Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Suicide in literature essay
Analysis on kindred by octavia butler
Kindred by octavia butler essa
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Alice was a broken woman by the time she committed suicide. Over the course of her life, she had freedom after freedom, hope after hope, ripped away from her, culminating with Rufus taking away her last remaining reason to stay. She was born free but was enslaved when she fled to be with her slave lover against the slave owner’s wishes. Forced into slavery, she was immediately pressed into sexual bondage to Rufus, her master. When Dana encounters Alice during The Storm, Alice only has two reasons providing her existential meaning: her children, and her escape plan. She attempted to escape, but was caught and punished with the perceived loss of her children. In the words of Sarah, “When he took her children, I thought she was go’ die right there” …show more content…
Dana draws her agency from this bond of trust, as Rufus allows her to do things that other slaves would not be permitted to, such as the letter writing, providing Dana more autonomy and control over her conditions and over the lives of the entire household. This trust is destroyed completely when Rufus decides to sell a slave who had been regularly talking to Dana. When Dana confronts Rufus about this sale, he hits her, dealing a blow both physically to Dana’s body, and psychologically to her relationship of trust with him. Rufus then orders Dana to “‘get in the house and stay there’,” curtailing her freedom of movement and establishing dominance in their relationship (239). The use of the short, direct, forceful diction preventing Dana from arguing, literally taking her speech away shows how Rufus is showing dominance over her. With the removal of Dana’s agency and perceived influence in one moment, she only has one action available to show Rufus her continued agency: …show more content…
And when Dana acts in a way certain to result in her own death, she truly has nothing left to lose. After Alice had died, Rufus began to think of Dana as a replacement for Alice, attempting to impinge on the one freedom that Dana had left, that he had always respected before: her sexual agency. After Rufus wonders aloud “how long would it take [Dana] to stop hating” (259) him if he forced himself onto her, Dana came to the realization that she “could accept him as my ancestor, my younger brother, my friend, but not as my master, and not as my lover” (260). This is a very important moment for Dana, as she connecting all the different roles Rufus had filled in her life, and realizes that Rufus has gone too far. Dana knows has lost her sexual agency, she cannot accept that loss. This knowledge at the front of her mind with previous thoughts of homicide supporting it, she accepts the certain consequences faced by a slave that kills her master, and proceeds to stab Rufus to death This action is effectively committing suicide (as a slave), as Dana knows that she would either killed for her crime or returned to the
A large message Kindred sends to the reader is how one individual with a large amount of power can destroy other people's lives solely on their own whim. Rufus is the character who exemplifies this theme the most, especially with Alice. When Rufus begins to pester Dana to speak with Alice, she begins to worry that Rufus will exhibit his power on her: “I had thought that eventually, he would just rape her again” (Butler 110). The most disturbing part of this sentence is the casual tone used towards it. Dana already knows the type of power Rufus takes against Alice, which is constantly sexually violating her. Since he already put her through the abuse once, Dana knows he will do it again. In Dana’s last time travel, she begins to truly reflect
As time passed, she eventually was given small bursts of freedom and allowed outside for short increments of time. She began to look forward to this personal time, not considering running away. During the middle of the story, Annie became pregnant. During one of her increments of outside freedom one day, she went into labor. The house had a sense of wellness and almost normalcy as Annie did her best to care for the infant. One night she woke up to ‘the Freak’ holding the baby, dead in his arms which he had murdered as she slept..At this point in the novel, Annie realized she had been victimized long enough and decided to fight back. She became a determined, angry woman and killed him with an ax. She took flight from the cabin and wound up at the police station where she was able to obtain the help she needed. As she tried to resume her prior life she, she was again the victim of an attempted kidnapping while walking home and a robbery at her home. She lived in constant paranoia; finding it hard to make amends and rebuild trust with friends and
In kindred Octavia Butler writes about how a modern day black woman, Dana, is traveling back to the past to save a man that would become her ancestor. Whenever Rufus faces danger he calls upon Dana to save his life. Each time Dana goes back she finds out the brutal reality of the slave trade in America. She finds out the true meaning of freedom when she compared her life to the slaves in Tom Weylin’s plantation. She discovers that being a slave is not as easy as the books show it; instead it is a complicated relationship between master and slaves. Most of the slave masters depend on slaves for economic survivals. Throughout the novel Butler compared and contrasted Rufus and his father. She compared the way they cared for power and money and she contrasted their attitudes about education for their slaves and relationships with slaves. His father was a man who only cared about money and his power, but on the other hand Rufus is a man with feelings for his slaves.
