ipl-logo

Examples Of Family In Kindred

1374 Words6 Pages

Support to Survive Family is an important aspect of a person’s life, and as such, has a great effect on the actions one commits and emotions one feels. In the antebellum South, the family was an integral part of society that made slavery a complex and horrible experience for the oppressed. Slaves were seen as property, and thus were encouraged to form families but were also separated if they ever retaliated. This reality is showcased in the book Kindred, following Dana as she travels back in time to secure the existence of her family. In her travels, she finds families to be more than just blood bonds as she debates on whether to be loyal to the slaves or her ancestor Rufus, helping her understand the complexity of family in different aspects. …show more content…

At the beginning of the novel, Dana is loyal to Rufus to ensure her family’s existence. “These people were my relatives, my ancestors. And this place could be my refuge” (Butler 37). Clearly, she feels an immediate connection to her ancestors, even if she hasn’t met them yet. She proceeds to save Rufus’s life many times but with each trip to the past, she learns of the horrors the slaves on their land had to suffer. “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.” (Butler 190). Slowly, Dana begins to relate to the slaves as she experiences the horrors that come with being a slave. She faces the reality that even those related by blood can hurt her more than those who may be considered strangers. Despite this, she remains loyal to Rufus, saves him, forgives him, and tries to push him to be a moral and open individual because she cares for him. “We could hurt each other too badly, kill each other too quickly in hatred. He was like a younger brother to me” (Butler 180). Her loyalty to Rufus is tested many times, often at the expense of her friends at the plantation, yet she tries to remain loyal to the slaves as well. “And I would try to keep friendship with him, maybe plant a few ideas in his mind that would help both me and the people who would be his slaves in the years to come” (Buttler 68). Trying as she did, she couldn’t control history, Rufus hurt many, and led Alice to commit suicide, and was hesitant to leave his children free from slavery. Her realization of Rufus’s true nature, allowed her to realize that she had to protect her ancestors and the slaves, the true individuals who supported her in her struggle to survive. Family members help one another, the slaves she met in

Show More
Related
274 Words | 2 Pages

Family reunions are often used to dwell upon the past and reflect upon one’s life. Richard Rodriguez, in is his passage, goes to extreme lengths to explain to the reader his carefully taken observation of his family’s life. Looking deeper into the words and feelings of the passage, Rodriguez portrays a sense of strong family values. It is apparent (by his selective use of diction and narrative structure found throughout the passage) that Rodriguez is writing to a more mature, experienced audience. As a mature writer, Rodriguez knows that the best way to connect with his audience is through the one day responsible for some of their greatest childhood memories -- Christmas.

Read More
732 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the narrative, the author includes his personal stories about experiencing the violence of slavery first-hand. For example, on page 20, he writes about the first time he witnessed a slave, his own aunt, getting the whip. “The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest…I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition… It struck me with awful force. It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery…” The author including his experience of his aunts whipping, in detail, appeals to the emotions of the reader.

Read More
800 Words | 4 Pages

Barbra Bush once said,”I think togetherness is a very important ingredient to family life.” You need to be close to your family no matter what. What would you do if you believe that your brother is the reason for your parent’s death? Rot & Ruin is a story that teaches a valuable lesson that is true for even a modern teen; It teaches on how family is important, and how you should have a strong relationship with your family.

Read More
1753 Words | 8 Pages

Let us begin with George, Celia’s understandably treacherous slave lover, and his unreasonable demands that set Celia’s case into motion. George’s actions are an example of the common frustration and desperation of slave men who had no control over the sexual abuse of their loved ones by white masters (McLaurin 139-140). His was a reaction to a smoldering attack upon his masculinity, an attack that was a direct result of the dehumanization upon which slavery rested. Because the South was a slave society, this master-slave relationship structure echoed throughout every other aspect of southern life (Faragher, 204 & 215). In Celia’s case, we see this truth through Virginia and Mary Newsom’s position of powerlessness.

