ipl-logo

Love And Freedom In Kindred, By Octavia Butler

1322 Words6 Pages

The book Kindred, by Octavia Butler, revolves around two completely different time periods. One that is formed from hate, and restrainment, and the other is formed from love and freedom. From Kindred, we start to learn that it is not the time period that influences the ideologies, it is the people. According to Kindred, the society we grow up in greatly influences our ideology by shaping our thoughts, so our actions are always based off what our society taught us.
In Kindred, Rufus is a man that is exposed to many different ideologies from his family and friends. Even though he is exposed to many ideas, he is influenced by his father’s, and Dana’s the most. From Dana, Rufus knows that there is a future without slavery, but he refuses to tear …show more content…

He wants to please his father, but he doesn't want to do anything that would make Dana hate him, and cause her to leave. Rufus’ father wants Rufus to become a strong man like him, and treat slaves the same way he does. Dana wants Rufus to give the slaves their freedom. He is caught between these two people, so he changes himself in a way he would please both Dana and his father. Dana says, “Maybe he’ll never be as hard as his father was, but he is a man of his time,”(242). Dana realizes that no matter how hard she tries to make an impact on Rufus, she will never be able to change him because of the way Rufus’ society has taught him. His society teaches Rufus that he should act cruelly towards Black people. Ever since he was little he was told to show no mercy, or compassion towards them. Then Dana comes into his life and teaches him a complete different way to treat them. She tells him to treat them with kindness and mercy. Even though she makes him a more kinder person, she never changes him. He starts and ends the story as the same Rufus. Rufus is a clear example of how no matter how other people come and try to change us, the environment and we grow up in and the people we grow up with will always shape our ideology.
Dana is another example of how the society we grow up in shapes our ideology. Dana was suddenly put into Rufus’ world which was one completely different from her own. Dana …show more content…

One of them was a little boy, and he was pretending to sells slaves, and the other was a little girl who was pretending to be the slave being sold. When Dana sees this, she is extremely angered. Kevin on the other hand, reacts differently. When Kevin sees the kids playing he tells Dana, “‘The kids are just imitating what they’ve seen adults doing’. He said. ‘They don’t understand,’”(99). This proves the theory that the society we grow up in is the root of our ideology. These kids are growing up in a society where selling slaves is good, so they develop games that represent this action. Kevin understands that the kids are just young, and they are developing their ideologies and values from way their parents

Show More
Related

  • Analyzing Character Development In Octavia Butler's Kindred '

    1936 Words  | 8 Pages

    Analyzing Character Development: Dana Octavia Butler’s novel, Kindred, provides a unique look into slavery in the antebellum South through the eyes of Edana Franklin, a black woman living in the late 20th century, who is suddenly sent through time to the early 19th century where she is suddenly faced with the task of protecting her ancestor, Rufus, from many dangers in order to ensure her existence in the present. Dana begins her adventure with no knowledge of how or why she has been given this responsibility and, as a result, must adapt to her new and unfamiliar surroundings. As the novel progresses, the reader sees Dana’s internal battle with herself as she decides whether or not Rufus is worth saving, or if she should let Rufus die

    Read More

  • Embodied Agency In Octavia Butler's Kindred

    886 Words  | 4 Pages

    In his “’No.’ : The Narrative Theorizing of Embodied Agency in Octavia Butler’s Kindred,” Bast underscores humanity’s desire for agency, one’s “ability to reach decision[s] about themselves and [express them]” and how one’s agency can benefit a society or a community (Bast 151). In the beginning of his article, Bast labels this decision-making and expression as beneficial and necessary for a community, while simultaneously underlining society’s limitations put on mankind’s freedoms such as discrimination, prejudice, or injustice. Nevertheless, he follows up by stating that it is simply human instinct to want to express thoughts even if other factors oppress them, undermining these social limitations.

    Read More

  • Kindred Theme Essay

    1083 Words  | 5 Pages

    However, as he grew up he became more associated with the harshness of slavery from his father who by no means was kind to the slaves. From witnessing these events Rufus would forever be changed. It would turn him into a man that would do what he believed to be wrong because he knew it was the only way it would work. When he got Alice to be with him romantically he tried to rape her and when that did not work, he used Dana to try and talk to Alice to get her to change her mind. When talking to Dana it became apparent that Rufus knew what he was doing was wrong, but he did not care because it was okay to do it

    Read More

  • Examples Of Corruption Of Power In Frederick Douglass

    330 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Corruption of Power “My mistress was...a kind and tender-hearted woman... Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, her tender heart became stone…” Douglass explained as he flashed back upon his memories of joy and suffering.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Character Struggle In Octavia Butler's Fledgling

    667 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagine waking up in complete darkness and not knowing who or where you are. That was the problem that Shori, the main character in “Fledgling”, faced at the beginning of the novel. After figuring out she had become an Ina (similar to a vampire) and finding her father, Shori and her symbionts (co-dependent humans) move into a community with other Ina’s. Soon after she moves in, several Ina’s plan to kill Ina because she is genetically modified. Shori has human melanin, making her skin dark and allowing her to move around freely in the daylight.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 And Anthem: A Comparative Analysis

