Kindred By Octavia E. Butler: Character Analysis

“It was dangerous to educate slaves, they warned. Education made blacks dissatisfied with slavery,”--or so Rufus’s neighbors claim as they observe his liability of allowing slaves to have even the slightest form of education. In the novel, Kindred, composed by Octavia E. Butler, Dana strives to maintain agency, or power over situations and personal encounters, as she navigates the Antebellum South after being miraculously teleported through time. While exploring this oppressive society, Dana turns to using knowledge from 1976, the time era she came from, in order to gain agency over others who automatically have more power than her, such as Rufus, the son of a plantation owner she is tasked with helping. When Dana first meets Rufus, she keeps

Recalling the influence she has had in the past, Dana makes threats that touch on all the good she once did, making them more believable. An example of this is when she is speaking with Mr. Weylin, discussing Rufus’s condition after coming home drunk and sick. Even as time has elapsed, Mr. Weylin continues to be condescending and aggressively rude towards Dana. Threatened by this demeaning attitude, Dana says, “‘If you can manage to put up with me a little more humanely, I’ll go on doing what I can for Mister Rufus.’ He frowned. ‘Now what are you talking about?’ ‘I’m saying the day I’m beaten just once more, your son is on his own.’... He loved his son no matter how he behaved toward him, and he knew I could do as I threatened. ‘At the rate Mr. Rufus has accidents,’ I said, ‘he might live another six or seven years without me. I wouldn’t count on more than that.’” (201). Unable to continue using her personal knowledge as leverage, Dana regains agency by making threats that are more believable as a result of the reputation she has built up for herself. By mentioning how “[Rufus] might live another six or seven years without [her]”, Dana reminds both the reader and Mr. Weylin of her credibility- how she has saved Rufus in the past multiple times. She also puts a time limit on his lifespan, challenging Mr. Weylin’s underlying yet powerful love for Rufus. When it is revealed that Mr. Weylin “knew [Dana] could do as [she] threatened”, it is proven that Dana has regained her agency as a result of her understanding the underlying motivations of another character, thus accessing their fears and being able to manipulate them by making threats intertwined with those fears. Therefore, Dana is able to reclaim her agency by making threats, instead of