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“Kindred” by Octavia Butler Literature Analysis Essay

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“Kindred” is a book that tells the story of slavery, survival, and love. Octavia Butler employs the thriller genre to present her slavery narrative. Butler’s narrative can be summarized as the main character’s journey in which she meets her ancestor, saves her ancestor, and then kills her ancestor. “Kindred” does make use of strong emotions such as those used in Tony Morrison’s book “Beloved.”

Also, the author does not invest too much in her characters as Hailey did in “Roots.” However, the book manages to present the reader with a realistic possibility of being involved in slavery. The author of “Kindred” labels the book as a work of science fiction even though the book fits more into other genres such as thriller, time travel, black history fiction, drama, and love story genres.

The book begins in 1976 when a couple is moving into a new house. The couple consists of Kevin, a white novelist and his wife, twenty-six-year-old African American aspiring writer Edana Franklin. When the two are unpacking their belongings, Dana starts feeling dizzy, passes out, and finds herself in an unfamiliar world. Dana finds herself in front of a river where a white boy is drowning. Instinctively, she jumps into the river and saves the boy.

This is in spite of the fact that the boy’s mother is yelling to Dana to “get her black hands off her son” (Butler 11). The boy’s father points a gun to Dana’s head, and before he shoots her, she is taken back to her apartment where Kevin is looking at her in awe. Dana’s husband informs her that she had been teleported, but even before she processes this information, it happens again.

Dana meets with the same boy while he is trying to burn down a house and manages to rescue him in time. This time Dana manages to ask some questions, and she learns that she is involved in time travel and the little boy is his ancestor. Dana has been picked to be the one who keeps the boy alive until he can start his ancestry (Butler 24). Therefore, if the boy dies before starting a bloodline, Dana’s existence will be in jeopardy.

In the course of her time travel episodes, Dana comes face to face with many misfortunes including almost being raped and killed. Her biggest challenge is to identify herself in 1815 because she does not have the necessary identification documents (Butler 78). In the next few weeks, Dana is involved in various instances of time travel where she is supposed to rescue Rufus, her ancestor.

In the course of these events, she becomes close with some of the slaves in Rufus’ plantation. Also, she is involved in several adventures, including time traveling with her white husband. For instance, at one time, her husband is left stranded, and Dana “has to go back five years to rescue him” (Butler 135).

The book mostly relies on the main character when telling the slavery story. The main heroine is a knowledgeable African American woman who is married to a white novelist. Dana’s wide knowledge of historical and social matters is very instrumental during her time travel episodes. The author uses the heroine to explore black history. When Dana is transported to the past, she adapts to that environment with ease. Her intellect helps her in understanding the plight of a nineteenth century black woman.

During her time at the plantation, Dana faces her predicament with dignity. In spite of all the things that happen to Dana, she just shrugs them off and keeps on going. She avoids getting involved in any of the modern Civil Rights palaver. It would be correct to assume that any person from the Civil Rights’ Era would be too eager to preach the equal rights gospel to the stakeholders of slavery. However, the author chooses not to delve into this angle and creates a character who understands the history and the scenarios surrounding slavery.

Moreover, Dana’s attitude towards the characters she encounters during her time travel is civil and compassionate. Dana’s role is to be an observer of slavery and not a critic. The main character recognizes that her protests will not change either the past or the future. All she needs to do is to ensure that the past is not distorted so that her current life is guaranteed.

For instance, she does not try to ‘change Rufus’ behavior’ during her interactions with him (Butler 102). By not being vocal against slavery and the other injustices she encounters, Butler’s main character acts as a trustworthy slavery observer. Dana seems to understand that the characters she encounters are a product of their time, and that is why she carries on with her life unperturbed by people’s actions.

