Selflessness In Kindred By Octavia Butler

Throughout the novel Kindred, Butler compared and contrasted modern African Americans with African Americans that were slaves in the novel. Some of the many ways she compares them are through education, work ethic, and their personal feelings about and/or how they handle their own slavery.

Character’s relationships with power change a lot over the course of Octavia Butler’s Kindred. One of the most important character changes in the book is Kevin Franklin and Dana’s relationship, and how is changed after living in the 1800’s. Kevin is introduced in the book as Dana’s middle aged husband who she met while working in a “slave market”. Both of them are inspiring writers looking to make a life out of their passion. Before both Kevin and Dana are sent back into slavery time their relationship is very normal. Their marriage is very stable, although they go through different problems surrounding power. Kevin is very dominant towards Dana and at times believes he is better than her. Kevin constantly asks Dana to type out drafts of his

Rufus Weylin; a character first perceived as a young, curious and innocent boy, turns in to an over-obsessive and miserable tyrant. In Octavia Butler 's novel _Kindred_, the book revolves around the horrors of slavery in the United States in the early eighteen hundreds. White characters are given absolute power and control over black characters, and treat them like animals, making them live a long life of misery and unhappiness. As _Kindred_ unfolds, it becomes clear that Rufus turns in to a stereotypical slave owner and abuser. With every trip that Dana makes back to Rufus, there is a clear distinction of changes in his personality. He becomes more evil, over-obsessive and cruel as he gets older. In fact, he becomes very much like his

As Boss Tweed used to say, “The way to have power is to take it.” Therefore, it is not surprising that the characters of Kindred by Octavia Butler fight throughout the book to gain power from each other. They all use methods ranging from violence to influence to gain even a slight amount of power from each other. Even Alice and Dana who are enslaved women during the 1800’s are able to use their words to influence their owners and the powerful white men in society. Like other black women during this time period, they use their bodies and other unconventional methods to slowly gain power over their owners until they are able to influence them to do what they want. Henceforth, Butler wants to demonstrate to the reader that, even during the antebellum south, enslaved women were able to use their influence, resilience and courage to eventually gain power over their owners.

In Miriam Toews novel A Complicated Kindness there are many references to pop culture. There are references to music, books and films. These all lead to the development of key ideas in the novel. East Village is supposed to be a town free form the influence of most media. The children are allowed to watch certain films but only the ones the church deems fit. Yet somehow the un-holy films find their way into the procession of kids in the town like Nomi. The films are used to develop key ideas by showing that not everybody is happy with a strong importance on religion, where Nomi gets some of her influence for wanting to move to New York and how the church uses the ban on films to remain in control. The church isn’t successful on banning

In the novel Kindred, by Octavia Butler, the main character Dana is exposed to the brutality and exhausting existence inflicted on slaves in the 1800’s. Through intentionally suppressive measures, slave owners used a series of methods to control and manipulate an entire race of people into submission. Dana describes this process as dulling and her experiences haunt her as she is slowly broken down. “See how easily slave are made?” (Butler 177) her thoughts say; this is Butler attempting to illustrate how it was nearly impossible for the enslaved people to change their situation and fight for freedom. Contemporary people didn’t understand why the slaves didn’t rise up and revolt against the whites, so Butler puts Dana through conditions that eventually show her and the audience it wasn’t that easy. The slaves were too tired to revolt, too broken to fight back, and too connected to each other to leave; thus giving the repulsive entitled whites the ability to continue their disgraceful contempt for human decency. By means of labor and sensational punishment, family ties, surveillance that included slave hierarchy; dreams of revolutions and freedom were overpowered and even Dana becomes complacent accepting the role of slave.

Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred is categorized as science fiction because of the existence of time travel. However, the novel does not center on the schematics of this type of journey. Instead, the novel deals with the relationships forged between a Los Angeles woman from the 20th century, and slaves from the 19th century. Therefore, the mechanism of time travel allows the author a sort of freedom when writing this "slavery narrative" apart from her counterparts. Butler is able to judge the slavery from the point of view of a truly "free" black woman, as opposed to an enslaved one describing memories.

