Skin Color In Kindred

Kindred (1979), written by Octavia E. Butler, is a book about history, slavery, and a love story all in one. The book begins with the results of what happens to Dana the main character. In the year 1976, Dana (a black woman) and Kevin her new white husband move in together in Southern California. During the move Dana was the one putting all their belongings in their new place, while Kevin was admiring his new office space when he decided to stop helping out. In the midst of that process Dana got dizzy and felt a little uneasy, and before she knew what was happening all the surrounding around her faded away. When Dana regained her consciousness, she found herself in the early 1800s in Maryland. Why is Dana drawn to the past, and how does the

When Dana first arrived in the 1820s, she felt this sense of fear. She didn’t know exactly what it was, until she was settled in at the plantation. The other slaves like Nigel was always curious as to how Dana could be a slave yet tried to talk like a white person 's (74). Dana never understood that her skin color was defining who she was when brought to the past, and the color of her skin was a characteristic of herself. Until one of the other slaves, Carrie, tried to prove to Dana their skin color was forever and couldn’t be hidden, “ She came over to me and my face with her fingers- wiped hard. I drew back and she held her fingers in front of me, showed me both sides. But for once, I didn’t understand. Frustrated, she took me by the hand and led me out to where Nigel was chopping firewood. There, before him, she repeated the face-rubbing gestures, and he

In particular, he felt entitled to do whatever he wanted when it came to Alice. An example of this is when Rufus decides to rape Alice, giving in to his characteristically dominant desires. Rufus didn’t think of the consequences, and instead enacted his own agency. He had no shame in what he was about to do. Dana was drawn to this particular scene after Rufus had raped Alice and had attempted to kill Isaac (Alice’s husband), because it gave Dana insight to Rufus and Alice’s relationship,“I was beginning to realize that he loved the woman - to her misfortune. There was no shame in raping a black woman, but there could be shame in loving one” (124). It was shameful to love a black women back in 1820s, because she is considered just an object rather than a human being with real emotions. However, it was completely and totally acceptable to rape a black women back then without there being an real