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An Analysis Of Kindred By Octavia Butler

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Have you ever wondered what shapes a person’s personality? In Kindred, by Octavia Butler, each complex character is dynamic or changes throughout the story. The root of these attitude changes comes from the environment in which they are placed. In the novel, slavery in the 19th century is the reason characters change such as Dana. By introducing Dana into the world of slavery, this, in turn, causes change in herself and those around her (i.e. Rufus). This is important to the novel because it enables readers to understand the reasons for each character’s actions. Even though, sometimes, they may be difficult to understand, we must not negate the fact that each character's attitude and personality is shaped by the given world in which they are …show more content…

When Rufus declares, “‘you’re not leaving!’ he shouted. He sort of crouched around the gun, clearly on the verge of firing. ‘Damn you, you’re not leaving me!”, he uses his vast power and violence to get what he wants (PG 190). This also proves his attachment to Dana even though he knows that she will not stay forever. This fits his personality because he always tries to take possession of things that he cannot have. It is clear that Dana’s appearance from the future has gotten to the best of Rufus. His attachment becomes too great and Dana’s attempt to influence his decisions will not be …show more content…

In Maryland, everybody sees Dana as a black female slave with no rights or privileges. The more time Dana spends in the past, the more she views herself in these terms as well, accepting the identity that others thrust upon her. This is evidenced in the last chapter as Dana recollects, “I could recall walking along the narrow dirt road that ran past the Weylin house and seeing the house, shadowy in twilight, boxy and familiar... I could recall feeling relief at seeing the house, feeling that I had come home. And having to stop and correct myself, remind myself that I was in an alien, dangerous place” (PG 193). Conformity is something that impacts her based on the environment in which she was placed. This is indicated in the way that Dana expresses that the Weylin house is almost too familiar, as if her home. The gradual acceptance occurred throughout the book, but here it was most evident in that she conformed to her new

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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

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Rufus no longer understands the difference between friend and master at the loss of Alice. Dana was able to make the selfish decision of killing Rufus, rather than submitting herself, for the good of herself, not the good of anyone else. She could not stand to become like Alice, a slave at the hands of a master; thus, her determination to escape stemmed from her will to remain independent. She knows as soon as she lets herself submit to the will of this society she cannot be viewed as a person, but a tool. Dana represents the women in the current day and age that would do anything to protect their own freedom, even at the

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This analysis of agency would be useful for a person pushing for more freedom of expression or freedom of speech. All in all, Bast’s successfully supports his perspective of agency through his evaluation of Kindred, and the comparison of the human instinct of expression to Dana’s want to create change with her time traveling powers constructs a powerful parallel between the novel and Bast’s article. The novel Kindred, however, serves to create an important message about society on its own, as well. Octavia Butler’s Kindred is a science-fiction novel that depicts the life experiences of a young black woman named Dana, who is given the task of traveling back in time to the era of slavery to save her ancestors, but is unjustly oppressed and has most, if not all, of her rights stripped away from her simply due to her race and gender. As a result, the most prominent overarching theme of the novel is the inequality of power and social status given to people of varying gender and race, and the struggle that those people must go through to gain as much freedom and equality as possible.

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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

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

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