Nevertheless, Dana is not ignorant of the challenges she witnesses during her time travel. This is in line with the author’s aim of exploring slavery from the inside while still maintaining a periodical distance. The same applies to Kevin when he travels back to 1815. Although he has the advantage of not being mistaken for a slave, he does not try to alter the dynamics of the past. The only radical activity Kevin engages in is “aiding escaping slaves” (Butler 199). However, this was a common practice during the slavery period.

The metaphor of time travel is used extensively in this book. The author uses time travel to subdivide the sections in her book. Each time-travel episode in the book gives a complete section of the story. The time travel metaphor is not used as a scientific aspect, but it is used to show the passage of time. The author does not explain the mechanisms of time travel, but she uses it as an interface between the past and the present. The simple nature of this time travel shows how people consider slavery as a simple occurrence.

At the beginning of the book, time travel is a little shocking, but as the book progresses, it becomes mundane. The metaphor of time travel shows how easy it is for people to get used to the institution of slavery in the same Dana gets used to time travel and slavery.

The main character’s inability to control her time travel episodes is a metaphor for how the people who were entrapped in slavery were unable to control their fate. Dana moves back and forth in her time travel episodes, just like the people who were involved in slavery were moved around by its events.

“Kindred” is more about fantasy time travel than it is about science and fiction. First, the author does not try to explain the metaphysics behind the time travel aspect. This implies the science behind the time travel is irrelevant to the story being told. Butler’s characters just find themselves in a tricky situation, and they try their best to maneuver through their predicaments and come out alive. The essence of time travel is to allow the plot to develop.

The author explores how modern people would fare in slavery, Maryland irrespective of their race. In one instance, Dana claims that reality in 1815 is “a sharper and stronger reality” (Butler 191). The author uses Dana and her husband as a thought provocation mechanism. Through these two main characters, the reader can contemplate what it would be like to survive through the most difficult days of slavery. Also, readers can think about how this experience would change their historical outlook.

Depending on whether the reader is white or black, his/her survival chances would vary. The question of how an individual might react to the slavery environment also comes up. Several people would react differently to how Dana reacted. For instance, most people would be too eager to demand their rights and freedoms, while others would most likely urge the enslaved characters to revolt.

The author makes Dana’s quick adaptation to slavery seem easy. However, readers find it hard to believe that an ordinary human being would adapt to such hardships with ease. The author wants the readers to believe that the main actor easily adapted to her new environment with few reservations. For instance, Dana observes that “the slaves seemed to like Rufus and fear him at the same time” (Butler 229). However, this outcome is quite unlikely in such a scenario.

Although the book is fictional, it would be more realistic if the main character put up a resistance against her new predicament. The author fronts her book as a work of science fiction. However, her work ignores the parameters of science fiction. Science fiction readers would find the book substandard in various aspects. The author also seems to misuse several literary genres in a bid to pass her message across. Science fiction is one of the genres that the author associates her work with but fails to abide by their disciplines.

Moreover, the author touches on time travel and love story genres but does not fully commit to these genres. The author avoids abiding in any specific genre in a bid to remain true to her core themes. However, the author risked producing substandard literary work by not abiding by any specific genre.

The book’s author presents a near accurate 1815, but her 1976 is too idealized. According to the author, the main character has not encountered any major racial prejudice in her life. This would be an unlikely development in 1976 because racial prejudice was common. Therefore, Dana would have encountered racial prejudice in the course of her education, her social encounters, or her part-time job.

According to the author, Dana could have been “the little woman who knew very little about freedom….the female Uncle Tom” (Butler 145). This assumption prompts the reader to speculate that the main character was living in a 1976 Utopia. This would also mean that the book was a challenge to African Americans who are ignorant of their slavery history.

Although the author makes several genre-related oversights, “Kindred” is a fascinating and thrilling time-travel account. The author strikes a perfect balance between fiction and human drama. The author relies on her well-balanced main character to deliver her message to the readers. Overall, the book is a well-researched time travel cum black history account on the effects of slavery on a modern white or black American.

