Intergenerational Trauma In Kindred Research Paper

Joshua Miller Professor James Rizzi English 112 29 March 2024 Intergenerational Trauma in Kindred by Octavia Butler is a fiction novel that goes into themes of race, power, and the complexities of history. It is set in both the antebellum South and contemporary California. The novel follows Dana, a black woman from the present, who randomly travels back in time to the era of slavery from time to time. The time she is gone for in the past, doesn’t match the time in the present. She is forced to live through the harsh realities that her ancestors lived through, Dana deals with questions of identity and survival. Butler's narrative looks at the interlocked legacies of slavery and racism, offering a view of the impact the past has on the present.

“—a notice that Mr. Rufus Weylin had been killed when his house caught fire and was partially destroyed.” (Butler 262) The destruction caused by the fire symbolizes the deep impact of trauma, which can leave lasting scars on people. It represents the traumatic disruption of lives and the consequences of past trauma on the characters in the novel. Butler also uses home as a symbol to explore the dualities of safety and trauma, this highlights how the past continues to shape characters' present experiences of home. Margo Natalie Crawford agrees that home is a symbol for the trauma she has experienced, she states: “the protagonist Dana’s inability to differentiate between the two suggests that the psychic hold of slavery makes actual escape impossible. It has made her an assemblage, a mix of flesh and plaster “caught” between the past and the present. Crawford suggests that Dana's inability to differentiate between past and present emphasizes the psychological grip of slavery that Dana cannot escape. The reference to Dana as an "assemblage" also emphasizes her fragmented identity; she is caught between the historical trauma of slavery and her

Getting whipped not only brings out physical pain, but also the mental pain. The phrase "like a hot iron" suggests the tough impact of the violence, comparing it to searing marks, the whip leaves a permanent mark on the character's body and mind. Describing the violence in detail allows Butler to emphasize how the trauma of slavery is passed down through generations, leaving an imprint on Dana and contributing to the cycle of oppression and suffering endured by enslaved people and their descendants. The scars left by the whip serve as a reminder of the lasting effects of trauma on both the body and the mind. Marisa Parham agrees that trauma is a key theme in this novel, she states: “Butler offers protagonists who must survive the tension between understanding of their bodies as their own and also recognizing their bodies in relation to pasts that exceed, leak into, the present moment.” (Parham 1318) Parham highlights the protagonists' struggle to assert ownership over their bodies while confronting the pervasive influence of historical