Octavia Butler’s Kindred - Time Travel, Racism and Love

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limitations in 1976 due to her race, but was also subjected to the much more racially divided nineteenth century. “In Dana’s case, blackness and womanhood combine to erode her authority as the would-be custodian of Rufus’s morality´(Bresky). She couldn’t go anywhere alone in Maryland and was pretty munch confined to the plantation.

There were much more obvious cases of the oppression of women throughout the book. Rufus and Alice’s entire relationship could be put in that category. The simple fact that Rufus faced no penalty (except for getting beaten by Isaac) shows that there was no way for her voice to be heard or for justice to be served (Butler 118). Being a black woman made it twice as difficult for her to stand up for herself.

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Throughout the whole novel, Alice never gives in to Rufus. He was in love with her for years and throughout that entire time, he can never get her. It seems odd that she wouldn’t accept Rufus and take what would be considered the easy way out. She most likely would’ve ended up in the house living with him or only having to do very light work. Compared to what she and the other slaves went through, it would’ve been a walk in the park to be with Rufus. His temperament probably would’ve been better; although this is merely speculation, life on the plantation would’ve been easier that way. The only roadblock was that Alice did not love him back. The book continuously came back to that one issue. He could not force her to accept him and the constant effort is what led to her death. He was obsessed with her and would do anything to have her. Rufus showed his sick, twisted side by selling off her family; he took away everyone that she loved thinking it would make her turn to him out of desperation.

Being a novel, the book itself lacks historical reference to the time. At the same time there is really no way of including information from the Weylin’s time because it would seem out of place and only somewhat relevant to the story. The lack of contact with the outside world definitely contributes to the seemingly isolated plantation. The vast majority of outside contact doesn’t really serve much of a purpose. Mostly just groups of men coming around to make sure the slaves haven’t escaped. There seemed to be little resistance to slavery off the plantation, which is strange considering tensions were escalating towards the Civil War. The mention of a slave rebellion frightened the plantation owners but that was about it.

The most bothersome question left at the end of the book is how Dana developed the ability to transcend time and go back to the nineteenth century. The only explanation is that Butler used this method to not only provide context for what how people behaved in both time periods but also “dramatize human inequalities” (Napierkowski). Taking Dana back and forth in time must be the only

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way that the development of characters could be shown. Dana witnesses Rufus growing up and sees the influences that made him the way he is (not to mention Kevin’s development while living in the North for six years).

Dana witnessed everyone around her change and develop throughout the whole novel. She meets Rufus while he is young and sees him on his last day. She watches Kevin grow into an almost entirely new person. Then she finds a piece of herself in Alice, the two of them connect due to facing similar circumstance and obstacles in their life. By the close of the novel, the reader finds that Alice and Dana are two very similar people.