What defines a slave?

Clearly we have (adamantly) discussed time travel and the different versions created by different perspectives at our last meeting. The question remains whether destiny has already predetermined a person's actions, which would mean that their actions (as purposeful as they may be) are not affecting what will happen or was meant to happen OR does history (past, present, and future) first depend on whatever actions a person may take (which would create multiple dimensions assuming time travel was even possible.

These questions can not and will not be answered until we are actually able to go back and forth. Even then, we will never be able to tell if somebody "changed the future" because if we decide that "future" is always an event that has yet to happen, if we experience it, go back and change something, and return to that point, the future was not changed but instead the "present" or to the time traveller the "past". The person still hasn't experienced the moment after they decided to go back to the past, and so how would they know if that moment later was always meant to happen or in fact changed due to their own actions? In fact, if time travel were even possible, there would never be a past, present, or future. Everything would be individually questionable. So I guess those questions of whether history determines actions or whether actions determine history (all a matter of controlling our "destiny") will never be answered.

Believe it or not, this post was not supposed to go on that tangent again, but I don't really use the delete button on my laptop, so everything is in my stream of thought. I always think before I type, but I rarely decide to erase something.

Anywho, I started this because I was thinking that actions determine history or vice versa would shape our view of Dana. If she has basically no control over destiny, she technically cannot be seen as weak. She'd just be another human roaming the earth to do what she was supposed to do. However, if her actions are what cause the history in the first place, the reader can definitely decide how to interpret how she acts. I'll just go with the second choice because then I can get to my point quicker (thank Jesus).

Though I have yet to finish the book, I have decided that it could go one of two ways (watch me be wrong). Dana could find a way to separate herself in the slavery era from the Dana in 1970's. This would require her to consciously remember the person she used to be before she was aware of time traveling: the passive, unhappy, woman whose marriage is not accepted by either family, and also the strong, educated woman she wants others to recognize. Though she was still affected by ignorance of others and even some racial issues with her husband, she must overcome these issues and as a couple, Kevin and Dana are in need of growing together. Dana could learn to understand that she does not have to internally accept what is being done to her in the slavery period as her "truth", and just play the game until she goes back to the 1970's. This is more difficult, however, because both she and Kevin are traveling and her decisions do not necessarily affect him internally.

On the other hand (more likely to happen I believe), Dana could be unaware of how easy it is to accept the slavery period as her truth, and be stuck in that role (both there and in the 1970's) until her death. If she is unable to separate one place from the other, the racial issues between both her and Kevin and even the problems with others can escalate. The visit to the slave era can create a realization that she needs to fight against these issues and prejudices, but if she is unaware of this concept, she would feel even more and trapped than before because of her acceptance of the ideas and beliefs of the slaves in 1816.

Though technically Dana is a slave in one time and free in another, the idea of "what defines a slave" comes to mind. Though one maybe is not whipped and by law unable to leave their master, the idea of slavery is also (by definition) a person who works very hard without appreciation. Also, it is a person who is excessively dependent upon or controlled by something. If Dana is unable to separate what she decides to be truth or just a game she has to play IN ORDER to use both time periods and combine them to recreate herself (or continue on her destined path), she will enslave herself in both times and never be able to leave or forget the role of slave. She may give up and allow herself to be controlled by who is deemed "superior" because this is what others in the slavery period have convinced her to believe.

Though legally she is free, Dana may always be a slave to others and (if she is able to control this destiny) even herself.