Throughout Octavia Butler’s Kindred, Dana is reminded of her ancestral past through physical transportation and first-hand experience of slavery. In his critical essay, Philip Miletic outlines the literary context of the 1960’s and 1970’s to show how Kindred, a speculative fiction novel that takes place within and grapples majorly with slavery, is part of a highly political conversation about remembrance and history, patriarchy and gender, and the power of literacy and literature. These themes are somewhat independent in Miletic’s essay, but I argue, through the support as well as sometimes paradoxical disagreement of his arguments, that these themes are interconnected through the links of politics and rebellion, for example the Black Power …show more content…
and Black Arts movement. In the following essay, I explain the interconnection of several aspects of Kindred and Miletic’s analytical writing. At the forefront of his, and my own, argument is the influence of controversial political movements during the time Octavia Butler was writing Kindred. Although Miletic does not take a concrete stand, I argue Butler was actively resisting the message from the Black Power movement throughout a multitude of aspects of Kindred. These aspects are incredibly interrelated and one cannot be discussed without mentioning at least one other, furthering Butler’s skills as a political revolutionist through literature. Black Power and Literature During the height of the Black Power and Black Arts movement in the 1970’s, leaders created a conversation and debate about literature representation.
According to Miletic, the organization called for authors and artists to move past representing slavery, and create a new genre of African American Literature without returning time and time again to speculative slave narratives and imagery. Butler took a stand against this push, while also, seemingly contradictory, but in fact complementary, conformed to it. On one hand, Kindred is very obviously a novel that has slavery in the forefront. However, Octavia Butler created her own genre of African American Literature through her decision to make Dana foreign to the Antebellum era. She is a traveler on journey, whether than journey is time travel, a journey through multiple dimensions, or something else entirely is ambiguous, but the quasi science fiction journey aspect of the novel sets Kindred apart as a book redefining the African American genre as the Black Power and Black Arts movements called …show more content…
for. Despite not being mentioned in Miletic’s critical essay, his analysis inevitably draws attention to Percival Everett’s Erasure.
African American literature as a genre, of which the classification and nomenclature is a topic for another debate, is associated with slavery, suffering, poverty, sexual assault, etc. Both Percival Everett’s protagonist and Percival Everett himself struggled to have their works, which were topically outside slavery and mass suffering, published. One can gather how this exemplifies the Black movements’ reasoning behind the push towards a redefined genre. The success of tales of tragic suffering such as Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, or Push by Sapphire, to name a few, contributed to pin holing the genre.
It is very purposeful to have Dana be a female, African American, struggling writer in the 70’s Danas literacy. Unbeknownst to me while reading Kindred, Dana embodies the struggle for African American female authorship. Kevin, her white husband, is a published author. He makes comments about his superiority not limited to asking her to do his typing, and
becoming annoyed when she does not comply. Just like Percival Everett, Dana is struggling in a void of literature written by African Americans while African American literature is thriving in comparison. Miletic argues that this statement is furthered by her shorthand journal she starts to keep for herself. Rufus cannot read her shorthand, so for once, she has created a way of physically recording her thoughts. I agree with his statement that this is a political statement from Butler about black female authorship, stating “Dana hints at an enslaved black female text yet to come, a text that has been suppressed by and written under the constraints of patriarchal institutions (Miletic).” This a subtle example of how Butler’s literary decisions reflect hugely political problems in her contemporary political climate. Remembrance and Literature Remembering and recreating slavery through literature and art is not for the sake of potential time travel, and Octavia Butler makes that clear through her parallels to slavery and the 1970’s present. Although the scale is incomparable, Dana recounts her time working out of the labor agency as “mindless work, and as far as most employers were concerned, it was done by mindless people (Butler, 53).” Through the descriptions of the work and by referring to the labor market as the “slave market” Butler evokes clear parallels between unskilled, low paying, manual labor, primarily done by people of color, to antebellum slavery. As with any system of mass treachery, one must learn and remember to protect the present and future, and stand a respectful witness to those who experienced the past. Dana was not permitted to forget the past because forgetting and moving on is a privilege of those not affected. When she returns to her present, “like a shadow, the past remains with Dana and is part of her and her future (Miletic).” Kevin does not help the situation by recommending to Dana to try to move on from what she experienced during her first stint back in time (Butler 17). This is an urge to not only move on from her shock and pain, but implicitly move on from her history and her ancestors (Miletic). Kevin goes through adjustment when he transports to the two times, but he experienced an incredibly easier transition. He had to learn his place, a place of power, and the language to use to not obviously stand out as a foreigner, but since he was removed from the history, there were not internal implications. Dana, especially since she was talking, interacting, arguing, touching her own