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Kindred is the bestselling novel of American science-fiction author Octavia E. Butler, first published in 1979. Widely popular, it is regularly chosen as a common reading by community-wide reading programs and book organizations as well as being a consistent text choice for high school and college courses.

Part time-travel tale, part neo-slave narrative, Kindred is the first-person account of a young African-American woman writer, Dana, who finds herself shuttled between her California home in 1976 and a pre-Civil War Maryland plantation. There she meets her ancestors, a spoiled, self-destructive white slave owner and the proud black freewoman he has forced into slavery and concubinage. As Dana's stays in the past become longer, she becomes intimately entangled with the plantation community, making hard compromises to survive slavery and to ensure her existence in her own time.

Written to underscore the courageous endurance of people perceived as chattel, Kindred examines the dynamics and dilemmas of antebellum slavery as well as its legacy in present American society. Through the two interracial couples that form the emotional core of the story, the novel also explores the intersection of power, gender, and race issues and speculates on the prospects of future egalitarianism.

While most of Butler's work is classified as science-fiction, Kindred crosses disciplinary boundaries and so is often shelved under literature or African-American literature. Butler has categorized the work as "a kind of grim fantasy."[1]

Plot

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Kindred scholars have noted that the novel's chapter headings suggest something "elemental, apocalyptic, archetypal about the events in the narrative," thus giving the impression that the main characters are participating in matters grander than their personal experiences.[2][3]

Prologue
Edana (Dana) Franklin wakes up in the hospital with her arm amputated. Police deputies question her about the fantastical circumstances surrounding the loss of her arm and attempt to blame her husband, Kevin Franklin. Dana tells them that it was an accident and that it was her own fault. When Kevin visits her, we learn they are both afraid of telling the truth because they know nobody would believe them.

The River
Dana acknowledges that their predicament began on June 9, 1976, the day of her twenty-sixth birthday. The day before, she and Kevin had moved into a house a few miles away from their old apartment in Los Angeles. Dana finds herself doing the majority of the unpacking while Kevin focuses on his office and on his writing. When he fails to write, Dana suggests he help her arrange their books. Suddenly Dana becomes dizzy, and her surroundings begin to fade away. When she comes to her senses, she finds herself at the edge of a woods near a river where a small, red-haired boy is drowning. Dana wades in after him, drags him to the shore, and tries to give him artificial respiration, as the boy is unconscious. The boy's mother, who had been unable to save him, begins screaming and hitting Dana, thinking that she has killed her son, whom she identifies as Rufus. A man arrives and points a gun at Dana, terrifying her. She becomes dizzy again and arrives back at her new house with Kevin beside her. Kevin, shocked at her disappearance and reappearance, tries to understand if the whole episode was real or a hallucination.

The Fire
Dana manages to wash the filth from the river off of her before the dizziness sets in once again. This time, she is whisked back to a bedroom where a red-haired boy has set his bedroom drapes aflame. The boy turns out to be Rufus, now few years older. Dana quickly puts out the fire and speaks to Rufus, who, unafraid, confesses he set fire to the drapes to get back at his father for beating him after he stole a dollar. During their ensuing conversation, Rufus' casual use of the word "nigger" to refer to Dana--who is African American, the reader realizes for the first time--initially upsets Dana, but then leads her to figure out that she has been transported back in time as well as space, specifically to 1815 Maryland. When Rufus mentions his last name, Weylin, Dana realizes Rufus may be one of her ancestors. Following Rufus' advice, Dana seeks refuge at home of Alice Greenwood and her mother, free blacks who Dana suspects may also be her ancestors. There, she witnesses a group of young white men smashing down the Greenwoods’ door, dragging out Alice’s mother's husband, who is a slave, and whipping him brutally for being there without papers. Alice’s mother also gets punched in the face when she refuses the advances of one of the men. The men leave, Dana comes out of hiding, and helps Alice’s mother, only to be confronted by one of the white men, who beats her and attempts to rape her. Fearing for her life, Dana becomes dizzy and returns to 1976. Though hours have passed for her, Kevin assures her that she has only been gone for a few minutes. The next day, Kevin and Dana prepare for the possibility that she may travel back in time again by packing her a survival bag and by doing some research on black history from the books in their home library.

