Kindred is unique as a novel depicting daily life in the early-1800s South not only in its use of fantastical elements such as time travel or teleportation, but in its relatively subtle motives. Butler does not simply set out to write a novel which serves primarily to portray the horrors of slavery; as Kevin correctly (but insensitively) observes, the dehumanization and violence the slaves experience on the Weylin plantation are relatively tame. "One [whipping] is too many, yes, but still, this place isn't what I would have imagined. No overseer. No more work than the people can manage..." (100). Butler does this not to take away from the oppression which they do experience, nor to lessen the importance of writing novels which immortalize past cruelties, but instead to focus on the power of slavery as a social force and context. Butler emphasizes this with her creation of unique and morally ambiguous characters across the board, including Tom Weylin, Rufus, Kevin, and even Dana.
We've discussed in some length the disturbingly smooth transition that Kevin makes to becoming a slave master, which of course has profound implications for how we understand slavery's remnants both in the 1970s and today. I think it is equally important to observe the changes that occur in the the most impressionable demographic: children. Dana and Kevin observe children playing a "game", innocently imitating the buying and selling of slaves. At one level this is simply children being children, learning from what the adults are doing without really understanding the gravity of their actions. However I think this "game" is also indicative of the beginnings of a tragic coping mechanism where slaves internalize their racism and oppression. Even Dana, who was born in a completely different social context, finds it harder and harder to hold onto her identity as the line between her acting is blurred with reality. For those born into slavery who have no hope for a free future, resistance is suffocated by their survival instinct.
I think that we can all agree that the game the children were playing in the woods was disturbing. I agree with you that it can be seen as a coping mechanism for what they are going through and it is the only life that they know. I think that Kevin's and Dana's differing reactions to the goes back to your point of Butler using unique characters to show different points of views.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason for why Butler makes the Weylin plantation seem so "tame" compared to what it could have been is to show that even in the "best" plantation with the "nicest" owners how incredibly awful and horrible the conditions for the slaves were: we like to think "oh hopefully not all of the slave-owners were like the ones we read in our textbooks" but Butler is showing us how the even the "tame" parts of the system can still unbelievably cruel and terrible.
ReplyDeleteGoing off of the original post, if you look at Kindred from a certain view, the children play a much larger role than you would expect in the overall message that being delivered by the story.
ReplyDeleteAnother important character to look at in this light is Sarah. She is one of the most prominent example of how the social context of slavery permeates throughout the entire culture. She opposes escaping, and Rufus even refers to her as "Aunt Sarah." The children are an important part to consider, but each encounter Dana has with the slave community is indicative of the time.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the most interesting things that the book puts forward. The children's game shows how restricted and sculpted one is by one's environment, and Dana and Kevin's changes over time only further this point. Even Rufus, who loves Alice, is restricted by his time period, and rapes her because he is too ashamed to love her.
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