Thoughts on Kindred
I really love reading Kindred. It’s one of the best books I’ve read. Mr. Mitchell wasn’t lying when he said it’d be hard to put down, I’ve often caught myself reading ahead. It’s a mixture of the plot and the way that Butler writes that makes it such a good book. Kindred is able to do more as a fictional narrative than a strictly factual historical account.
Dana’s account of her time in the past are much better at talking about slavery than a history textbook, at least in my opinion. A history book is usually very detached from what it’s describing and doesn’t really get at the full reality of the situation. It also doesn’t evoke the same feelings that a book like Kindred does, which I think is vital for a person to understand the extent of the atrocities. One example of this is the scene where Dana witnesses the beating of Alice’s father. It’s one thing to read that slave patrollers whipped slaves, and another to read “I could literally smell his sweat, hear every ragged breath, every cry, every cut of the whip” (36). The second evoked very different emotions. You could detach yourself from the first and think yeah that’s bad then move on, but with the second you’re not allowed to. It’s a lot harder to minimize their pain when you read a description like the one Dana gave. You also get the context around the beating which makes it even more real – it’s the difference between a slave was whipped when caught being out without a pass vs a father was whipped because he wanted to see his wife and daughter. With one, you could say well he shouldn’t have been out, but you sympathize with him when you know the story.
This sort of reminds me of a book I read for African American Lit, Beloved by Toni Morrison. Morrison makes you sympathize with a woman who killed her baby. At first, you’d think you would never be able to understand, but then you read about her life as a slave at Sweet Home, her escape, and how she killed her baby so that the baby wouldn’t be taken back into slavery, and you get it.
Dana also does this to Kevin when they’re talking about the Weylins. Kevin talks about how this place doesn’t seem to be too bad, it’s better than he thought it would be. Dana tells him about how wrong he is and that he’s minimizing the wrong that’s been done, “Kevin, you don’t have to beat people to treat them brutally” (100). It reminds me of how people think that there were “good” slave owners. There really can’t be though. It’s like an oxymoron.
Butler doesn’t allow you to detach yourself or minimize any suffering. She makes you read about slaves and remember that they’re people. She does this all while writing a really good book.
Indeed. I think Kindred falls firmly into the category of historical accounts that we read about in our packet readings at the beginning of the semester – an example of historical truth being presented in such a way as to engage a reader like a fiction. Obviously, the time-travel isn’t real – the Weylin plantation isn’t even real – but the setting the Butler constructs is factually accurate to the time period. And as a result, all of the pain and injustice and punishment that Dana witnesses is also factually accurate – not to Dana’s history, but to our own. I totally agree with you that while Kindred may not be a mind-bogglingly confusing postmodernist work like Mumbo Jumbo, it’s a great example of how a postmodernist history can use a fictional narrative to explain deeper truths than a strictly historical account.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see the connection between Beloved and Kindred. Both are extremely complex, and they often put readers in uncomfortable situations, morally and emotionally. However, I think this aspect of these books are precisely what make them more powerful, in some ways, than a historical account, as you said in your post. They are able to evoke emotions in people that have never experienced anything similar to what happened in their time periods.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Kindred is a great book, definitely my favorite from this course so far. There is definitely something more real about forcing a modern character back in time. The vastly different conditions faced by Kevin and Dana highlight the troubling racial treatment that existed centrally ingrained within basically every part of society. The comparison between modern society (which definitely isn't perfect but is a hell of a lot better than it used to be) and the 19th century world Dana is forced into, brings the reader into the world too. Instead of just saying "this happened" where our mind can be like "this isn't my world though", Butler forces the reader to realize the actuality of the treatment of the slaves, and thats one of the things I love about the book.
ReplyDeleteKindred, in my opinion, evokes the most visceral emotional responses - definitely more than any other novel that we have read this semester. It captures experiences very differently than a history textbook. I liked reading a piece of postmodern fiction that had more realistic emotions - not shrouded through irony or satire. I think that this straightforwardness serves Butler well when she needs to address the brutality of slavery. I agree that Butler does a good job of correcting minimizations of slavery.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to historical records, there's a reason we value personal accounts. They tell us so much more about tragedies than we could ever glean from a strictly factual account. Often, it's what we learn from personal accounts that reinforces why we should strive to never repeat horrific events. Stories from survivors of the Holocaust teach us something beyond what the Nazis' records would. You're completely right that feelings help us understand the extent of atrocities. They help us connect to the story and fully understand it.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Kindred gives much more of an emotional impact than any history textbook could. It's the kind of writing you actually hold on to and go back to mentally. Kindred provides the essential learning to prevent history repeating. At the same time, I felt skeptical reading certain scenes and wondering how accurate they actually were. There wasn't a lot of "in the character's head" writing, and kindred felt kind of like watching something on tv. still better than textbooks
ReplyDeleteI really loved this book and I think Octavia Butler is extremely good at making people feel different emotions throughout this story. Rufus and Kevin's character developments left me with many mixed emotions and everything Dana went through left me feeling really strong emotions. It's just something history books can't really do because you learn about the characters and their individual psychologies. It just feels more personal and more accurate than what history books write
ReplyDeleteI also really liked this book. I think Butler made us care about the characters a lot. The emotional reactions that she makes of have to the characters are going through is something that we can not get from learning about slavery in history class. I thought the way Butler was able to show us the affect slavery had on Dana even though she was only there for a fraction of her life was incredible.
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