Freedom And Freedom In Kindred By Octavia E. Butler

To have freedom is to do, say, or think anything one desire without restriction. However there is an indefinite difference between feeling free and being free, it's how unassuming people tend to cross the blurry line where being free stops, and feeling free begins. The great philosopher Epictetus once said ‘’Happiness and freedom begin with one principle: some things are within our control and some things are not’’. This can also refer to the science fiction novel by Octavia E. Butler, where she deftly contrasts the weighty subjects of racism, human rights, and enslavement. It follows a story about Dana, an African American woman from 1970s California, who travels via a series of time travels to an antebellum South plantation. She helps a white

She is always struggling with the limitations that are put on her since she is a woman and an African American. But in Kindred, she exhibits freedom by refusing to accept the constraints placed on her when she went back in time. Dana resisted being oppressed and fought against the limitations that were put on her despite the fact that she was a black woman during a period when slavery was still legal. She recognizes the risk she faces as a black woman early on in the book and starts adjusting to her new surroundings. She rapidly learns her knowledge and education draws attention to herself so she comes up with lies to downplay it, but she maintains her sense of self in the process. However, in (Butler 234), she displays an even more intense fear from the fact her freedom will be taken away for good but she demonstrates her will to survive while continuing to think independently. Although she is frightened that maybe her freedom will be taken away she won't stop to fight for

Alice values freedom above all else, she clings to it desperately but is soon cruelly ripped away from it bit by bit by Rufus. Alice's inability to make independent decisions shows that she lacks freedom. She has no control over where she lives or who she spends her time with because she is a slave. She displays different types of freedom she can't have such as; time freedom, the ability to choose what you want to do without worrying and freedom of speech and the ability to think. She is unable to defend herself from harm as well. Alice is also restricted in her ability to express herself freely. She is unable to speak her views or feel what she wants to feel without fear of being punished. What's more, (Butler 157) is an exemplar of how Alice crossed the line from being free to feeling free. It is evident from this text that she still has the motivation and tenacity to demonstrate that she is free. You can see how loudly she yells at Diana, telling her that she is a free woman. You can't tell if she's deceiving herself, though, to make things feel better, or if she actually believes that she is free. The reason Alice's character is intriguing is that she goes through some sort of character development