Kindred is without a doubt one of the craziest books I have ever read in my entire life. The entire book went by really fast, which I liked because it was easy to keep up with the readings. I feel like the characters didn’t have a lot of depth, but I didn’t mind because I think it added to the pace of the novel. One of my favorite characters was Kevin because despite what happened, he always loved and never gave up on Dana. Even though he was trapped in the past for five years, I think he kept himself together pretty well, which is more than I can say for how I would’ve reacted in that situation.
By the end of the book, I felt as though I had lived through this entire experience with Dana. I’m still not sure why Dana had to go through this. I know that she was summoned when Rufus was in trouble, and taken back when she was in trouble, but why did this happen to Dana? Maybe it was to save her own families timeline and make sure Rufus lived long enough to create Hagar. At the beginning of this book, I didn’t realize that Dana’s timeline begins with a white man raping a black slave. It’s completely backwards to think that Dana must save Rufus’ life so that he can force Alice to have a baby with him.
I think a lot of people could defend Rufus’ actions by saying that he is just a product of his times, but that doesn’t make it seem any better. Rufus seems to be a little more progressive than his father, but still not a very good person. Some might say that at least he loved Alice enough to buy her back after she ran away, but he was the one that drove her to attempt an escape. Rufus’ “love” is a very selfish one, and that is why he is absolutely my least favorite character.
Overall, Kindred has definitely become one of my favorite books of all time. I really loved that it was fast-paced and action-packed. I would definitely recommend this book to any of my friends, and I’m really glad I was introduced to it during this class.
I agree that Rufus has been very self-centered throughout the novel. Butler does a great job of aligning the readers with Dana, which makes me dislike Rufus even more. I think that it is sad that Dana had to be the descendant of Rufus that is forced to go back in time. The way she has to "serve" Rufus by saving his life every time she sees him again parallels with the actual system of slavery. However, this still left me of questions as to why Dana did not tell Rufus he was her ancestor and why these time paradoxes even have to exist. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and it was hard to put down.
ReplyDeleteEven though Dana is a woman from the 1970s, she is sent back in time to save Rufus’ life every time he is hurt. She must risk her own life for Rufus to save her life, which would’ve been true for any slave. If a slave didn’t help their owner, they would’ve been punished. But they also may have died risking their lives to save an owner who treats them terribly.
DeleteI also really liked reading Kindred. I also felt really bad for Dana that she had to help Rufus. In the beginning, I was hoping that Rufus would be a good person and his baby with Alice wouldn't have been a product of rape because they were friends as kids, but that idea pretty foolish because of how often slaveowners raped their slaves. I find it hard to defend Rufus's actions with the excuse of "he's a product of his time" because that feels too forgiving for all the horrible things he did.
ReplyDeleteI also assumed that the baby would not be a product of rape since they were friends, and I also felt stupid when I found out that wasn’t true. I think Rufus seems to realize that some of the stuff he is doing is wrong, but he still doesn’t care because legally he is allowed to do all of those things. Because of this it’s hard to care about Rufus when he is hurt or in trouble.
DeleteI totally agree with you when you said it felt like you lived through the time with Dana. I felt like I was right next to Dana at some of the scenes as if I was hovering next to her like an invisible ghost or something. I think although Kindred depicts scenes a lot less gory and upsetting than other depictions of slavery, readers still get surprised at many points throughout the book. Kindred is a different type of unsettling because I was able to connect with Dana emotionally and then go through all of the events with her. This type of writing did make me experience slavery in a very different way and it was somewhat more eye opening then reading historial stories.
ReplyDeleteEven though the scenes weren’t as gory as other books have described, it was still really upsetting, which says a lot about what slavery was actually like. Most historical stories or accounts don’t depict the opinion of the slaves, so reading this book while experiencing the emotions firsthand gives a different perspective on the realities of slavery.
DeleteI always found it ironic that after all of the times that Dana saves Rufus, she ends up killing him. It makes perfect sense as to why. Rufus might be better than his father, but that doesn't mean that much because a "good" slave owner is still not a good person. I agree that his actions can't be excused especially in regard to Alice.
ReplyDeleteI was definitely surprised when Dana killed Rufus because of the trouble she went through to save his life. I think Dana may have killed Rufus because at this point her family line is saved, but I also wish she would’ve killed him earlier because he deserved it.
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