Kindred's Critique of Progress
Octavia Butler’s Kindred utilizes time travel, a trademark of the science fiction genre, to show Dana and readers the tragedies of antebellum America simultaneously. Butler’s use of time travel works to force comparisons to the lives of America’s ancestors and remove the purely theoretical elements of questions regarding racial relations, specifically through the interactions between Rufus and Alice and Dana and Kevin
The main tonal change in Kindred happens halfway through the novel where Dana observes the aftermath of Alice’s rape by Rufus, her ancestor. It is here in Kindred where it becomes apparent that the inevitable union between Alice and Rufus will not be one of of harmony and mutual reciprocation, rather rape, portrayed in the novel as the ultimate exploitation. However, terrifyingly, the novel also portrays the barbaric rape of Alice as a necessity, something that must happen for Hagar to be born, for Dana to exist. In this way, Butler uses the relationship of Alice and Rufus to serve as an analogy for the social dynamic between black and white people living in antebellum America as a whole. Alice’s continuous exploitation by Rufus echoes slavery in America as a whole, a system where black people are forced to live in close domestic proximity and endure continuous exploitation by white Americans is tolerated because it guarantees the economic strength of the nation, America’s survival. Alice must continue to tolerate Rufus’ assault because it will guarantee Dana’s survival. Right before Dana’s realization the book gives us one of its only flashback sequences, focusing on Dana and Kevin.
Dana and Kevin’s relationship serves as a direct parallel to Alice and Rufus’s. While Kindred reinforces the idea that harmonious loving relations between black and white people in antebellum America is nigh on impossible, meanwhile in Dana’s time love between black and white people is possible, albeit, in Dana’s case, an engagement without the blessing of relatives, a Las Vegas marriage (112). Dana and Kevin live in a 1970s America still feeling the ramifications of segregation. Butler uses time travel to give Dana the ability to compare for herself how her life is similar to her ancestors’. In shocking fashion, Butler almost seems to try to convey that black and white amicable relations are just as socially acceptable in 1970s America as was in antebellum America, which would sound crazy! Though Dana is obviously appalled by Rufus’ actions, his actions are for the most part accepted by others of his time, Tom Weylin himself engaged in extramarital affairs with his slaves, something that his wife begrudgingly tolerated. It is something that is normalized because the white slave masters have the power to do it through their relationship to the exploited black slaves. Dana is slapped by Margaret for staying in Kevin’s room, and is similarly rejected by Kevin’s sister in the present day (93, 110).
Throughout her novel, Butler forces comparisons of Dana’s present day life to the lives of Alice and Rufus. Similarly, Butler forces readers to reflect on social dynamics present in the modern day. Kindred makes us take a look back at our own ancestors and question how far we’ve really come.
Interesting observation! There are definitely many elements of racism that survive today, but there's certainly been progress since the early 1800s, evidenced by Dana's relief every time she returns to the present. But it's interesting to think about the idea of progress. Will we ever see the day that racism, sexism, etc., come to an end? There's still plenty of hate in the world today, and whether or not hate itself has lessened since the 1800s is doubtful.
ReplyDeleteGreat comparison! I agree, in many ways, Butler is contrasting but shockingly also drawing comparisons between interracial relations during the 1970's and Antebellum era. Kevin and Dana's relationship would not be so different from Rufus and Alice's other than the fact that Alice does not want to be with Rufus at all, leading to all sorts of other problems. Good blog post!
ReplyDeleteThe parallel between Alice & Rufus, and Dana & Kevin is definitely, in my opinion, one of Kindred's more interesting parts. Rufus himself says that what he wants with Alice is the same as what Dana & Kevin have. We have obviously made lots of progress since the early 19th century, but the comparison of a 1800s relationship and a 1976 one was very interesting to see in Kindred.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't really thought of the parallels between Rufus and Alice, and Kevin and Dana before, but I like how you linked them to progress in American society from the Antebellum era to the 70s. I'm not sure if Butler really critiques this progress though. She definitely left seeds of critique in Kevin's character, but as I noted in my blog post, she never grows them past introduction.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of Alice and Rufus's toxic relationship as an "analogy for the social dynamic" of slavery as a whole, and indeed it reflects more about Dana and her sensibilities when she contemplates how these two might have been "married" and led to her family tree than anything about the slavery system itself. Of course they wouldn't have *married*, we might say--how could she not realize this right away? Maybe because it's emotionally difficult to see one's family history as grounded in rape, just as it's troubling for readers in contemporary America to see the roots of this country and its economy and culture in the rapacious violence and exploitation of slavery.
ReplyDeleteWe know that Rufus's twisted idea of "love" is largely shaped by his anachronistic glimpse of a more racially tolerant, post-slavery future via Kevin and Dana--and this expression of "love" has a surprisingly strong influence on Dana, perhaps reflective of some wishful thinking on her part. Butler in this way forces any American reader of any race, when encountering this novel, to acknowledge their own metaphorical/historical "ancestry" or "kin" in BOTH sides of this relationship: Alice and Rufus are BOTH Dana's ancestors, and by extension, Kevin's too. If we see genealogy as an analogy to history (family history as analogous to the history of a nation), then Black and white readers both are required to see their family histories reflected in both sides of the story.
Great post! Dana' flickers, overlaying Kevin with white masters of 1815, also supports these parallels between Rufus and Alice and Dana and Kevin. This reflection on progress from 1815 to 1976 reveals the enduring effects of slavery rooted deep in society even today: racism, other discriminatory beliefs and practices, and even eurocentrism.
ReplyDeleteThe contrast between the Dana/Kevin relationship and the Rufus/Alice relationship stood out to me while reading, however I had not considered the parallels between the Rufus/Alice relationship and the overarching dynamics of the antebellum south. Dana's reluctance to intervene in the "necessary evil" of Rufus' violation of Alice sadly reflects sentiments expressed by antebellum politicians who depravedly sought to protect the institution of slavery.
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