Kindred

In the book Kindred by Octavia Butler, Dana and Kevin enter the 1800’s, a world vastly different than the one that they were currently living in, and the thought of accepting slavery and making it a lifestyle would have frightened them. They were disgusted at the behavior that occurred on the Weylin farm was barbaric. Slavery was something that they had never been a part of and had been eradicated by the time that they had been born and living their lives out in California in the 1970’s. But when they were continually thrown into this brutal situation, they acclimated and became part of the slavery culture, despite their opposition to the institution.

            When Dana first is taken back to the 1800’s she does not quite feel the effects of slavery and the inhumane treatment of African-Americans. Dana is able to save Rufus from drowning in the river near his house. When she gets him safely to land she is immediately beaten by Rufus’ mother and is almost shot by Tom Weylin and she cannot understand why this is happening. She immediately returns back home in California at this point and cannot understand why she would be shot for saving the boy’s life. It is not until the second time that she returns when she figures out from Rufus that she had returned to the year 1815 and in living on a slave plantation. During Dana’s second visit Rufus, now 8 or 9 years old, calls her a “nigger” and she figures out what is going on with her time travel. When she goes to visit Alice and her mother she is introduced to slavery much the same way that Frederick Douglass is shown slavery when his aunt was whipped.  Dana sees a whipping of a slave by patrol men and learns the brutality that occurs during this time.

            But I think that the third time that Dana returns to save Rufus with Kevin is the time that they really become to acclimate and accept the ways of slavery. Dana and Kevin first accept that they should not tell people that they are married but rather that Dana is Kevin’s slave. This is one of the first moments when they begin to be shaped by slavery and change to fit into their situation (Butler 60). On this trip together Dana begins to notice that the time that they have spent on the Weylin farm has changed them. She thought that her and Kevin’s time was disturbing when she realized “How easily we seemed to acclimate.” (97). With their ease of life and ability survive dependent on their acceptance of the lifestyle; Dana and Kevin were able to change themselves. But as Dana continues to return to the farm, she has less trouble learning the life of slavery that is being lived on the farm and she is able to find her place as a “slave”. As the novel goes on and she spends more time on each visit on the ranch, she is more acclimated and used to the life. At one point she asks herself “When had I stopped acting? Why had I stopped?” (221) At this point she is now a part of this life and does not have to act like she once did but rather it has become her natural instincts to live this way.  

            I think that the acclimation that they go through in the 1800’s takes its toll and full effect when they return home. Both Dana and Kevin have a difficult time returning to their previous lifestyles. The changes that they have to go through, especially Kevin, who had been gone for 5 years, were hard on them. I think that the acclimation process that they both had to go through, both on the Weylin farm and at home changed them as people. The changes that they made when they returned back in time to adjust to slavery and stay alive, but in my opinion I think that this changes that were made grew on them and they were actually apart of the institution of slavery and had acclimated quite easily, much the same that slaves, their owners, and children did during these times.