Thursday, November 1, 2012
Believability
While at first I felt a strong connection to Dana and her travels and efforts, I now am having second thoughts. It is becoming increasingly more difficult for me to relate to the characters, the concepts, and the fiction itself because of how unrealistic the time travel is and how little time Dana takes to reflect upon her travels. While she admits after the first time she is whisked back into the 1810s that "It's all crazy" (15) when Kevin asks her what has happened, she still recounts the details for him and immediately tries to make sense of the situation. Kevin calls the events that they discuss "facts" (16) and Dana goes on to say "As real as the whole episode was, as real as I know it was..." (17), as if the possibility of the traveling not being real is barely considered. Dana and Kevin treat ridiculous conversation/subject matter as perfectly legitimate and approach the planning of their next steps in a serious way, which makes me question the maturity of the characters and the book/writing itself. The fact that things work out perfectly for Dana in her travels adds to this effect--she always returns to the other time period when on the very brink of death, and she is able to effortlessly determine that the people she interacts with in the South are her ancestors. There is not one point in the novel when Dana takes a moment to say, "Hold on, do I know this for sure? Everything that's happening to me is ludicrous, should I consult with someone else about this?" Instead, it works out that her physical appearance is similar to that of her distant ancestors. Instead, Kevin ties a bag containing a switchblade knife to Dana so that she can be properly equipped for her next "episode." Maybe I simply need to be more willing to suspend my disbelief, but to me the lack of reflection by Dana, someone apparently living in the 20th century, comes off as childish.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I understand your complaint, and I felt similarly troubled during a few parts in the book. However, I didn't quite feel like it was a flaw that had very much effect on the novel as a whole unit. In form, it seems almost more like a thought-experiment, or some kind of artificial circumstance in which the characters are placed; the focus (which I think Butler maintains quite well) ought to be on how the characters act and change in those circumstances, not on the characters questioning how or why these changes are arising. If she had spent more time developing those kinds of questions, it might slow down the pace of the novel even further, not to mention taking focus away from the mental and physical experience of slavery. Like I said, I too had the same reaction, but upon reflecting, I think writing in more disbelief or realism on the part of Dana would have taken more away from the novel than it would have added.
ReplyDelete