The Fall
In a flashback, Dana recounts how she met Kevin while doing minimum-wage temp jobs at an auto-parts warehouse. Kevin becomes interested in Dana when he learns she is a writer like him, and she befriends him even though he is white and their coworkers judge their relationship as odd. They find have much in common: both are orphans, both love to write, and both their families disapproved of their aspiration to become writers. They become lovers.

As Kevin is leaving for the library to find how to forge free papers for Dana, she feels the dizziness coming back. This time, Kevin holds on to her and also travels to the past. They find Rufus writhing in pain from a broken leg. Next to him is a black boy named Nigel who they send for help. When Rufus asks who Kevin is, and Dana tells him that Kevin is her husband, Rufus reacts with violent disbelief: whites and blacks are not allowed to marry in his time. Dana and Kevin then explain to Rufus that they are from the future and prove it by showing the dates stamped on the coins Kevin carries in his pockets. Rufus promises to keep their identity a secret, and Dana tells Kevin to pretend as if he is her owner. When Tom Weylin arrives with his slave Luke to retrieve Rufus, Kevin introduces himself. Weylin grudgingly invites him to dinner. Once back in the Weylin plantation, Margaret, Rufus’s mother, fusses about her son's well-being and, jealous of the attention Rufus shows Dana, sends Dana to the cookhouse. There, Dana meets two house slaves: Sarah, the cook, and Carrie, her mute daughter. Unsure as to what their next move should be, Kevin accepts Weylin's offer to become Rufus' tutor. Kevin and Dana stay on the plantation for several weeks, both feeling like observers even though Dana works, and is punished, as a slave. Then Weylin catches Dana reading and whips her mercilessly. The dizziness overcomes her before Kevin can reach her and she travels back to 1976 alone.

The Fight
In a flashback, Dana remembers the time she and Kevin decided to marry and how their families opposed the marriage due to ethnic bias. While Kevin’s reactionary sister is prejudiced against African-Americans, Dana's uncle abhors the idea of a white man having a hold on his property. Only Dana's aunt favors the union, as it would mean that her kids would have lighter skin. Despite their families' disapproval, they marry.

After eight days of being home recuperating without Kevin, Dana time travels to find Rufus getting beaten up by Alice Greenwood's husband, the slave Isaac Jackson. Dana learns that Rufus had attempted to rape Alice even though she was his childhood friend. Dana convinces Isaac not to kill Rufus, and Alice and Isaac run away while Dana gets Rufus home. She learns that it has been five years since her last visit and that Kevin has left Maryland. Dana aids Rufus to recovery in return for his help delivering letters to Kevin. Five days later, Alice and Isaac are caught. Isaac is mutilated and sold to traders heading to Mississippi. Alice is beaten, ravaged by dogs, and enslaved as punishment for helping Isaac escape. Rufus, who claims to love Alice, buys her, and order Dana to nurse her back to health. Dana does so with much care, but when Alice finally recuperates, she curses Dana for not letting her die.

Rufus wants Dana to convince Alice to sleep with him now that her body has recovered. Dana speaks with Alice, outlining Alice's three options: she can refuse and be whipped and raped; she can acquiesce; or, she can run away. Worn and terrified from her previous attempt to run away, Alice gives in to Rufus' desire. While in his bedroom, Alice finds Dana's letters to Kevin that she believes Rufus has been posting for her, and shows them to Dana. Dana runs away to find Kevin, but is betrayed by a jealous slave, Liza, and she is captured, returned to the plantation and whipped. Still, when Weylin finds out that Rufus has failed to keep his promise to Dana to send her letters, he writes to Kevin and tells him that Dana is back on the plantation. Kevin comes to retrieve Dana, but Rufus stops them on the road and threatens to shoot them. The dizziness overcomes Dana and she travels back to 1976, this time with Kevin.

