KINDRED

                                                                                 WEB



       Greetings! So at this point I'm Actually almost finished with the book that we were assigned to read called Kindred . In todays blog I was asked to pick one of these questions and answer it fully.




     Kindred can be both a noun and an adjective, describing a state of being, or a related familial group. In the novel, the word kindred holds both definitions to Dana. Using the noun definition of the work, it relates to her kin, both Alice and Rufus, and ultimately the head of her family line, Hagar. It could also show the duality between Rufus and Kevin, in the sense that they were kindred spirits drawn to Dana. The most obvious of this definition is Rufus. She is literally tied to him through space and time, connected with him on a deeper level. She also has this relationship in sorts to her husband Kevin. They are writers, creatives, the lost souls drawn together by literacy intimacy. In a sense every main character is kindred to Dana in one sense or another. They each have certain lessons to teach her about life and also herself. 

The title of the book could be seen as ironic. In the antebellum south racial divisions, alongside gender roles, were heavily enforced, yet Dana was linked to these people, who outwardly seem so far away from her general being.  She is a black woman who shares a bond with a plantation owner's son. If that doesn’t describe irony, I honestly don’t know what does. In the literal sense, the book title could show Dana’s actual family ties to Rufus and Alice, but in a more metaphysical sense, they are linked beyond the level of blood relation. 

The Topsy Turvy doll, to me, shows that, in essence, we are all connected beings. I know the literal interpretation of what that doll represents, but I think it holds a stronger meaning to the bond all humans share regardless of insipid divisions we place on ourselves. Pertaining to the book, the doll could show, literally, that Dana, being black, was blood related to Rufus, who was white, and it shows the connection this has. 

Rufus

                                                                                     WEB

   Since reading Kindred i have inquired a lot of information about the Slavery period.In class our teacher told us to pick a question from Here and answer it completely. I choose question number four. 

   The love Rufus had for Alice, although described as “destructive” (Butler 147, 180) was pure in its twisted way. Although it is quite sad to see how the time he lived in shaped his views on love. Rufus also had a love for Dana, describing her and Alice as being two halves of each other. The love Rufus had for both of them was as complex as the situations and time they faced. Rufus’ love had a profound effect on them but sadly, this effect was negative. He was selfish and domineering in his love, obviously a trait from the time but also from his upbringing. Alice lost her husband and was forced into being Rufus’ slave; she later has his children and would rebuke herself at becoming content with the situation, leading to her demise. Dana, on the other hand, had a more complex relationship with Rufus that later precipitated into his undoing. They had a severe love/hate, brotherly/sisterly bond that both tried hard not to dissolve. Ultimately, after Alice took her life after Rufus lied about selling their children, in a state of extreme grief, he attempts to rape her. He sought to rape her not out of cruelty but out of a need to control and keep her with him. This would ultimately lead to Dana killing him. 

Alice coped with her relationship with Rufus, and all the scorn she received from other slaves, by, in a sense, detaching herself from the situation. She didn’t love him, or even like him and that kept her in a safe place mentally. After the birth of Hagar, it seems that Alice had grown complacent in their relationship to some extent. She was unhappy with this and tried to escape once Dana went back to the future. I don’t necessarily agree with Alice’s motives and actions towards Rufus, but I also don’t disagree with them. I suppose that in her position after what he had done I would have felt the same. Her inability to conform to him and “be like” Dana or a “white nigger” (Butler 235) was her attempt at keeping any semblance of self. If she gave in, and became compliant, what would she be saying about all the other slaves and about herself as well? It comes down to personal representations of self for both Alice and Dana. Becoming submissive, giving in, isn’t an option. In doing so, they both would have lost a sense of themselves in the process.  

Accepting Slavery

WEB

 Hi, Everyone. In class we have been reading this book call Kindred. I was actually surprise to actually have interest in this book because I  really don't like to read books about slavery. We were ask to read a few chapters and pick a question and answer it. The question that I choose was number 2 Discuss some of the situations or methods that make people accept oppression in the antebellum South. Do some of these situations and methods to oppress people still exist today?

"She had done the safe thing–had accepted a life of slavery because she was afraid” (Butler 145).

People accept oppression because of two main reasons, fear and a lack of education. In the antebellum south slaves lived in fear of their masters. The fear that their masters would sell them, kill them or subject them to unimaginable cruelties was a reality they had to live among. They wished to escape such situations but lacked the education to do so. In turn, they lived in a perpetual state of fear. If they tried to learn more and to educate themselves, they were harshly punished, most likely because their masters would see them as trying to become like a white man. Which, in this period, is unacceptable.  It’s a two-sided dagger that makes a person feel powerless, which is the desired goal. Make a person feel weak, like they never could succeed, and they will most likely believe this conviction. 

In modern times, the same rules still apply, but the façade is veiled. In controversial ideologies, a person could say that the government tries to keep people down. The price of higher education is staggering for most people. Meanwhile, you live the rest of your life trying to pay off loans that you have accumulated. Thus, you work for the government. Some people feel powerless to this effect and don’t seek higher education because of this. The overall sense of fear is also prevalent in modern-day societies as well. People fear not getting an education and thus not getting a good job, a good house, a good car, all the things that society values, and are pushed towards accumulating debt. It’s a cycle that is nearly never ending, but at least the harshest of these circumstances, such as in the antebellum south, came to an end. 

Slave Breeding

                                                                       WEB

  Today in class we were asked to read a passage Slave Breeding. Then we must provide as much information about the passage and also information from our fellow classmates blog. The passage that I read is Here.

  Before times of fertility treatments and adoption, when it was still legal to have someone pick your cotton for free, now I’m told you must charge to have this done, but I remain unconvinced. Slave owners had a pretty difficult position on their hands. They had slaves, coincidentally, male slaves outnumbered the female slaves, and as we all have a concrete understanding of biology, in order to get more slaves you needed woman. This sounds simple enough, but infant mortality was sky high, this could be because slave-owners were too busy trying to get people to be called ‘Tobey’ and beating people with sticks, or other inanimate objects, but I digress. Woman, specifically pregnant woman, were a hot commodity back then, and were routinely sold to keep those every precious slaves coming. Slave owners also restored to some mild Nazi-propaganda, encouraging young woman to breed as much as they could, promising them freedom if they have enough offspring. But as history told us, these were lies. In conjunction with false promises and human trafficking, slave owners would also resort to rape in order to keep the quota high. These ‘masters’ would seduce, I’m almost 100% sure that slave/master seduction does not look like an R&B music video, the woman, and would give them children. If I learned anything while reading this I’m now traumatized by the thought of procreation, and am now happy that Lincoln freed the slaves, as if I wasn’t before.