One of the questions that seemed to plague me throughout my reading of Kindred was why did Rufus Weylin require the assistance of Dana to continue living and eventually father her ancestors? It is quite evident that Dana is very alive and well in her present world of the 1970's. Her lineage seemed to be intact as is, so why is it that she needed to go back in time and aid in protecting her future? I understand that Olivia Butler is playing on the distinct "Time-travel" genre but in nearly all cases the time traveler is a)transported with their knowledge of how and why and b)advised not to change anything in the past and to simply let the events unfold as they do. According to this principles of time-travel, should Dana have simply let Rufus be as he was? Clearly if Dana was alive to go back and "help" Rufus, then it is reasonable to assume that he ultimately would have survived to father Hagar.
Another viewpoint that can be taken on this subject is that Dana did not travel through time in a linear manner but rather she travelled to an alternate reality that coincides and directly affects her present state. This would account for why Dana needed to save Rufus from himself. This would also explain why the time in the "alternate" world of the 1800's seemed to move at a much quicker rate than that of her home era. Personally this seems to make much more sense than her simply going back in time to save herself. That concept seems to me a bit redundant.
Overall, I found this novel to be a bit repetitive and drawn out. I mean why the hell did Dana have to go back like five times? And why did she go back even after Hagar was born? That seemed to be a bit much in the scope of the novel as a whole. At that point in time it really didn't matter whether or not Rufus died. Hagar would have been raised by someone within the plantation until she was old enough to go on and secure the future lineage of Dana's family.
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