The Storm
Dana and Kevin's happy reunion is short lived, as Kevin has a hard time adjusting to the present after living in the past for five years. He shares a few details of his life in the past with Dana: he witnessed stomach-churning atrocities visited on slaves, he traveled farther and farther up north, he worked as a teacher, he helped slaves escape and had to grow up a beard to disguise himself and avoid the lynch mob. Disconcerted that he does not feel happy to be back home, he grows angry and cold. Deciding to let him work his feelings out for himself, Dana packs a bag in case she time travels again.

Soon enough she finds herself outside the Weylin plantation in a rainstorm, a very drunk Rufus lying face down in a puddle. She tries to drag him back to the house, then gets Nigel to help her carry. Back at the house, an aged Weylin appoints Dana to nurse Rufus back to health under threat of her life. Suspecting Rufus has malaria and knowing she cannot help much, Dana feeds Rufus the aspirin she has packed to to lower his fever. Rufus survives, but remains weak for weeks. Dana learns that Rufus and Alice have had three children and that only one, a boy named Joe, has survived, though Alice is pregnant again. Then Weylin has a heart attack and when Dana is unable to save his life, Rufus sends her to work in the corn fields as punishment. By the time Rufus repents his decision, she has collapsed from exhaustion and being whipped. Rufus then appoints Dana as the caretaker of his ailing mother, Margaret. Now the master of the plantation, Rufus sells off some slaves, including Tess, Weylin's former concubine. When Dana criticizes the sale, Rufus explains that his father left debts he must pay. He then convinces Dana to use her writing talent to stave off his other creditors. Time passes and Alice gives birth to a girl, Hagar, who is Dana’s direct ancestor. Alice confides to Dana that she plans to run away with her children as soon as possible, as she fears that she is getting used to Rufus. Dana convinces Rufus to let her teach reading and writing to some of the slave children along with his son Joe. Then Rufus sells Sam, a field hand, as a punishment for flirting with Dana. When Dana tries to interfere, Rufus hits her, so she retrieves the knife she has brought from her bag and slits her writs in an effort to time travel.

The Rope

Dana wakes back at home with her wrists bandaged and Kevin by her side. She tells him of her eight months in the plantation, of Hagar's birth, and of the need to keep Rufus alive, as the slaves would be separated and sold if he died. When Kevin wonders if Rufus has raped Dana, she responds that he has not, that a rape attempt would be the act that would put an end to their relationship. Fifteen days later, on the 4th of July, Dana returns to the plantation where she finds that Alice has hanged herself. As it turns out, Rufus had told Alice that he had sold their children, although he only sent them off to live with his aunt in Baltimore, to punish and scare her for running away. Racked with guilt about Alice’s death, Rufus nearly commits suicide. After Alice’s funeral, Dana uses that guilt to convince Rufus to free his children by Alice. From that moment on, Rufus keeps Dana at his side almost constantly, having her share meals and teach his children. One day he finally admits that he wants Dana to replace Alice in his life and she flees to the attic to find her knife. Rufus follows her there, and when he attempts to rape her, they struggle and Dana stabs him twice with her knife. Nigel arrives to see Rufus' last throes, at which point Dana becomes terribly sick and time travels home for the last time, only to find herself in excruciating pain, as her arm has been joined to a wall in the spot where Rufus was holding it.

Epilogue
Dana and Kevin travel Baltimore to investigate the fate of the Weylin plantation after the death of Rufus, but they find very little: a newspaper notice reporting Rufus' death as a result of his house catching fire, a slave sale announcement listing all the Weylin slaves except Nigel, Carrie, Joe, and Hagar. Dana speculates that Nigel tried to cover up her murder by starting a fire, and feels responsible for the sale of the slaves. To that, Kevin responds that she cannot do anything about the past and that, in the end, their investigation was mostly to ensure that what has happened to them has been real.

