The Role of Truth and Lies within Kindred

"Weak lies. But they were better than the truth. As young as the boy was, I thought he would question my sanity if I told the truth" (Butler 28).

Characterized by this short excerpt, there is almost a role reversal for lies within Kindred. Typically, lies would discredit ones character--however, Dana's lies are the only thing that keep Dana believable to the other characters in the antebellum South. The truth is so absurd in this novel that any lie would almost be more accepted. Even in the case of Kevin, it extremely difficult for Dana to get her husband to believe her; we would expect Dana to have immense credibility with Kevin, but it is only when he is taken to the antebellum South that Kevin actually believes his wife.

Unlike the typically lies told in everyday life, lies in this novel are not malicious or ill-intentioned. Rather, the lies in this novel serve as a function of survival. In this sense, Kindred relates directly to The Man in the High Castle, where the fake identity of many good-natured characters saves each individual's life in a corrupt world. Although the world is not fake in Kindred and is suppose to represent a real time period in the United States, in many ways the antebellum South is a dystopia similar to the world in The Man in the High Castle.