I begin my blog with a personal testimony from a few years ago. I was probably around 11 or 12. My older sister, 12 years my eldest, brought a new boyfriend around to meet my family. His name was Garrett, he was a rugby player, and he was African American. The factor of race in whom their children date has never been problematic to my parents; one obstacle overcome. The visit was going smoothly, until my brother (7 or 8 at the time) implores if Garrett is a slave.
My younger sister and I scrambled to quickly mend the situation by scolding Darrin while pinching him viciously and kicking him swiftly under the table. However, Garrett was very polite and understanding in his response; he told Darrin how slavery was abolished long ago and how his ancestors were once slaves. Thus following, my older sister has become much more wary of bringing boyfriends home, in order to avoid more potential misunderstandings (or in my brother's case here, total lack of understanding).
The purpose of my little stroll down memory lane is this: the abolition of slavery and equal rights is still a fairly recent issue. These are not completely old wounds nor are they mild. Slavery was an absolute disgrace not only to American history but the history of the world. My family's embarrassment over my brother's comment stems from this fact. The world is not color blind still to this day.
Octavia Butler's Kindred centralizes on the issue of slavery. At the end of class, we are asked to consider: Why does Butler write about slavery? Why doesn't she create a white character who goes to a plantation to save her ancestor? Why doesn't she place her character in California of 1815? Butler's character of Dana is a direct parallel of herself. Both women are African American writers from California. By embarking Dana upon a perilous journey through space and time, Butler is placing herself in 1815 on a Maryland plantation. Butler as the writer and Dana as the character are experiencing simultaneously the atrocities of slavery first hand. Kindred is written in order to show us how slavery still to this day is relevant in life. By placing Dana and herself in this situation, Butler gives the reader a peephole into the severity of these encounters. Though it is a terrible account of American history, slavery must be remembered so that it is not repeated.
We discussed in class how often slave texts are read, some so much so, that the concept of this struggle is often lost or not considered enough. Just as The Things They Carried's depiction of war is written in hopes of preventing destruction, Kindred is written with the desire that our generation will learn from the mistakes and the ignorance of Americans centuries ago. We can't take for granted the seriousness behind the history.
To answer the question why Dana is brought back in time (because it's not like she can change anyting), I would say that Butler makes her time travel for Dana's needs. She is bought back in time so she can learn; after all, most of her "roles" are self-appointed. Time traveling is making Dana experience her people's pasts so she can learn first hand what her ancestors went through.
ReplyDeleteI believe you already answered the question why does Butler write about slavery? I completely agree with your answer. As you state that slavery is a recent issue, and we young adults are starting to lose the concept of the struggle that colored people went through. One reason could be that we are exposed to the horrors of slavery at a young age by textbooks. As time goes on like by the time we are teenagers the feelings of disgust, sympathy, and fear subsides, possibly because we are losing the taste of it. Still I believe that in the manner that Butler writes, she flips the switch inside of us that ignites fear and disgust once again. Her graphic descriptions of the beating, the blood, and Dana's emotions makes it seem as if the readers are also sucked into this time period and witnessing the suffering first hand. Butler may feel that if we lose the concept of the suffering in slavery we may starting treating people around us in a cold manner once again ,and maybe the colored people today aren't appreciating the freedom they have today.
ReplyDeleteButler may written the book in order to illustrate to the young colored people what hardships their ancestors may have gone through so that the young colored people of today don't take the freedom they have for granted.