The Oppressed And The Oppressors In Octavia Butler's Kindred

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The history of slavery in America is one that has reminders of the institution and its oppressive state of African Americans in modern times. The slaveholders and the slaves were intertwined in a cruel system of oppression that did not yield to either side. The white slaveholders along with their black slaves became codependent amongst each other due to societal pressures and the consequences that would follow if slaves were emancipated with race relations at a high level of danger. This codependency between the oppressed and the oppressor has survived throughout time and is prevalent in many racial relationships. The relationship between the oppressed and the oppressor can clearly be seen in Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred. In this novel, the protagonist Dana Franklin, a black woman, time travels between her present day 1977 and the antebellum era of 19th century Maryland. Throughout her journeys back to the past, Dana comes in contact with her white ancestor, Rufus Weylin, a white slave owner and Dana ultimately saves his life and intermingles with the people of the time. Butler’s story of Dana and her relationship with Rufus and other whites as she travels between the past and the present reveals how slaveholders and slaves depended on and influenced one other throughout the slaves bondage. Ultimately, the institution of slavery reveals how the oppressed and the oppressor are co-dependent; they need each other in order to survive. The oppressed and the oppressor’s lives are intertwined through their need to protect and maintain their well-being. As seen in the novel, Dana is summoned to the past only when Rufus, her distant ancestor’s life is in danger. Rufus continues to summon her from his childhood through his adult years. ... ... middle of paper ... ...eir codependent relationship had a one-sided communication model in which whatever Rufus wanted, Rufus got. The communication between the two of them flowed from the oppressor to the oppressed. Dana had to withhold her true feelings about Rufus and what he could do with her for fear of being sent out to the fields earlier on in their encounters and being forced to do hard labor. Dana’s needs as Rufus’s friend were constantly placed on the lower level of importance. Throughout the novel, Dana was expected to place her needs, which were mainly finding Kevin, returning home, and educating other black slaves, on the back burner in order to completely service him and perform tasks, which resulted in her punishment. The fear that the oppressed and their oppressor have for each other is one in which they must maintain if they want to survive in their respective societies.

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