ancestors, nevertheless her experience as a black woman in an American with institutional racism felt in nearly every aspect of her life that carried back to slavery, had a much more internally difficult transition despite not having the privilege take time and care to the impacts from her journeys. Furthermore, Butler continues to sharpen the pain and suffering of slavery through the physical toll it takes on Dana’s body, climaxing when she returns to her present without an arm. Even prior to the loss of limb, Dana experiences near death whippings and a brush with death through a somewhat suicide attempt that all leave her in inexplicable, uncontrollable pain. Butler is making a statement on how the lives of African Americans is inextricably tied to slavery through either the comparisons to contemporary labor issues, the “labor market” Dana utilizes, or the weight Dana’s ancestral suffering and contact has on her mental and physical state. Gender and Power Politics Furthermore, Miletic writes about the complex and political relationship between gender and race as seen in Kindred. He states the Black Power Movement’s rhetoric about women was singularly patriarchal, constructing “women as mothers and procreators of the black revolution and men as warriors and protectors of black women (Miletic).” Thus, through the complicated gender and power dynamic to be described, Butler is increasingly challenging the message populated by the Black Power Movement. Dana is a maternal figure to both Rufus and Alice despite the complicated reality of their lineage to her and the nature of her travel which put her into their time when she was much older than them, their age, and then assumedly younger (Miletic). She grapples with her position as both a savior and a subordinate to Rufus. She both cares for Alice through her recovery and near death while also learning through Alice how to manage through her responsibilities and expectations as a slave. Although Dana takes on a maternal, healing role, she is not submissive, even in slavery. She repeatedly fights back and never becomes complacent despite the repercussions she faces. Butler defines the dichotomy of woman vs. man repeatedly, firstly through Dana’s care for others and her warrior and protector status. She definitively saves Rufus multiple times in heroic ways. Dana’s physical representation of her gender also creates a multidimensional character. From wearing pants to having a short, trim hairstyle, Dana is constantly being confused for a man. Although many are skeptical of her for her ambiguity and obviously different appearance, Butler has purpose in adding this element. In the book itself, it adds a layer of complicated modernity for Dana. However, Butler is making another clear battle cry against the patriarchal rhetoric employed by the Black Power movement. Literature and the power of literacy Additionally, I argue Butler created Dana as a writer and reader to add to her ability to remember. Her occupation makes her a historian, conveniently partially of the history she is transplanted to throughout the novel. Through her journey, her prior knowledge through her education and research grant her the ability to understand the time and place she is a foreigner to. This is not to say her transition to antebellum life was at all easy, it was very much physically and emotionally brutal. However, her intellectual scaffolding, allows her to feel slightly less displaced. Miletic states this historic knowledge does very little, if anything for Dana. It is true her recollection of history or the accounts of slaves and abolition “does not help her escape or prepare her for the past (Miletic).” I disagree. Dana’s frequent accounts of history perhaps do not set her free from slavery or help her when she attempts to run away, but they keep her sane. Her recollection of the history she is currently in is the recollection of not being in that history. It removes her from being an antebellum slave. She knows the full story from an outsider's perspective and the internal aid her recollection does is notable. I would also argue her status as a reader and amateur historian elevates Dana’s internal power, no matter if not manifested through verbalization. She does not become hopeless. Dana’s relationship with the literature and literacy also created a space for her own revolution. Dana unquestioningly taught the young slaves how to read despite knowing the severe consequences she and the children would face. Even when she was whipped for her lessons, she continued to educate the slaves. No, she did not make them fully literate, and even if she did it would be a small impact, but important nonetheless, on the mass quantity of slaves or even the individual lives of her students. However, literacy was power for Dana and she wanted, or needed, to be able to empower other slaves, too. Literacy was perhaps the only quality Rufus acknowledged Dana having superiority in over him. This change in the status quo of dominant master and subordinate slave startled Rufus and in part made him value Dana as a person. In this way, literacy was a huge game changer for Dana, which is in direct opposition to Miletic’s statement that it was largely a powerless quality. Thus, literacy and her knowledge of history and literature were tools of power for Dana and a way to spread power to the other slaves. Despite my argument that Octavia Butler made consistent literary choices to defy the message of the Black Power Movement, it is important to note the complex politics of the movement at large. The context of Miletic and my analysis are contained in the context of literary politics with the exception of gender statements, which were obviously not the focus of the Black Power Movement. Butler made these choices to create her own message of power, gender, literature,
Kindred by Octavia Butler is incredible book that leaves the reader hypnotized as she depicts the antebellum period that left a deep and unremovable scar in United States history. This story educates people who might be ignorant
Prentice Hall Anthology of African American Literature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000. 163-67. Print.