Works Cited

Butler, Octavia. Kindred , New York, NY: Beacon Press, 1988. Print.

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Kindred by Octavia Butler: Research Guide

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Kindred: Teacher's Guide (Penguin Random House) Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred is a tremendously engaging text for students; the narrative structure and ethical dilemmas make a close reading of the novel, through multiple critical lenses, very accessible to students. In order to build on traditional Formalist and Reader Response textual analysis,1 students can be encouraged to examine Kindred for its postmodern structural experimentation; to consider the novel’s contribution to the slave narrative genre (even though the work is fiction)2; or to examine the text through the lens of Postcolonial Theory.
University of Iowa Kindred Teaching the novel Kindred with The New Jim Crow by I typically begin the semester with a few short readings and then go directly into Kindred. I find that students are intrigued by the premise and enjoy speaking (sometimes yelling) about the characters. While it's not challenging by any means, the text does force them to talk about uncomfortable subjects—violence, slavery, race, sexual assault, suicide—and offers a good introduction to ground rules for further controversial subjects. After teaching it for the third time, I am VERY bored, but they respond so well to it that I find myself continuing to use it. I find that they trust me more easily and they learn how to communicate with one another more effectively. On the last day, I pair it with the introduction to The New Jim Crow and/or the documentary 13th. A warning: it does not lend itself easily to close reading (in my opinion), but assignments based on characterization or historical context work very well. The middle sections can be slightly boring, so make sure to do some more hands-on exercises. [C. Simmons]

Octavia Butler, Kindred Lesson plans and teaching resources Unit plans, essay topics, discussion points, etc. for secondary and community college level students.
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Octavia Butler, Kindred Lesson plans and teaching resources

Discussion points for readers of Kindred An extensive set of discussion questions organized by category: the author and her craft, characters and motivation, issues and themes, and speculative questions.

Essay on Racism Audio file of an NPR interview with Butler. Follow the link to the text of her essay.

Essay Topics Scroll down on the page for a list of 10 possible essay topics.

Inverting history in Octavia Butler's postmodern slave narrative Critical commentary on Kindred .

Kindred This reading group guide includes a summary and discussion questions.

A Teacher's Guide for Kindred by Octavia Butler 10 days of lessons, including pre-reading journal and discussion questions; work with irony, paradox, and foreshadowing; comparing and contrasting characters, writing assessment options. Common Core standards indicated throughout. 22 pages; Adobe Reader required.

Travelling into the Antebellum South: Reading Kindred by Octavia Butler A 5-week unit designed for grades 11 or 12. Students work with primary source documents accessed online via the Library of Congress. The unit includes handouts for literature circles, found poems, writing prompts, and assessment rubric. This 25-page document requires a word processor for access.

«Kindred» by Otavia Butler

Slavery is generally considered as a practice of the past that has no meaning in the modern society. However, this is not the case considering many cases that occur and only a few of them are reported. There are new forms of slavery that have emerged in the contemporary society in which the manipulator uses power and the advantage that he or she has to harass the victim. The reason why many of these cases are common yet not reported is because; the victim draws some benefit from the manipulator which is the reason for their survival. The fight against such slavery can only be won when each and every individual takes responsibility for their lives.

Introduction

The novel, kindred is a story about the life of a black lady by the name of Dana who lives in America. In the story, Dana experiences slavery in two different forms, one that is direct and the other one in an indirect form. Dana who is twenty six years is married to a white man, Kevin Franklin and they are both authors. Dana goes to antebellum south through her medical knowledge and assists Rufus and other slaves. In her struggle to resist the torture that comes with slavery, she sustains injuries that include lose of her arm. In her effort to forget and prevent the past torture from recurring, she kills Rufus who was the first white slave master she encountered (Butler, 2004).