Read More
1674 Words | 7 Pages

As an African America, Dana is forced into the life of a slave, suffering through various hardships and numerous close encounters with death. All of these experiences have a significant effect on Dana’s mental stability, as she becomes more and more distant and distressed. However, her fellow characters are unable to fully realize Dana’s state of

Read More
1598 Words | 7 Pages

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

Read More
1804 Words | 8 Pages

As Rufus was carried in the house, his mother frantically entered the bedroom and pushed Dana aside. Margaret Weylin noticed Dana and asked for her name. She seemed to recognize Dana from the past but as she spoke Rufus interrupted her asking for some water. Margaret turns and looks at Dana, as if Dana is her slave, and orders her to “get him some water” (Butler 69). Failure to do so Margaret dismisses Dana to the cookhouse.

Read More
458 Words | 2 Pages

Dana was a positive part of Rufus’s environment because she was the one who really helped him through the good and the bad. Dana tried to help Rufe reach a realization that slavery was clearly wrong and tried . But in the end not much changed. “What’s he done to you?” ‘Sent me to a field, had me beaten, made me spend nearly eight months sleeping on the floor of his mother’s room, sold people. . .

Read More
175 Words | 1 Pages

Harming not only slaves but free blacks as well in the novel, when Dana is transported back to the moment right after Rufus rapes Alice: Dana attempts to express how she felt about Alice’s right to refuse Rufus sexual advances and he replied, sarcastically saying “‘She must have thought she was a free woman or something”. In the novel, shows the oppression of black women. Dana asks Rufus: “‘...your father whips black people?’” and he replies “‘when they need it’” (Butler 26).

Read More
1103 Words | 5 Pages

Family is not an important thing. It’s everything. In the whole world, there are many different types of family. The broken ones, the strange ones, the chaotic ones, and the normal ones. In the novel Walk Two Moons, published in 1994, written by Sharon Creech, there are some families, and all of them are different.

Read More
1083 Words | 5 Pages

However, as he grew up he became more associated with the harshness of slavery from his father who by no means was kind to the slaves. From witnessing these events Rufus would forever be changed. It would turn him into a man that would do what he believed to be wrong because he knew it was the only way it would work. When he got Alice to be with him romantically he tried to rape her and when that did not work, he used Dana to try and talk to Alice to get her to change her mind. When talking to Dana it became apparent that Rufus knew what he was doing was wrong, but he did not care because it was okay to do it

Read More
717 Words | 3 Pages

The modern day family lives behind a dark cloak made up of secrets and lies. There is the wife left with physical and mental bruises inflicted upon her by a “loving” husband. Next door, there is a child hiding in the closet, avoiding their parents emotionally charged civil war. Across the street, the family of three is sitting at the dinner table with a plate meant for a mother who left ages ago. A few blocks down, there is a young man lying on his bed, contemplating weather his parents would notice him missing.

Read More
853 Words | 4 Pages

Dana and Rufus’s Relationship Ever wonder what it's like to have a changing relationship with a plantation owner's son back in the 1800’s? Dana Franklin is a younger African-American woman married to Kevin Franklin who is a middle-aged man. Dana travels from California in 1976 back to the early 1800’s whenever Rufus is in trouble. Rufus is a plantation owner son and is also the father of Dana’s ancestor. Dana’s travels are random; she gets lightheaded and dizzy when she is about to travel.

Read More
849 Words | 4 Pages

What would it be like to live in a perfect society? What would be different from our modern day society? The novel The Giver models what an ideal utopian society might look like, but later in the book, the protagonist, Jonas, realizes his society is not so perfect after all. Jonas’ society and our modern society are alike and different in many ways both resembling and having distinctions through subjects like family units, Birthmothers, and release.

Read More
2015 Words | 9 Pages

See the Full Me: The Struggle with Tolerating a Narrow-Minded Society A family is understood to refer to the ways that parents, siblings, and extended family show love, encouragement, and comfort to each other. Each member of a family is meant to respect each other, rely on them, and pay attention each other. However, a family doesn’t function as well when any member is ostracized or ignored, and soon the entire family dynamic falls apart.

Read More

More about Examples Of Family In Kindred

Related Topics

Open Document