“‘I’m saying the day I’m beaten just once more, your son is on his own.’ His eyes widened, perhaps in surprise” (201).This is a quote from the 5th time Dana from Kindred by Octavia E. Butler is transported from her home to a scary and different place and it shows how much impact the abuse has had on her to the point she has no choice but to set boundaries. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler is a historical science fiction story, in which it’s written in stories, based on her experiences as a young modern black woman. It follows Dana, on her journey as she is quickly taken from her home, transported to the antebellum south where she has been drawn back repeatedly and with every time her stays get longer, harder to get through, and more dangerous. Butler uses internal and external conflict in order to convey …show more content…
The awful act of abuse towards Dana through the use of external conflict reveals that the feelings that Weylin had towards Dana overpowers her feelings because of her being black. Unfortunately, because she had little to no knowledge of how he would react, she used an indignant tone and caused him to over-react. However, at the time it was something normalized because of the use of whips and physical and mental abuse used towards slaves or anyone who they (white people) abused. Clearly, there are certain things she can or can't do to the point where she has to be very careful. Butler used external conflict to show how much power Rufus had just because of his race. For example, when Rufus had fallen from a tree Dana chose to help him but this time Kevin joined her. Rufus had made an unnecessary comment about how white people can’t marry blacks but at the time that was the standard, Dana says,“I laid a hand on Kevin’s arm just in time to stop him from saying whatever he would have said” (60). This proves that Kevin and Dana are trying to adapt because if they said something wrong, it could go downhill for both of them since they are