The story generally reflects a scenario of slavery and the challenges that the slaves go through. It also reveals the different efforts by the slaves to overcome the pain and harassment they have to go through. Dana who is the main character in the story is presented as a woman of integrity who tries to protect herself. He is however found in some confusing conditions when she has to differentiate between fulfilling her obligation as a married woman and protecting her dignity. She finds that in both cases she is being manipulated and the only difference is the relationship that she shares with the manipulator. Even though she finds a loving husband of whom they share a similar past, she finds it difficult to be convinced that he is not similar to her manipulator. The reason for this behavior is that both parties are white and it makes her figure the nature and character of her past manipulator. On the other hand, Dana’s husband feels that she owns her and is therefore free to treat her the way he likes.

Even though Dana is a free woman, she can not run away from the pain of slavery that was experienced in the past. She has to move from different regions working without pay and appreciation. She gladly stretches her hand to help, but the purity of her help sublimes when she sees the kind of torture that faces the people of her race. Freedom in this context is only theoretical but the psychological pain is evident (Butler, 2004). The marriage between Dana and Kevin is out of free will and acceptance, yet they face opposition from their family members who feel that interracial relations cannot work. Kevin’s sister was not ready to accept Dana into the family, which even made her dislike the brother because of her decision to marry a black woman. Dana’s uncle on the other hand wanted a black man for Dana. Physically Dana is married to Kevin but psychologically it is a slave-master relationship

Kevin’s’ marriage to Dana was with the aim of possessing her and making her serve him just as she wished. Similar to the relationship that Dana had with Rufus, she had been possessed by him and had to do all the work that she was given. She had no freedom to choose what she wanted to do. The same situations and circumstances reflected with her husband Kevin of whom he had to serve without any complain. To avoid such psychological strain of trying to figure out whether Kevin was her husband or master, she starts appreciating the fact that Kevin has possessed her as a slave and enjoys the relationship.

White men in this story are depicted as oppressors. No matter the kind of relationship they share with the women around them. To them a woman is a property that they own and they are free to treat them in the way that seems right to them. Rufus who is a slave owner had possessed Dana and mistreated her. This was the past pain that Dana experienced from a white man that is affecting her marriage. Whenever she gets closer to Kevin, the memories of Rufus and his ruthless treatment comes to her mind. She sustained bruises from this man which acts as an evidence of her past life (Butler, 2004). At some point she mistakes Kevin for Rufus. Rufus who has bought Alice as her slave treats her ruthlessly. Alice has come to accept the fact that since Rufus has paid for her; he is free to use her in any way, sexually and also to in a violent manner. However, when her husband Isaac Jackson discovers that Rufus was trying to rape her wife, he beats him up an incidence that makes Isaac to be separated from Alice after he was beaten and sold. In his relationship with Alice, she gives birth to Joe Weylin a child that is later taken away from her by Rufus. Alice is so much affected by this that she commits suicide.

Even though there are black men who are slaves like Nigel, Luke, Sam James, Isaac Jackson and Jake Edwards, they are given higher responsibilities of managing other slaves. They do not go through the psychological pain as their female counterparts, if they had to suffer pain, it is only physical. Even though they are also black, they mistreat the black females that are under them. One incidence of such torture is when Jake Edwards forces Dana to do the laundry by threatening to whip her. To the women in the story, submission to each and every need of these men was not a matter of choice. They either had to submit to their needs or face whipping. In the process of Dana trying to resist the torture of being forced to submit to Rufus demands, she lost her hand and the only way of forgetting the pain caused by Rufus was to kill him.

Even though this story can be looked at as a fairy tale, it is a true reflection of how most people are still bound by their background. Freedom has been preached, fought and achieved by many people, yet it is only the physical part. Many more people continue to suffer in the hands of the people whom they expect to guard and take care of them (Cahill, 2003).There are many people that are still bound, but because of the situations that surround them, they have come to accept it as part and parcel of their life. There are others yet who know that they are bound but because of the benefits they get from the relationship, they hold on to it no matter how much pain they go through.