    953 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the books Fahrenheit 451 and Anthem, by Ray Bradbury and Ayn Rand, the societies displayed are very different from modern day societies. In Anthem the main character, Equality 7-2521, is a young man who lives in a society where there is absolutely no individuality personality wise and it is basically considered a sin to be different than others. In Fahrenheit 451 the main character, Guy Montag, lives in a society where no one thinks independently, it is illegal to read, and no one really cares about anything. Both societies restrict free thinking, but both do it in ways different than the other. In both books the main characters meet someone who changes their lives for the better.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Silver Sparrow

    779 Words  | 4 Pages

    What if someone 's whole life was based on a secret from someone else 's life? How could one ever live a normal everyday life? It 's simple, they can 't. Dana Lynn Yarboro is a character in Tayari Jones 's novel "Silver Sparrow," who is a secret. Her father is a bigamist which means he has two wives and one does not know about the other. Dana is the daughter of Gwen, the wife no one knows about.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Relationship In Octavia E. Butler's Kindred

    853 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dana and Rufus’s Relationship Ever wonder what it's like to have a changing relationship with a plantation owner's son back in the 1800’s? Dana Franklin is a younger African-American woman married to Kevin Franklin who is a middle-aged man. Dana travels from California in 1976 back to the early 1800’s whenever Rufus is in trouble. Rufus is a plantation owner son and is also the father of Dana’s ancestor. Dana’s travels are random; she gets lightheaded and dizzy when she is about to travel.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of Rufus Weylin In Octavia Butler's Kindred '

    960 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Octavia Butler’s novel, Kindred, Rufus Weylin is one of the main characters who undergoes a lot of change throughout the novel, making him a round character. A round character is defined as a “major character in a story who encounters contradictory situations and undergoes transformation during this phase. Therefore, the characters does not remain the same throughout the narrative, making their traits difficult to identify from beginning until the end (LiteraryDevice).” The reader, along with Dana, follows Rufus’s growth throughout some major points in his life, from a young boy who forms a bond and friendship with Dana, to when he grows up to be a racist man who ultimately attempts to rape her. However, it is evident that Rufus’s ideology

    Read More

  • Identity Theme In Kindred

    506 Words  | 3 Pages

    Survival:Putting Trust in Others In the novel Kindred, the main story centers on the struggles and hardships the main character, Dana Franklin faces as she is stuck in the Antebellum South, a world that isn’t so accepting of her. She desperately tries to return to her own time in Los Angeles 1976. The fact that Dana is a person of color and is stuck in the Antebellum South makes her subject to cruel, bitter treatment by white slaveholders. In Kindred, Octavia Butler describes survival as putting trust in others and making decisions one might regret otherwise; Dana’s personal decisions affected not only herself but others including Rufus, Alice, and Kevin.

    Read More

  • Watsons Go To Birmingham By Christopher Paul Curtis: Character Analysis

    310 Words  | 2 Pages

    He went along with everyone else because he did not want to be picked on. He should have had the courage to support his friend, rather than being scared for himself. He should have tried to keep his laugh in because Rufus was being bullied, and Kenny

    Read More

  • 'Slavery Exposed In Octavia Butler's Kindred'

    996 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the story “Kindred” by Octavia Butler the slaves hardly fought back. The book showed that the slave owners as a whole weren't the entire problem, society was. No matter how much the slaves fought against it in their personal lives it was still widely accepted and enforced. The slaves had virtually no rights and were seen as sub human even when they were freed. Every part of society was against them and fighting back did much more harm than good.

    Read More

  • The Fight For Freedom In Octavia Butler's Kindred

    1598 Words  | 7 Pages

    And Rufus was Rufus-erratic alternately generous and vicious. I could accept him as my ancestor, my younger brother, my friend, but not as my master, and not as my lover. He had understood that once” (260). Dana is distancing herself from being a slave doesn’t feel that she could ever be subjected to it like Alice was. She uses pronouns like “her” to describe a slave to show that she will be associated with one.

    Read More

  • Kindred Commentary

    458 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rufus has had such a confusing life and it has affected him in both a negative and positive way. He was the son of a horrible slave owner and a friend of a great slave. Rufus’s environment had a negative effect because he grew up in one of the worst times. He grew up in the Antebellum south where there were many slave owners, including his own father. He grew up in a time when slaves were beaten, sold or killed.

    Read More

  • Education In Octavia Butler's Kindred

    1843 Words  | 8 Pages

    Maryland in 1815, like much of the south, was a hot bed for slavery plantations. For slave owners in particular, it was a benefit if your slaves were not educated, as they would be less likely to question the oppressive treatment, and not adequately be able to express the conditions under which they labored. In the novel Kindred by Octavia Butler, various aspects of education are intertwined throughout, effectively depicting how education and slavery do not go together cohesively. Specifically, in the case of Dana, the novels protagonist, her intelligence led to her owners feeling inferior, which prompted many verbal and physical attacks, an exploitation of her abilities, and the overriding attempt to suppress the education of other slaves

    Read More

More about Love And Freedom In Kindred, By Octavia Butler

Open Document