Dana's Absurdity: A Narrative Fiction

In this scene, Dana is outside picking up a blanket that Alice’s mother dropped in the yard. As Dana was about to pick up the blanket, a patroller swung her around and said,“You could be her sister, her twin sister,almost….Her runaway sister. I wonder what your worth?” Dana knowing the patroller was planning to sell her, panicked and”....dug the nails of my free hand into his arm and tore the flesh from elbow to wrist.” Dana then ran out to the woods and when the patroller caught up to her he got on top of Dana and started to beat and punch her. “In that instant, I knew I could stop, cripple him, in this primitive age, destroy him. His eyes. I had only to move my finger a little and job them into the soft tissues, gouge away his sight and give him more agony than he was giving me. But I couldn’t do it.” …… “...I had hit my head on was a heavy stick-a tree limb, perhaps. I grasped it with both hands and brought it down as hard as I could on his head.” (40-43) Dana doesn’t want or like to hurt people even if she needs to. Dana tries with all her might to get away for the patroller and out ran, even though she fails everytime. This scene reveals that Dana will hurt somebody if need to stay alive, but try to not hurt anybody to body, in order to stay

     Dana is brought back for the fourth time and this time five years has passed. The Rufus she sets eyes on is now 19 and was beaten badly by Alice’s husband Isaac. Rufus tells Dana, with anger in his voice, that Isaac and Alice will be

Ida B. Wells posited in the May 21, 1892 edition of the Free Speech that “Nobody in this section of the country believes in the old thread bare lie that Negro men rape white women,” upon the journalistic evidence that states “Eight negroes lynched since last issue of the “Free Speech” one at Little Rock, Ark., last Saturday morning where the citizens broke into the penitentiary and got their man; three near Anniston, Ala., one near New Orleans; and three at Clarksville, GA., the last three for killing a white man, and five on the same old racket - the new alarm about raping white women. The same programme of hanging, then shooting bullets into the lifeless bodies was carried out to the letter.” Miss Ida B. Wells; Southern Horrors Lynch Law In All Its Phases.

He continued by saying that he asked his mother where Dana went, but “‘... she got mad and said she didn’t know. I asked her again later, and she hit me. And she never hits me’” (23). When Dana appeared to find Rufus drowning in the river and his mother, Margaret, right next to him, she gives Rufus CPR and saves his life. Afterwards, Dana disappears and travels back to the present when she is held at gunpoint by Rufus’s father, Tom, and this happens right in front of Margaret and Tom. With all of this in mind, Margaret did not know how to react to this phenomenon, and for this reason, she ignores and puts what has happened behind.

There are many moments throughout Kindred where Dana is harming the other slaves by bending to Rufus’ will. One major example of this is when Dana goes back to Rufus’ time and sees him getting beaten up by Isaac. She stops Isaac, and tells him that

This also illustrates how Dana believes she can have a lasting effect on Rufus, to steer him away from the ways of his father. However, she only has a limited period of time to shed her 20th century mentality on him. And, Rufus’ change is not gradual relative to Dana, because every time she returns, she finds Rufus years older, and acting that much more like his father.

Ray was so worried now about Page – he had to tell Dana what was up before his daughter was kidnapped by Juice or worse. Page instantly loved her sister no doubt – but Ray was hearing some troubling things about Racine and Juice. He had asked his daughter to be done with Juice and to his surprise Juice was still pulling the strings. Until Juice was out of his daugh-ter’s life there would be trouble. He had yet to meet Juice; but, the funeral pictures of ICE and Juice hanging out at the casket were telling. Racine had approached ICE’S casket like his mother had approached his father’s casket years earlier. She yelled at people like Rovella had yelled at him when he tried to kiss his father goodbye. Racine, was dressed in black wool and green at the funeral and Ray noticed that she had no family support because prior to the pictures being taken his brothers had come and gone. No mother. No father. No friends for that matter. After what happened with Page he knew he had to talk to Dana first to garner the right approach to deal with Racine. He had already talked to Clay E who concurred that because Racine had been to Page’s school grounds. She had talked to her for an hour without intervention prior to Ray’s permission; and had introduced herself as Page’s sister – he and Dana had to do something about this and like his brothers had, Clay and Loretta suggested that Ray get a DNA test on

No matter how much Dana tries to influence and control Rufus he still has power over her. This is held true when Dana tries to influence him to send her letters to Kevin. While she thinks that he has sent the message, Rufus doesn’t actually send it and just lies to her. Through lies and violence Rufus both controls Dana and abuses Dana’sher apparent unconditional love for him. Another way that Rufus gains power over Dana and others is through blackmail and his ability to execute his threats. For example, Rufus threatens Dana of sending her “back in the fields in an hour”(pg) if she ever walks away from him again. Her fear for him kept her silent kept her in the room because she knew that “”he meant it” (214). Therefore, Rufus is able to use his threats and blackmail to gain power over Dana. After Alice kills herself, Rufus is emotionally destroyed, and as a result he tries to rape Dana because he’s apparently in desperate need for love; but just like every other time; he is just influencing her to do his dirty work. Therefore, her murdering him may seem like a jump of power, but he influenced her to do it because he had nothing to live for anymore. His ability to influence others to do things for him is what ultimately makes Rufus more powerful than

“I am sorry for what I did with your husband. As you can see – my hus-band shuts down. He’s hard core. He does not show love and when he rapes me it hurts,” sad Gladys. Both Racine and Rebecca hugged Gladys from their sides of the huge black leather couch. Racine had intended to release everybody “You’re a good girl Racine,” Gladys said. “I was so proud of how you took care of ICE. Your mother thought the world about you,” Gladys stated. Rebecca, still disappointed about how she was represented at the news conference, apologized for the first time.

He took a sip of water to rid his torrid throat and began to speak. “Love I am sorry, about everything. You clean this house and make our dinners. You watch our son and most of all you support me any time I need it. You did not deserve the cruel things I said to you. I am truly sorry.” Mary Ann felt something ping at her heart, she almost wanted to forgive him but Henry did not stop there. “I know you must of have felt alone and scared when I pushed you away but you know how I am with work. The other officers will mock me for having a wild wife and-”

“You should be glad I`m not a vicious Viking. You would have been ravaged and plundered by now!” he said in a dreadful voice. The woman was not impressed and reacted to his vile statement by kicking him in the knee and gracefully walking away with her head held high. Einar gave him a thumbs up to try and cheer him up, but he could tell that his day was now ruined for a couple hours. Mackinney dragged himself over to a seat beside him and slumped down.

Dana?s master Rufus treats her much the same. Once he grows into a young man, he too becomes obsessed with her and makes every attempt to seduce her. He is often kind and sweet but once rejected he becomes enraged and violent. Dana recalls,

Hopefully she'd arrive at what he believed could be the only correct decision, by herself, and the last thing he wanted was for Lexi to feel as if he was her enemy too. When it finally come, he did all he could not to not let his relief show, briefly closing his eyes, and taking a moment to compose his thoughts. "We really don't have a choice, Lexi, and I wish I could say something to make it easier, however, I can't. But, but we will get through this. You're a fighter, and you're strength and determination are the reasons I could never forget you, and came back. Anyone else would have given into the whims of your Father by now, but not the Alexandria Huntington I met and fell in love with."

“I’m so sorry Callie. I didn’t mean too!!” I said while crying, feeling horrible about what just happened.

Gyneth turned to her mother for help, but Iris shook her head sadly. “My dear Gyneth, if there is anything I can say about your punishment, it is that you deserved it.”