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How Is Kindred Relevant Today

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Is the novel Kindred relevant to teenagers today? The novel is not relevant to any teenager in today's society as the novel's main focus is time travel and slavery. The novel's plot is Dana a black woman who is celebrating her 26th birthday with her husband in her home in california living in the 1970’s who gets transported to the past to save a little boy from drowning who she soon finds out is her ancestor who she must protect in order to be born. Some might argue that Kindred is relatable to teenagers today because it's important for teenagers to learn about their ancestry and what life was like during slavery for example Dana mentions how Tom Weylin was a ordinary man that did bad things because his society said it was okay some could …show more content…

In the novel when Dana is first time traveling to the past she mentions how “I had seen people beaten on television and in the movies. I had seen the too-red blood substitute streaked across their backs and heard their well-rehearsed screams. But I hadn't lain nearby and smelled their sweat or heard them pleading and praying, shamed before their families and themselves. I was probably less prepared for the reality than the child crying not far from me.”. Dana explains how she had seen reenactments of a time and place that she was in but now that she was there it was much different than she'd seen. Teenagers cannot relate to this because unlike Dana they will never have to experience what it is like to smell real blood or see any of the horrors of slavery. In the novel after Dana has time traveled a number of times now back to the past Dana mentions how she felt about the way rufus is treating her he states how “Rufus had caused her trouble, and now he had been rewarded for it. It made no sense. No matter how kindly he treated her now that he had destroyed her, it made no sense.”. In this quote Dana talks about how she felt it didn't make sense how rufus could be so nice and yet so vicious and still be rewarded for it. Teenagers cannot relate to this situation because they will never be treated as a slave and have to wonder what's right and wrong and question their position in

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