Rape Rewarded in Octavia Butler’s Kindred Essay

This is proof that this terrible act was very typical within slaveholding societies. Now, just because this relationship seems usual in the south, it does not mean everyone condoned it. The wives of many slave owners proved they were not okay with a white male and a black female relationship by the way they acted with “anger and resentment” towards other slaves (McLaurin, 26). Wives chose to ignore this behavior simply because if they didn’t, not only would their lives be in danger, but so would their children’s.

Rufus’s development started as a child however instead tween years when most would expect a child to develop Rufus’s development started in the early of six. At the age of six, Rufus had to deal with very serious and difficult relationships with a harsh and abusive father as well as a weak and spoiling mother. On top of that, he also meets Dana who he also considers kin in reality, however, the two share a blood relation. One example is the change

This was the third time Dana had been called to help Rufus, yet Rufus held full trust in Dana. The quote depicts to readers that at this point in the novel, Rufus found stability in Dana and trusted her to not only be there for him, but to help him through difficult times. Because of the way which Rufus is pleading for Dana to stay with him, grabbing her arm in hopes of keeping her near him, readers can see how much Rufus is counting on Dana, without any hint of distrust. Because of the way Rufus so openly depends on Dana, Dana in turn, truly likes Rufus, and is willing and eager to help him. This creates a stable and faithful relationship on both ends. However, Rufus and Dana’s relationship started changing the fourth time, Dana was called back in time. The author expresses this by having Dana think, “If Rufus could turn so quickly on a life-long friend, how long will it take him to turn on me?” (123). This quote takes place right as Rufus tried raping his long time friend,

     I asked him ‘Didn’t you have a wife or a girlfriend you could do this with?’ He said ‘I like this better. I like it better this way.’ “

Dana is trying to win back her power by pressing the issue that she has the power to save Rufus or not so he should be wary. Rufus acquires more power when his father dies and his increasingly coercive behaviors to dominate Dana and his love object Alice convince Dana that she’s not able to change his ideologies. However, Dana is changing too; getting in touch with dual feelings of fear and

"Rape rewarded." He turned his head toward me and peered at me through swollen eyes. "I begged her not to go with him," he said quietly. "Do you hear me, I begged her!" I said nothing. “I was beginning to realize that he loved the woman-to her misfortune”. There was no shame in raping a black woman, but there could be shame in loving one "(p.124). Dana returns this time after 5 years and Rufus is now 19 years old. Isaac beats Rufus in bad way. Rufus tells Dana that "he'll buy Alice and let them sell Isaac". Dana is astonished and confused by his comments. Actually all her tries to change Rufus in her past time to make him better man does not

In a crescendo of pain, devastation and hysteria, the girl mentions her terror in reliving the rape when going through the justice system. Juxtaposed with the "jaws rasp[ing] on the naked bone", the questioning is yet another violation

223). Further more Rufus had started to take whatever he wanted by force if he couldn’t get it peacefully. For instance, the time when Alice said he didn’t want to go with him and she decided to marry Issac. Just as then he thought he should get her by forcing her to come with him and when she didn’t he tried to rape her. "She’ll get what’s coming to her. She’ll get it whether I give it to her or not," he said smiling (Pg. 123). To conclude, Rufus still needs to learn a lot about manhood of his time.

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.

Over and over, black women are reduced to vessels for the white man to exercise his lusts on. It starts at Alice’s cottage during The Fire. One of the patrollers returns with the intent to rape Alice’s mother, however, he quickly turns his attentions to Dana when she is more readily available. To this man, one can easily replace the other, he ascribes no humanity to either woman. They are merely convenient receptacles for his desires. We see nearly the exact same scenario at the end of the book. After Alice’s death, Rufus believes that Dana can just step into Alice’s shoes. He sees no problem with her essential replacing Alice, as the mother of their children and in his bed. To him, there are just replacements, Dana can become Alice because neither are people, it’s like replacing a broken vase with one that looks similar enough. It serves the same purpose, has the same qualities, and most won’t even notice the switch. Butler even gives us an example of this trend in the present time as well, through Dana’s flashbacks. When the boss at the garage calls Dana and Kevin “chocolate and vanilla porn” he immediately discounts the idea that, as a couple, it might be about more than sex. He implies that the totality of their relationship is defined by Dana being a sexual object. Even Kevin objectifies Dana. His anger over her being unwilling at act as his scribe shows that he also thinks of

Dana 's husband, Kevin also plays a key role in the novel as his treatment of her in front a slave owner (Rufus ' father) varies greatly from what was expected in that era. White people were expected to treat black people (free or not as inferior); Kevin almost always treated Dana as an equal in the novel. He was expected to treat her as Rufus '

As Rufus’s character grows throughout the beginning he explains his sentiments of being a Black man in the United States during time of slow transition between black and white people. When he begins his relationship with a white southern divorced woman, Leona, Rufus begins to beat her and when Vivaldo, his closest white friend, confronts him he begins to act like he doesn’t care and is in his house where he has the power, not them, who are white (55). Rufus begins to show how having white people in his life gives him the satisfaction of having some power over them being

After, Jenna was born Thomas became violent and was emotionally unstable. Alice began to lean to Gideon their neighbor in Botswana. Alice and Gideon had an affair and Gideon’s wife Grace had found out, she commit suicide. Alice becomes pregnant with Gideon’s child and feels guilty for the death of Grace. Gideon tells his mother-in-law (Nievve) that he had an affair and is having a child. Later, Jenna had gone missing and Alice finds out that Nievve had killed her and wanted Alice to feel that pain of losing a daughter. Later, Jenna hires a private detective (Virgil Stanhope) to find her mom but instead, that detective was the one who handled her mom’s case. Detective Stanhope had committed suicide because he didn’t believe Alice had a fair case while the government had been hiding the truth. Serenity Jones was actually a soul guide all this time but Jenna was the connection. Jenna was actually dead this whole time. Alice had a miscarriage with Gideon’s child and later he joins the army and dies during combat. Alice was alive after

The large effect of the way Cary carries herself as a proper women also drives tension between her and Henry, a man who tries to make Cary feel inferior as women for dating Ron, a lower class person than him and her deceased husband. Ned tries the same tactic, even threatening to never visit his mother if she continues upon this path of self-lowering in class and Kay says this marriage will destroy their lives as children growing up. The effects of this are later revealed to be a false conflict as Ned initially is mad about the house being sold but later suggests it being sold but it is unclear how much time has passed do to large time jumps. Also Kay apologizes telling Cary to go after him if they are truly in love. The realization of class structure as a false prison adds to the emotions we, the viewers, are experiencing upon the conflicts coming

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,