Initially, because she underestimates her own courage, which has never been properly tested, Dana doubts that she has sufficient fortitude to survive in the nineteenth century. As Kindred unfolds, it becomes clear that she does, indeed, have abundant courage and stamina. Butler effectively utilizes a common technique in fiction whereby an individual becomes heroic by transcending his or her base humanity by drawing on hidden inner resources. Dana is tested in her second trip to the past when she is nearly raped by a white man who is part of a patrol—the forerunner to the Ku Klux Klan. Never before having experienced physical abuse, initially Dana is reluctant to act. She fails to disable him by gouging his eyes, thereby losing her only chance
Mat Johnsons novel, Pym challenges readers not only to view his work with a new set of eyes but also the work of all American literature with the understanding that the idea of Whiteness still has a very strong power over literature today. It is unfortunate that in today’s society, the pathology of Whiteness still holds a very strong presence in literary world. Literature from American authors versus literature from African American authors still continues to be segregated and handled with two different sets of criteria. Johnson’s novel engages in different aspects of the argument presented in Toni Morrison’s work entitled Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination. One of the main ideals that Pym engages in is the thought that “…a figuration of impenetrable whiteness … surfaces in American literature whenever Africanist presence is engaged” (29). Through the character Chris Jaynes, Johnson’s novel focuses much attention on the Whiteness seen in the literary world and how it still affects literature today. Mat Johnson’s Pym addresses Morrison’s argument by challenging the reader to identify the pathology of whiteness as well as encourages readers not to only identify the problem but try to find new ways to combat it.
Gates, Henry Louis, and Nellie Y. McKay. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2004. Print.
middle of paper ... ... ction Genre: Interview with Octavia Butler." Black Scholar. 1986 Mar.-Apr., 17:2. 14-18.
The first novel, Kindred involves the main character Dana, a young black woman, travelling through time to explore the antebellum south in the 1800’s. The author uses this novel to reveal the horrific events and discrimination correlated with the slaves of the south at the time. Dana, who is a black woman of modern day, has both slave and white ancestry, and she develops a strong connection to her ancestor Rufus, who was a slave owner at the time. This connection to Rufus indirectly causes Dana to travel into the past where she helps many people suffering in the time period. Butler effectively uses this novel to portray the harshness of slavery in history, and the impa...
The civil rights movement may have technically ended in the nineteen sixties, but America is still feeling the adverse effects of this dark time in history today. African Americans were the group of people most affected by the Civil Rights Act and continue to be today. Great pain and suffering, though, usually amounts to great literature. This period in American history was no exception. Langston Hughes was a prolific writer before, during, and after the Civil Rights Act and produced many classic poems for African American literature. Hughes uses theme, point of view, and historical context in his poems “I, Too” and “Theme for English B” to expand the views on African American culture to his audience members.
James, Johson Weldon. Comp. Henry Louis. Gates and Nellie Y. McKay. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2004. 832. Print.
The relationship between slave and master. One of the the most complicated, unspoken of relationships in history. The book Kindred by Octavia E. Butler tells a compelling story of the relationship between a white man and an african american woman during slavery in the 1800’s. The tale starts with a woman, Dana, who travels back in time to 1800’s where she meets Rufus a young white boy. Throughout the story Dana learns about slavery through her experiences with Rufus and he eventually teaches her to truly understand the relationship between master and 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.
Margolies, Edward. “History as Blues: Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man.” Native Sons: A Critical Study of Twentieth-Century Negro American Authors. J.B. Lippincott Company, 1968. 127-148. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Daniel G. Marowski and Roger Matuz. Vol. 54. Detroit: Gale, 1989. 115-119. Print.
Toni Morrison. The Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Eds. William L. Andrews, Frances Smith, and Trudier Harris. New York: Oxford UP, 1997.
Black Fiction: New Studies in the Afro-American Novel since 1945. Ed. A. Robert Lee, a.s.c. London: Vision Press, 1980. 54-73.
Over the course of the century chronicling the helm of slavery, the emancipation, and the push for civil, equal, and human rights, black literary scholars have pressed to have their voice heard in the midst a country that would dare classify a black as a second class citizen. Often, literary modes of communication were employed to accomplish just that. Black scholars used the often little education they received to produce a body of works that would seek to beckon the cause of freedom and help blacks tarry through the cruelties, inadequacies, and inconveniences of their oppressed condition. To capture the black experience in America was one of the sole aims of black literature. However, we as scholars of these bodies of works today are often unsure as to whether or not we can indeed coin the phrase “Black Literature” or, in this case, “Black poetry”. Is there such a thing? If so, how do we define the term, and what body of writing can we use to determine the validity of the definition. Such is the aim of this essay because we can indeed call a poem “Black”. We can define “Black poetry” as a body of writing written by an African-American in the United States that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of an experience or set of experiences inextricably linked to black people, characterizes a furious call or pursuit of freedom, and attempts to capture the black condition in a language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm. An examination of several works of poetry by various Black scholars should suffice to prove that the definition does hold and that “Black Poetry” is a term that we can use.