In class we talked about how we have the same issues today as we did “back then.” Butler uses the time travel to help make the similarities easier to see. For instance, in 1810 the attitudes regarding men vs women are very obvious and apparent and Butler exemplifies that through Mr and Mrs Weylin. In 1976, Kevin cant understand why Dana wont type up his novel for him. This encounter between Kevin and Dana resembles the same “men are greater than women” attitude as it was in 1810. Juxtaposing the two makes it more clear to us that we still have the same issues today as we did in the past, just with a new face.
I can somewhat agree with what the author is bringing to our attention. I think we, as a whole people, have come very very far in gender and race relations. But I also think that some of the same old ideals still exist. For example, even though title nine exists and therefore mens and womens college sports are to we equal, they still don’t get the same respect. We have made progress so that its accepted that women play sports but as of now they don’t get the same high regard as a male athlete does. This could be a stretch but it resembles how women weren’t allowed to own land or be educated “back in the day.” They weren’t as highly regarded as men back then. And clearly today some of that still lingers with us.
We have definitely made a lot of progress in racial, gender, and not to mention marriage equality since the 1800s, even since the 1970s, but we cannot forget that these are still issues in our society. We are influenced by the attitudes of our parents, who were influenced by their parents, and so on, so it is not illogical that the prejudices from long ago are still prevalent today. However, with each generation our society seems to make a little more progress with the help of education and books like Kindred. Kindred helps us examine our own attitudes and prejudices and warns us of their consequences.
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