The Credibility Of White People In Kindred By Octavia Butler

White people, be it men or women, constantly exert their power over black people, taking their humanity piece by piece. During the 19th century, it was often found that black people did not have any rights; little, if any, were truly free. Those that were not free were forced to slave away at some plantation, owned by a white man that had complete power over them. Black people were forced to care for the children of the whites, they had to do strenuous field work, cook, clean, etc. Although white people seem to have a great deal of power during the 19th century, Octavia Butler's novel Kindred demonstrates that they depend utterly on the labor and bodies of black people because that is how they implement their power and superiority over them.

They got off to a rough start, with Dana trying to save him from drowning, to keeping the house from burning down, and over time, their relationship grew to one of dependency. Rufus needed Dana to stay alive, and Dana needed Rufus so she would eventually be born. In the novel, Butler shows us just how far Dana goes to save Rufus’ life.

“The boy had his back to me and hadn’t noticed me yet. He held a stick of wood in one hand and the end of the stick was charred and smoking. Its fire had apparently been transferred to the draperies at the window. Now the boy stood watching as the flames ate their way up the heavy cloth. For a moment, I watched too. Then I woke up, pushed the boy aside, caught the unburned upper part of the draperies and pulled them down. As they fell, they smothered some of the flames within themselves, and they exposed a half-open window. I picked them up quickly and threw them out the window.” (Kindred

Rufus new Alice from when she was little, they were friends, so one would expect that Rufus would try to protect her, help her, more than to the other slaves. Instead. He “falls in love” with her, and that love becomes a destructive one. He just wants he body, he wants her like an object, and that is what he obtains, a body to pleasure him. Dana was impressed, and more so shocked when she found out what Rufus had done to poor Alice.

"Rufe, did you manage to rape that girl?" He looked away guiltily.“Why would you do such a thing? She used to be your friend.” “When we were little, we were friends,” he said softly. “We grew up. She got so she’d rather have a buck nigger than me!” It didn’t matter if Dana tried really hard to help Rufus grow up into a good person, she feels like a failure when she realizes Rufus has been trying to rape Alice, and succeeds. Rufus thinks Alice is an object, a property, a possession. He thinks that black people are just things that he can use whatever way he wants. That is something that Dana tries really hard not to be in her relationship with Kevin, she tries to be a person, not a