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Oppression Of Slavery In Kindred By Octavia Butler

1330 Words6 Pages

Ryder Quinlan Mrs. Rogers Pre AP/IB English II 7 March 2023 Kindred Some people believe that they have it hard. But almost nothing can be compared to being as bad, evil, cruel, and fearful as slavery. Slavery was an awful point in time where many human beings were treated like dirt. People of color would be oppressed everyday, being reminded by their masters that whites are better than them and that people of color have no meaning. Within the novel Kindred, author Octavia Butler, shows all of this happening. The main character of the novel, Dana, witnesses and goes through slavery herself, getting a true feel of what slavery is. What Butler is trying to talk about is fear of oppression, how slaves should be worried about what's going to happen …show more content…

Slave masters would say things or do things to slaves that made them keep quiet, it kept the slaves from retaliating. In Kindred, this is shown when all of Sarah’s children were sold besides her one daughter Carrie. Sarah show’s her emotion to this when she says, “Whose idea you think it was to sell my babies? She made Marse Tom sell my three boys to get money to buy things she didn’t even need!” (Butler 95). This mentally affected Sarah because she was scared to lose her last child. She was now fearful to do anything disrespectful towards the Weylins because she believed if she did something bad enough, they would sell her last baby. Another example of slaves being mentally abused is when Alice is forced to let Rufus rape her. In the story, Dana tells Alice that Rufus wants to see her, and she knows exactly why. Dana explains how Alice is after the incident by saying, “She went to him. She adjusted, became a quieter, more subdued person. She didn’t kill, but seemed to die a little” (Butler 168). This shows how Alice is affected by what Rufus did. She was injured not only physically, but mentally as well. She fears now that Rufus will think he can do anything to her. Alice is truly scared of what Rufus will do next. He keeps her down, he keeps her oppressed, just like all other slave masters. They know what they’re doing when they enact these types of actions. They’re trying to put fear into slave's minds so they won’t

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