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Love And Freedom In Kindred, By Octavia Butler

1322 Words6 Pages

The book Kindred, by Octavia Butler, revolves around two completely different time periods. One that is formed from hate, and restrainment, and the other is formed from love and freedom. From Kindred, we start to learn that it is not the time period that influences the ideologies, it is the people. According to Kindred, the society we grow up in greatly influences our ideology by shaping our thoughts, so our actions are always based off what our society taught us.
In Kindred, Rufus is a man that is exposed to many different ideologies from his family and friends. Even though he is exposed to many ideas, he is influenced by his father’s, and Dana’s the most. From Dana, Rufus knows that there is a future without slavery, but he refuses to tear …show more content…

He wants to please his father, but he doesn't want to do anything that would make Dana hate him, and cause her to leave. Rufus’ father wants Rufus to become a strong man like him, and treat slaves the same way he does. Dana wants Rufus to give the slaves their freedom. He is caught between these two people, so he changes himself in a way he would please both Dana and his father. Dana says, “Maybe he’ll never be as hard as his father was, but he is a man of his time,”(242). Dana realizes that no matter how hard she tries to make an impact on Rufus, she will never be able to change him because of the way Rufus’ society has taught him. His society teaches Rufus that he should act cruelly towards Black people. Ever since he was little he was told to show no mercy, or compassion towards them. Then Dana comes into his life and teaches him a complete different way to treat them. She tells him to treat them with kindness and mercy. Even though she makes him a more kinder person, she never changes him. He starts and ends the story as the same Rufus. Rufus is a clear example of how no matter how other people come and try to change us, the environment and we grow up in and the people we grow up with will always shape our ideology.
Dana is another example of how the society we grow up in shapes our ideology. Dana was suddenly put into Rufus’ world which was one completely different from her own. Dana …show more content…

One of them was a little boy, and he was pretending to sells slaves, and the other was a little girl who was pretending to be the slave being sold. When Dana sees this, she is extremely angered. Kevin on the other hand, reacts differently. When Kevin sees the kids playing he tells Dana, “‘The kids are just imitating what they’ve seen adults doing’. He said. ‘They don’t understand,’”(99). This proves the theory that the society we grow up in is the root of our ideology. These kids are growing up in a society where selling slaves is good, so they develop games that represent this action. Kevin understands that the kids are just young, and they are developing their ideologies and values from way their parents

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