Summary Of Octavia Butler's Kindred

Dana is young, intelligent, middle class writer and in interracial relationship different, almost extraordinary, for a black woman in the late '70s. This novel was to try to make people feel the past as well as understand the history of the slavery experience. Butler wanted us to be in their skin, mind emotions and to feel like we were them in the past. Dana didn’t agree with the plantation life, Dana sees how the Whites act towards the Blacks. The goal was to keep Rufus alive whenever she was pulled back in time. She is only transported back through time when his life is in danger.
Since Dana is a Black woman and Kevin, her husband is White, she would have to adjust to things that perhaps she wouldn't have thought about. In the past it was a terribly, unusual thing. Dana says, “You, uh ... don’t have any relatives or anything who’ll give you a hard time about me, do you?” They had decided to get married after dating for four months, and discussed whether their families would be okay with their mixed-race marriage. Kevin did not think his sister would have a problem, but sadly and surprisingly, she did. Dana’s aunt and uncle were also alert with the fact that her husband was going to be white;

These people don't get paid for what they do. The Whites do it because they like to empower over other people. “Patrollers made sure the slaves were where they were supposed to be at night, and they punished those who weren't” (The River, 6). Dana is disappointed by how normal and easy it is to accept slavery and the whole world in the past supports it. She'd like to think that one smart person could find a way to change the system or even speak upon it. But of course that's not how it all works out. “The ease. Us, the children… I never realized how easily people could be trained to accept slavery” (The Fire,