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Ahmed Ahmed ENH 210: Final Draft Revisiting History

May 12th 2013 Professor: Dr.Throne

Time traveling science fiction novels are mostly associated with creative and vivid imaginations that take the reader to a world beyond their own. Octavia Butlers Kindred however does the complete opposite. Instead writing about a world with flying cars, and space colonization, Butler chooses to take her audience somewhere close to home, to a place where most 21st century Americans have little knowledge about. When someone brings up slavery in America we think of large plantations with Africans manning the fields, we think of an institution that nearly ripped our nation apart, but we dont necessarily connect the human aspect of slavery to our thinking. Butler uses time travel as a tool to bridge the gap between modern Americans and past Americans by revisiting and reliving history. Kindred not only plays off realistic events and social norms of 1820s America, but actually puts the main protagonist Dana through situations we know to be historically accurate. The novel begins in the year 1815. This is when the American slave trade market was just opening up. In 1808 the United States as mandated by the US constitution prohibited the importation of slaves from Africa or any other part of the world. The founding fathers assumed that if the market for slavery ended so would the need for slave labor. However the founders never envisioned that the southern parts of the United States would rely so heavily on an agrarian economy. The invention of the cotton gin was one of the most important factors in establishing the need for slave labor. In 1790 there was an estimated 690,000 slaves in the US, by 1810 with the implementation of the cotton gin system the number of slaves grew to 1.1 million. The number of slaves would continue to rise until 1860.

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Dana is thrown right into the time when slavery was beginning to take a stronghold in the south. When Dana asks Rufus what year it is Dana is shocked by the answer what year it is its eighteen fifteen when? Eighteen fifteen I sat still breathed deeply calming myself believing him... and now I knew why Rufuss father used his whip on niggers as well as horses(Butler 27). Dana finds herself in a time where it was morally acceptable to beat, rape, and even kill African Americans without any fear of judicial retribution, and she fears it will be done to her. Rufuss father Tom Weylin is a prime example of southern slave holder. The Weylin family wasnt a rich southern household in Antebellum, Maryland but did not stop them from having Thirty- eight slaves (Butler 30). The American slave trade market made it possible for slaves to be sold as cheap as 300 dollars. So Dana immediately has to establish herself as a bornfree African, too reduce the possibility of her also being sold into bondage. The choice of using Maryland by Butler can be attributed to the historical role in which Maryland played in being a ground where Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Tubman originated from. Whose slave narratives are carried by Dana in her second trip into the past as a sign of the institution of slavery would eventually end up. Also Maryland was the last slave state in close proximity to the northern Free states. This gave hope to many runaway slaves that they might have a chance of escaping to a non-slave state. Although if a run way slave was caught in a freestate, they would have to be returned back to the owner since slaves were considered property under the 5th amendment and as the Run way slave clause in the US constitution dictated. When Dana leaves to find Alices her ancestral grandmother and her family she witnesses a horrifying scene. Dana describes four riders dismounted and went to hit and kick the

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doorthree people were shoved almost thrown out of the cabin... No pass said one of the riders He sneaked off No, master I had a pass... I had If you had a pass where is it then Must have dropped it coming here The man was forced to hug the tree, and his hands were tied to prevent him from letting go (Butler 35). This part of slavery is known as the slave codes. The codes were established to control all aspect of a slaves movement. No slave was allowed to leave the plantation without being accompanied by a white person or without a pass written by the master stating when and where the slave was allowed to go. If a slave was caught without the pass by Patrols Groups of young white who ostensibly maintained order among the slaves(Butler 37) the consequences was to be extremely severe which ended up with the slave being beaten and even sometimes killed. These groups were the Forerunners of the Ku Klux Klan (Butler 37). Nothing about the scene described was remotely fiction. That was the reality of the time and Dana just like us is witnessing this brutal event for the first time. This is an attempt by Butler to draw the reader into the world of not so distant 1800s by removing the conventional thirdperson narrative of traditional slave memoirs and placing Dana in the first hand viewpoint directly. When Dana returns she tells her husband Kevin about the events she witnessed she tells him most people around Rufus know more about real violence than the screenwriters of today will ever know (Butler 48). By conveying this message to Kevin, Butler is actually addressing the reader. By indirectly telling the reader that no matter what you see in movies and television shows the level of violence will never be close to what it actually was. This is especially true nowadays, as more films are produced depicting slavery, the more the horrors and crimes committed under slavery become intertwined with Hollywood standards of excitement, drama,

