Explore The Enchanted Forest of Literature with Us
Kindred By: Octavia E. Butler
Biography
-
Octavia Butler, an African American author of the late twentieth century, began writing science fiction early on in her life.
-
At age seven, Octavia’s father passed away, leaving her mother and grandmother to raise her.
-
In a community college writers' workshop, she focused on writing science fiction.
-
Butler sold her first book and soon after became a full-time author.
-
She earned a MacArthur grant in 1995, making life easier as a full-time author.
-
She moved on to teaching writers' workshops.
-
She died of a stroke at the age of 58 in 2006.
Historical Background
Kindred was based on the time period of 1976. Much after the civil war and World War Two. "The decade of change" brought much focus on the rights of women, gay rights, the return of the soldiers fighting in Vietnam, and environmental movements. This also marked the “post-civil rights movement era,” giving many African American people places in the office, business, and academics. However Dana, the main character in the book “Kindred”, travels back in time to many difficult ages. As a freed black woman in the 1970s, time travel back to slavery in the early 1800s causes her to witness the diversity between the two races, white and black. She addresses many issues surrounding the evil behind slavery and how her ancestry still affects her today.
She may have done this to empower the movements and protest for rights in America. Thus, bringing awareness toward history and influencing the "Afrofuturtism movement."
Summary
-
Prologue : Dana (Edana) wakes in the hospital with her left arm amputated. Kevin, comes, and the couple hopes that the police won’t investigate the incident any further.
-
River: Dana finds herself at a river where a young boy is drowning. Dana saves the child and gives him CPR, despite the protests of the boy’s mother. The boy’s father comes and points a rifle at Dana, but Dana is transported back to her home.
-
Fire: she again feels dizzy and finds herself transported to a bedroom in a wooden house. Rufus, the boy set curtains on fire. Dana starts to believe that she is in the pre-Civil War South. According to Rufus, the date is 1815 and they are in Maryland, close to the town of Easton on the Weylin plantation. She visits old relatives seeking for help.
-
Fall: Dana then gets dizzy and returns to Rufus’s time with Kevin in tow. They blend in and stay with the family. By the end of the story Dana teaches young RUfus how to read, but leaves pck to the present with her husband stuck back in time.
-
Fight: Dana convinces the young man, Isaac, not to kill Rufus, though Rufus raped Alice after Alice married Isaac. She reunites with Kevin. Kevin struggles to readjust to the present after five years spent in the past trying to help slaves escape while keeping himself alive.
-
Storm: She returns to a drunken Rufus. Dana in charge of healing Rufus from the ague (malaria). Dana does her best with her limited medical knowledge.
-
Rope: Dana finds out that Rufus almost made her grand mill herself, so she stabs Rufus because she realizes that he is just another slave owner who does not see dana differently, he is not the sweet kind of innocent boy that Dana once knew. She travels back to the present, with her right arm missing due to it getting stuck in the wall during the time travel process.
​
All info is from https://www.litcharts.com/lit/kindred/summary
Themes
Interracial couples
Kevin and Dana were an interracial couple. Kevin was a white man and Dana was an African American woman. Being an interracial couple was seen as in appropriate by other close minded people which often led them to receiving dirty looks from others. In 1815, the year Dana would time travel to being an interracial couple was illegal.
Freedom
The book kindred focuses on how slaves were depraved from their freedom in 1815 in Maryland. Maryland 1815 was the year and place that Dana time travels in the book.
Survival
Dana had to ensure her survival in order to save Rufus Weylin, Dana’s white ancestor. Every time Dana would time travels was to save his ancestor from drowning, burning and getting beat up to death. Rescuing her ancestor from death guaranteed her existence.
Slavery
Slavery is heavily seen on this book. Dana travels back in time to 1815, a year where white supremacy was dominant.
Tone words
Hopeless
Throughout the story, Dana’s unsuccessful attempts to escape from her ancestors made her feel hopeless. Every time she would try to escape she would get caught.
​
Dissapointed
Rufus started becoming just like his heartless dad which left Dana feeling disappointed. She witnessed how the boy went from being innocent to an obnoxious man. The way he treated his love interest, the slaves and her as well only left her feeling disappointed.
​
Abhorring
Dana felt hatred toward Rufus and his father. The way they would treat the slaves was cruel and harsh. She could not stand having to deal with the way the other were being treated but she knew she could not do anything about which only made her hate grow more.
Music
Podcast:
We face the ugliness of slavery and how truly cruel it was. The ways in which runaway slaves were treated, shocked and took us by surprise since many of our History Classes sugar-coated these atrocities.
​
Podcast coming soon!
Videos and Animations
