'Forgiveness In Octavia Butler's Kindred'

When we feel wronged by someone else, for something that been done to us, someone we care about or to our lineage, we seek to get revenge in one way or the other. This common mistake occurs around us in the world today. The compassionate act of forgiveness is not having the desire to punish those who offend us, or our ancestors in one way or another. Forgiveness is the quality that separates civilized human beings from animals in the wild. It is essential in overcoming anger inflicted to us by others. Seeking revenge offers no solution. The best form of revenge comes through forgiveness as a process of healing.
The desire to inflict the same pain we have endured on the person or people who have inflicted pain on us is purely revenge. In Kindred, by Octavia Butler the protagonist, Dana

The last few pages of Kindred the prologue comes full circle to the epilogue. With the start of Kindred, Octavia Butler brings us the pain of Dana losing her arm. Without knowing how the loss occurred, more physical pain consisting of beatings and emotional pain of having friends and others family members torn apart. To Dana gripping a knife in one hand, Rufus gripping the other. Dana tries to pull away, angry she sinks the knife into Rufus’s side. As this argument ensues, Rufus is holding her arm, in an instant Dana starts to hear a man’s voice saying her name. That man is Kevin, her husband; she is now back in 1976. This is where the true meaning of Kindred takes shape. It is the point where we understand that the author, Octavia Butler wants us to know that the pain by slave owners in the antebellum south is still relevant today. The loss of Dana’s arm is a reminder that a part of Dana, though left back in time, will not go away. Though the pain is from the past, one can move past that pain and forgive what occurred to their