The meaning of the novel’s title

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Kindred’s title has several meanings: at its most literal, its refers to the genealogical link between its modern-day protagonist, the slave-holding Weylins, and both the free and bonded Greenwoods; at its most universal, it points to the kinship of all Americans regardless of ethnic background.[4][5]

Since Butler’s novel challenges readers to come to terms with slavery and its legacy,[6][7] one significant meaning of the term “kindred” is the United States’ history of miscegenation and its denial by official discourses.[8] This kinship of blacks and whites must be acknowledged if America is to move into the a better future.[9]

On the other hand, as Ashraf H. A. Rushdy contends, Dana’s journey to the past serves to redefine her concept of kinship from blood ties to that of “spiritual kinship” with those she chooses as her family: the Weylin slaves and her white husband, Kevin.[10] This sense of the term “kindred” as a community of choice is clear from Butler’s first use of the word to indicate Dana and Kevin’s similar interests and shared beliefs.[11] Dana and Kevin’s relationship, in particular, signals the way for black and white America to reconcile: they must face the country’s racist past together so they can learn to co-exist as kindred .[12]

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Kindred, audiobook at the Internet Archive.

References

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  1. ^ Snider, John C. (June 2004). "Interview: Octavia E. Butler". SciFiDimensions. Retrieved 4 December 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ Crossley, Robert. "Critical Essay." In Kindred, by Octavia Butler. Boston: Beacon, 2004. 274. Print. ISBN 0807083690 (10) ISBN 978-0807083697 (13)
  3. ^ Kubitschek, Missy D. "'What Would a Writer Be Doing Working out of a Slave Market?': Kindred as Paradigm, Kindred in Its Own Write." Claiming the Heritage: African-American Women Novelists and History. Jackson, MS: UP of Mississippi, 1991. 27. Print. ISBN 1604735740 (10)ISBN 978-1604735741 (13)
  4. ^ Westfahl, Gary. "Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (1979)." The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders. Vol. 3. Ed. Gary Westfahl. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2005. 1121. Print. ISBN 0313329532 (10) ISBN 978-0313329531 (13)
  5. ^ Crossley, Robert. "Critical Essay." In Kindred, by Octavia Butler. Boston: Beacon, 2004. 280. Print. ISBN 0807083690 (10) ISBN 978-0807083697 (13)
  6. ^ Vint, Sherryl. "'Only by Experience': Embodiment and the Limitations of Realism in Neo-Slave Narratives." Science Fiction Studies 34.2 (Jul. 2007): 248. JSTOR. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
  7. ^ Butler, Octavia. “Black Scholar Interview with Octavia Butler: Black Women and the Science Fiction Genre.” Frances M. Beal. Black Scholar (Mar/Apr. 1986): 15. Print.
  8. ^ Vint, Sherryl. "'Only by Experience': Embodiment and the Limitations of Realism in Neo-Slave Narratives." Science Fiction Studies 34.2 (Jul. 2007): 256. JSTOR. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
  9. ^ Vint, Sherryl. "'Only by Experience': Embodiment and the Limitations of Realism in Neo-Slave Narratives." Science Fiction Studies 34.2 (Jul. 2007): 259-60. JSTOR. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
  10. ^ Rushdy, Ashraf. "Families of Orphans: Relation and Disrelation in Octavia Butler's Kindred." College English. 55.2 (Feb. 1993): 154. JSTOR. 23 October 2012.
  11. ^ Kubitschek, Missy D. "'What Would a Writer Be Doing Working out of a Slave Market?': Kindred as Paradigm, Kindred in Its Own Write." Claiming the Heritage: African-American Women Novelists and History. Jackson, MS: UP of Mississippi, 1991. 50. Print. ISBN 1604735740 (10)ISBN 978-1604735741 (13)
  12. ^ Mitchell, Angelyn. "Not Enough of the Past: Feminist Revisions of Slavery in Octavia E. Butler's Kindred." MELUS 26.3 (Autumn 2001): 70. JSTOR. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
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