First published in 1979, Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred is a unique novel, which can be categorized both as a modern-day slave narrative, and as a science fiction time-travel tale. In the novel, Butler uses time-travel as a way to convey W.E.B. Du Bois’ theory of double-consciousness. Dubois’ theory is based on the idea that people of color have two identities, both struggling to reconcile in one being. His theory about the complex nature of the African-American experience directly relates to Butler’s use of Kindred’s protagonist, Dana, and her experience time travelling as a modern-day African-American woman, and her experience of a pre-abolition, nineteenth-century slave.

Octavia Butler is one of only a few African-American science fiction writers, and the only African-American woman to earn popular and critical acclaim predominantly in the genre of science fiction. Her writing has earned science fictions top literary honors, including the Nebula Award, the Hugo Award, and the Locus Award. Octavia Butler was born on June 22, 1947 in Pasadena, California. Her young adulthood was an amalgam of misery and motivation; she supported her family by working as a domestic. Often accompanying her mother to work, Butler witnessed the racial and economic indignities common to the African-American working poor, particularly women. Class, gender and racial inequalities would play a central role in her writing. Butler 's most popular short story to date is "Bloodchild". The frightening futuristic dilemma in "Bloodchild" involves humans who have had to escape to another planet for survival. Butler skillfully reverses the troupe of animal captivity and breeding to make humans the other. By placing the animal like creatures in control but also making them dependent on the earthlings, Butler uses symbolism to emphasize on the main themes of Gender roles, Interrelation and the lack of Freedom in society.

Selfless service is when individuals place others needs before their own interests. By placing yourself in harm’s way because it is your duty to your nation and being happy that others can succeed is another form of selfless service. Soldiers sacrifice their freedom, their time and their family so that others in this great country can be safe, secure and free.

Octavia Butler’s Kindred focuses on the perspective of a black female within two drastically different societies ranging from the ideals of colonialism to a society of change and acceptance. Butler utilizes Dana’s position in society to portray the cruelty of slavery and the power that society can have on the ideals and morals of individuals, such as the developing character of Rufus. Throughout the book, the issue of slavery is addressed through a multitude of different themes that span across Dana’s different experiences and struggles. Butler aims to reveal the aspects of slavery from the perspective of Dana in order to emphasize the widespread effects of prejudice upon human rights. In addition, the contrast of societies also

Erin was explaining how her father had an impact on her daily life. “I’ve learned to be less selfish and to help others in need. During last Thanksgiving, he brought my sister and I to a local soup kitchen. For a few hours, we made and packaged food to give to the homeless” (Kinaci). This describes how Erin’s dad is trying to get her into the habit of volunteering to do good deeds for people who are not as privileged as her. When you finally stop thinking about yourself and start to think about others, you are lending them a helping hand and pulling them from their dark struggles such as poverty to the light-filled side of opportunities such as a new beginning. As a role model, it is important to be selfless because you are giving hope to those who need it in order to keep going. You are also voluntarily leading others to the path of accomplishment and

I didn’t truly understand it at the time, but as I grow older and mature I am beginning to understand more and more. Also, in that same conversation, my father told me about some of the people he works with and works for, and how they give back but often only in the spotlight. They will donate money when the attention is on them, or they will do charity events when the media is involved. Looking back at it, this is a very selfish idea. When do we hit that point in our life where we are so selfish that we can not help others; is it a conscious decision or are we just not aware of our actions? I have seen this same of idea of selfishness in my own experiences. I went to a very wealthy private school, with many students coming very wealthy families. Often these families would donate money to the school, but in return they expected a plaque or they expected something to be named after them, some kind of recognition. Some people will say this is not selfish because they are giving back; however, others will say this is a selfish action because they are only giving looking for a return.

Selflessness is an extremely important heroic trait, maybe the uppermost important. It is the driving force behind heroism. Heroes become heroes when they do something for

"We are all here on earth to help others. What I can't figure out is what the others are here for." --W. H. Auden (1)