters view homes differently. Ashraf views home to be more than a place and as a liminal site while Dana considers home to be a place between Kevin and Rufus which reflects the present and future. Kevin views home as a place he communicates with Dana while for Rufus, it all about owning a property.
The novel has revealed the unfathomable pain and sufferings of the slave mothers. Women do not engage socially with their children since they do not have power over them. Moreover, like Sarah, women see their children sold to the plantations just for furniture. When Rufus joked that he had killed Alice’s children, she kills herself. Mothers are placed to watch their children grow as slaves and endure pains, insults, rape, works, and even death. The deleterious effects of slavery have been presented. Slavery refers to a brutal system affecting both the whites and blacks similarly (Valdes 141). Both whites with slaves and those without tend to have complete arbitrary power with each human sympathy and sentiments squelched. For the slave, punishment for any offence was inevitable. Their children were sold, marriages invalided, and not right take ay cause of action.
Presentation of the Main Characters
Dana Franklin is portrayed as a heroin and the narrator of the novel and has existed in two different periods which brings out the theme of present and present. She is the protagonist and to save the existence of her family, she saves Rufus’ life all the time. Despite Dana caring for Rufus, he enslaves and abuses her. While travelling, Dana struggles to maintain her identity as a strong woman, intelligent, and free woman in the world. As a black woman, she endures the institution of slavery to ensure her survival an that her family. This brings out a strong bond and care among the family members (Levecq 525). In her defence against rape, Dana resolves to kill Rufus. As a result, she is presented as a woman who endures the sufferings and challenges of the past through the lens of the modern woman. As published by the author, Dana is a strong and independent woman who has made her name. The novel also presents Dana as a woman who understands that she has strength and courage of facing the worst scenarios in the antebellum South.
Rufus Weylin at the earlier stages of the novel is presented as a person in need with an over-indulging mother and a father that does pay any little attention to him. Thus, when in trouble, he does not think of the parents but rather calls Dana. Dana thought she could model Rufus’ behavior to make a good man out of him. However, Rufus is possessed with her and even tries to rape her which an end to his life. Rufus is also one of the constants of Dana during her travel time. The novel presents Rufus to be highly dependent on others for his survival. His dependency on Dana goes beyond frequently saving his life. To Rufus, Dana had to take the role of the sister, friend, and mother. Rufus is immoral and sexually thirsty as he sees Dana as the best for a sexual replacement for Alice. These acts bring out the position of women in the society: sexual tools (Levecq 525). To some extent, Rufus is portrayed as cruel and charming which is a double personality. His characters are dependent on the emotions, desires, and whims.
Kevin Franklin is presented as a writer and seller of various novels. He is Dana’s husband and a foil to Rufus. However, Kevin is portrayed as a progressive white man marrying a black despite objections and issues raised by the members of the family. Although he is presented as a progressive thinker, he lies to be in control and becomes angry when he suspects that the wife, Dana, might be cheating with Rufus (SparkNotes LLC par. 6). During the slavery period, Kevin is a white man with humanity and as a traveller to the South, he focuses on freezing the slaves. Since some of the oppression of the slaves around him do not affect him, he is blinded by injustices around him. Kevin stands for Dana both emotionally and financially an ensuring their interracial marriage of 1976 stands amid the Civil Rights Movement.
Alice Greenwood is Dana’s ancestor and a free woman in love with enslaved husband, Isaac. Alice died for love and a freedom fighter. He is ravaged by dogs and traumatized. Nonetheless, he had a spirit to ensure freedom comes and never waned despite the whipping, raping, enslaved, and being controlled by the white masters. She is a slave that stands in the theme of womanhood and for the love of her children, she kills herself after Rufus lied to her that he sold her children. Alice is a slave forced to bear children for Rufus despite not loving him which reveals the stress enslaved women went through. However, she is portrayed as the antebellum-South version of Dana which reflects what Dana would have been if she were born earlier.
In literal works, there are ingredients that make up the plots. At the exposition, the initial situation of the novel, Dana narrates opening remarks about the novel by noting that she crushed her arm her last home. Such remarks show poor environments women, the black, are subjected. With her good heart, she tries to save Rufus although she does not want to since he would grow up to be own slaves. Therefore, in the novel, there are caring slaves such as Dana and Alice. Conflicts and complications begin to arise when Rufus grows up and gives Dana several reasons to kill him. She starts by sending Dana to work in the and whipping if she speaks back to him. Each character influenced the plotting of the novel.
Symbols
There are different symbols used in the novel. Some of the symbols include weapons, maps home, and whips. Weapons are used to symbolize the violence that slaves were subjected especially those defending themselves in the hostile situations. There are several instances the novel's notes of the whips mostly by the white overseers and slave owners. The scars have been used emotionally, physically, and psychologically until the need for freedom among the slaves subsides (Gunning 138). Dana noted that she would not have used the whip in any way as it reflected the fear of the whites. Dana tries to combat slavery with her weapons such as knocking the assailant with a tree limb. When gripped a stick, she felt safe and a writer, she understands the power of words and uses them as weapons against the slave owners to convince them humanely.
In the novel, the map has been used as a symbol of freedom and ensuring safe passage. In 1976, Dana focused on researching the maps to assist her in navigating the antebellum, Maryland. Through the map, Dana and other slaves gain insight and knowledge of various routes that would assist them to move towards the North and away from being subjected to slavery. In the Novel, Rufus also understands the power of having the map. As a result, he asks Dana to burn it using the guise of her safety. Thus, in the Novel, the map stands for the possibility of having the needed freedom which makes dangerous to possess it (Duffy, D., et al 88). By forcing Dana to burn the map, Rufus asks her to give up her freedom and that of the people she has been fighting for.
Homes have been used to symbolize a place of safety during Dana travelling period. When she returned home, she felt relieved and comfort and tend to her wounds freely, prepare and eat meals, and collects important belongings insider her bag. It is good to be in a place one calls home. However, for Dana, at a certain point, she felt strange since she spent much time outside. Wyelin plantation has been complicated by slavery activities carried out which makes it difficult for Dana to call it home.
Conclusion
Based on the foregoing analysis, it is evident that the novel highlighted critical issues that happen even in the contemporary modern society. For many years, women have enslaved and considered to be sexual tools, wives, and mothers at home without considering their needs. It is like the decision has been made for them. Slavery and denying women the rights to have their children is unacceptable. People should not be divided based on racial backgrounds, slaves like Alice and Dana felt the pain just like their white masters. Despite all the challenges women experience, some of them like Dana can still stand for the rights of others without fear.
Works Cited
Duffy, D., et al. Octavia E. Butler's Kindred. Headline Book Publishing, 2017.
Gunning, Sandra. "Reading and Redemption in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." Harriet Jacobs andIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, vol. 5, no. 7, pp. 131-155.
Levecq, C. "Power and Repetition: Philosophies of (Literary) History in Octavia E. Butler's "Kindred"." Contemporary Literature, vol. 41, no. 3, 2000, p. 525,
SparkNotes LLC. "SparkNotes: Kindred." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides, SparkNotes LLC, 2018, www.sparknotes.com/lit/kindred/. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.
Valdes, A. The temptation: A Kindred novel. HarperTeen, 2012.