Many women have to go through psychological torture imposed to them by the men they relate to as their husbands. Most of these men take advantage of the fact that they paid a fee to marry them and that alone qualifies them to be their property. A man will therefore treat her woman the same way he treats his property. He will use it and discard it when he feels it is not valuable. A perfect example from the story is Alice who gets a child through rape and later on not only damped but also denied the possession of her child. The pain made her to commit suicide which is a reflection of what some women do when the level of torture reaches its peak.

Due to the fact that some of these women depend on their husbands to provide for them almost everything, they will not have the courage to speak out due to the fear of loosing their security (Akbar, 1984). Some are still bound in the tradition of accepting and doing anything that men tell them to do. They are denied the ability to make decisions and even to own property. It is also clear from the story that unlike women, men are free to do whatever they wish without being questioned. There are several incidences of extra marital relationships on the part of men. Their wives who may come to notice this may do nothing much rather than quarrel among themselves.

Slavery and ownerships is not only something of the past, but also exists in the contemporary world. The only difference is that in the past it was being done openly and people could see it happen. The bondage that many people are yet to recover from is the pain they have to endure psychologically in order to survive. Pain has become an order that will make them live. They may have nobody to speak to due to the relationship they share with the person who is torturing them.

Akbar N. (1984): Chains and images of psychological slavery New Mind Productions.

Butler E. (2004): Kindred : Beacon Press.

Cahill M. (2003): Traditions, values, and humanitarian action : Fordham University Press.

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Kindred Octavia E. Butler

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Kindred Character Analysis Essay + Outline (Distance Learning)

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This editable, well-scaffolded outline template allows students to outline a character analysis essay based on Octavia Butler's Kindred. Template can be easily modified for any essay or essay-style writing prompt. Great for teaching essay structure.

Contains graphic organizers for brainstorming and essay outline.

Instructions: After selecting one of the provided topics, students will write a well-planned essay addressing the prompt and supporting claims with strong and relevant evidence.

Essay Topics

Does Dana's perspective on history change through the course of the novel? How and why?
Is Kevin different from the other white characters? In what ways?
What does Dana think of Sarah, and how does this change over the course of the novel?
In what ways are Alice and Dana similar? How does this impact their journeys throughout the novel?

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Kindred Essay Examples

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While Kindred by Octavia E. Butler is primarily a novel exploring the slavery of blacks in the United States, it also takes a secondary theme of exploring the lives of women in general in the South during this time. The contrast between Dana and the...

Analysis of Dana’s Empathy Throughout the Novel Kindred

Empathy allows a person to place themselves in the shoes of another. Often, being in someone else’s shoes allows for an entirely different perspective. In Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred, the main character displays empathy that may be difficult for the reader to process. Butler’s purposeful...

Neo-slavery and Time-travel Genres Within Octavia Butler’s Kindred

When writing fiction novels; many authors of the last century tend to incorporate more than one genre, to explore different and intricate ways a message can be delivered. Octavia Butler's novel Kindred, has a multifaceted analysis of different genres which help her express the overall...

Estrangement and Cognition in Kindred by Octavia Butler

Can it be said that SF genre has only scientific probability? Most people are beginning to see SF as a movie, animation, or game. However, few people can clearly distinguish what exactly SF means. As people call it Science Fiction, they will guess that SF...

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About Kindred

June 1979, by Octavia E. Butler

Neo-slave narrative

The book is the first-person account of a young African-American woman writer, Dana, who finds herself being shunted in time between her Los Angeles, California home in 1976 and a pre-Civil War Maryland plantation.

Kindred looks at the practice of slavery in the American South from the perspective of a Black woman in the 1970s. Like many of Butler's other books, this one engages the reader with themes of race, power, gender, and class through the use of skillful storytelling.

Edana (Dana) Franklin, Rufus Weylin, Kevin Franklin, Tom Weylin, Alice Greenwood, Sarah, Margaret Weylin, Hagar Weylin, Luke, etc.

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