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and sensationalism. This takes the viewing public even further away from the real human impact slavery had on a large number people, and puts a gap between us and history. Being an educated Black in the 1800s you were always viewed with suspicion. Dana being educated is seen as a threat to the institution of slavery. Almost all slave states passed laws that made it illegal for any person to teach a slave how to read and write. The slaveholders who were largely insecure and paranoid believed that if slaves gained enough knowledge they would get their freedom. Tom Weylin is a prime example of an insecure slave holder. During her stay at the Weylin household Dana is constantly reminded not to defy his wishes she is told Youll get in trouble...Tom already dont like you... He dont want no nigger round here talking better than him, putting freedom idea in our heads (Butler 74). In the midst of all the oppression, threats and persecution there were those who decided not be subjected to the authoritative rule. Nigel a teenager born into slavery takes the risk and asks Dana to teach him how to read and write. Dana says You know whats going to happen to both of us if we get caughtYes but that doesnt matter He turned away from me lifted his shirt in back so that I could see his scars (Butler 98). Dana hopes Nigel with a basic education would plot to escape to Pennsylvania someday (Butler 98). When Tom Weylin catches Dana giving Nigel lessons, Dana receives a punishment that is severe. I never saw where the whip came from, never even saw the first blow coming it came like a hot iron across my burning into mw through my light shirt (Butler 107). The sheer brutality against educated Africans gives the phrase the pen is mightier than the sword significance in the fight against slavery. Southern states used these tough measures to keep their northern neighbors oblivious to the crimes they were committing. Occasionally a run-way slave would make it to the north and explain to people his or her experiences, but keeping a slave uneducated prevented them from

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addressing the masses by writing in newspapers, holding rallies, and giving speeches. South states attempted to present a good version of slavery. Highlighting the fact that they gave African Americans a place to live, the ability to get married, and access to food and medicine, unlike what northerners did to Native Americans in the north and west of the United States. Kevin Franklin falls for the deception the 1800s generated. He says this could be a great time to live in I keep thinking what an experience it would be stay in it go west and watch the building of the country, see how much of the old west mythology is true Dana responds west thats where theyre doing it to the Indians instead of blacks(Butler 97). Kevin sees the Weylin house as not a really bad place he says this place isnt what I would have imagined no overseer, no more work than people can manage(Butler 100), because brutality came in many forms most Americans at the time fall prey to the deception of the time. Perhaps the cruelest punishment handed to slaves and the one that really fired up the nation against slavery was the breaking up of the family. At will slaveholders could choose which slaves they kept and which they wanted to sell. In Kindred the breaking of the family is mentioned a few times. Sara a household slave tells Dana about her ordeal at the Weylin household she says my man died- a tree he was cutting fell on him, then Marse Tom took my children all but Carrie she cant talk people think she aint got good sense(Butler 76). Slave children were seen as an investment keeping them until they were old enough to work and then selling them off when they reached peak value. Tom Weylins wife Margaret sold Saras children because she wanted new furniture, new china dishes, fancy things you see in that house nowso she made Tom sell my three boys to get money to buy things she didnt even need(Butler 95). This really struck a moral blow to the foundation of the country. People began

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to realize that denying people the fundamental right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness supers-seceded any belief a person held. Kindred does an amazing job at highlighting the importance of knowing history. By showing readers that you do not need a traditional slave memoir to learn about slavery. That with a creative imagination you can amaze, and teach at the same time. In the end as Kevin says Were in the middle of history, its already happened (Butler 100). The least we can do now is remember our past and too never repeat it.

Work Citied
Butler, Octavia E. Kindred. Boston: Beacon, 2003. Print.

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