Firstly, Alice’s betrayal centers on her husband, Arden. She betrays Arden in two ways; she plans his murder in a cunning way, and she does not remain faithful to him. She, along with some help, contrives a plan to murder Arden, so that she and Mosby may bring their secret relationship to the surface. Though Alice prefers to be with Mosby, and not to kill Arden, as noted when she states “…Might I without control/Enjoy thee [Mosby] still, then Arden should not die;” Alice understands this is impossible if she truly wants a relationship Mosby (“Arden” 274-275). “It is the fulfillment of Alice’s … desire for Mosby that is most blatantly presented as dependent upon the termination of Arden’s life” (Schutzman 290). Therefore, Alice creates a plan
Her ability to lie, her outspokenness and developing sexuality, is unlawful against the Puritan views and deemed as evil. If convicted of the acts she has committed, including her apparent interaction with the Devil, she would face severe consequences. But to avoid this, Abigail realizes that through deceiving innocence she can control and manipulate murderous acts to save herself and her reputation. This was a new opportunity for her to expand her rule over the town. Controlling the young girls around her, Abigail uses her newfound sense of power to manipulate the group in fear. Driving them to aid her accusations, she uses them in the court to prove her claims. Abigail quickly strikes fear into the girls when she begins to hit and threaten the girls screaming, “And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring you a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (Miller 19). By threatening the girls, Abigail easily frightens them enough to do her bidding. Using fear to her advantage is evil and this act of manipulation only furthers her antagonism. Abigail now has the ability to use facades and delusion with the loyalty of the other girls, to convince the people that it is not her conjuring spirits, but others in the town attacking
The book is a first person point of view about slavery on a plantation in the antebellum south. The author gives detailed and vividly explains the beatings, attempted rape, and constant verbal abuse. “Instead he stopped me with one hand, while he held me with the other. He spoke very softly. ‘You got no manners nigger, I’ll teach you some.’”(Butler, Kindred 41). The cause of the trauma originates from the brutality of slavery. The site of the trauma is adaptation. The audience sees a dynamic change in having to adapt not only in Dana, but also Rufus and Kevin. While traveling back in time, Dana begins to discover her roots and the origins of her ansestors. Before time traveling back to 1815 Dana takes her freedom for granted. Traviling back in time she has to adapt and find her identity in a foreign place. Marie Varsam argues that the “past should be, even must be, retained and manipulated in order to formulate a cohesive identity in the present” (Varsam). Every time Danan returns to
The commitment of Lucas to share his last words with his sister shows a deep love and respect for the one that he caused so much pain. The identity that he created in his death is one that shows weakness and a falsehood of what success truly is. Alice’s healing of her own scars starts with her realization that denial of the events of her past have also stopped her from living for the future. With this final set of circumstances, Alice, now can become the person that she truly sees her self to be; An independent black professional woman who does not fit the mold that society has carved out for her to be. Lucas has given her the freedom to create her own identity and the freedom to use his life mistakes as lessons for her own well being and survival of identity issues, societal views, and her relationships.
This in turn sheds light onto the conclusion that the "scars of slavery" have not disappeared, shown symbolically through Dana. At the conclusion of the novel, Dana’s arm is stuck in the past, held by Rufus. Rufus becomes the representation of "the long arm of slavery." That which reaches out although slavery has long been abolished. As Dana’s scars do not heal
Rufus does not love Alice, he only wants to possess her. Rufus abuses her because he wants her, yet she doesn’t want him. “You gentle him for me. He hardly hits me at all when you're here.” (Butler, 228) In this passage, there are two important things. One, Rufus hits Alice on
Butler alludes to the significance of the problem by choosing the adjective kindred as a title for her work. Throughout this novel, familial bonds are built up, and at the very end get a perverse form because of gender and racial mistreatments. Throughout time, Dana witnesses families clinging to each other while they are treated unjustly. The veracity of this assertion is confirmed by examining scenes where the heroes stick together with their family because they are put in circumstances where it is impossible to escape racial violation. An example of such a case is the incident between the slave called Tess and Dana. After Weilyn sells the man for attempting to flirt with Dana, other slaves try their best to not displease their masters because they do not want to be separated from their family. This scene suggests that racial violation was so horrifying that African Americans could not even choose to live with their family, and it made them even more dependent on each
There is very apparent shift in tone nearly half way through the passage. The tone shifts from a more descriptive and objective description tone to a more subjective Freudian or sexual tone. He starts by describing Alice and the negative consequences of losing his birth mother to a women with little to no emotion. Adam states, “Alice never complained, quarreled, laughed, or cried.” He includes this line to present the reader with a simple yet powerful description of his step mother Alice’s inattentiveness those around her. This allows the reader to understand that from a young age Adam was not given the basic love and attention needed to flourish. The passage then promptly shifts to a Freudian description of his sexual thoughts and reasons for them. He describes his promiscuous thoughts involving Alice after seeing her naked. He says, “He ached toward her with a wanting that was passionate and hot.” He continues by saying, “He did not know what it was about, but all the lack of holding, caressing, breat and bipple, and a soft voice- all of these were in his passion, and he did not know it.” Adam does not even know why he feels the way he does in this instant but is backed up by the reasoning that he never experienced love as a baby and therefore does not know any
Butler teaches the importance of freedom by having Dana fight to try to free or help the other slaves in the 1800s. Rufus falls out of a tree and breaks his leg when Dana is sent back to him but this time with her husband (Kevin). Rufus asks Dana to come to the manor with him so she goes to help his leg heal. Dana is living in Rufus's house in 1819 pretending to be her husband’s slave. Dana chooses she will fight to help all of the slaves of the plantation get their freedom or write their own way to freedom, so she starts secretly teaching a young slave boy by the name of Nigel to read and write. Kevin responds to this by saying “‘Do a good job with Nigel… Maybe when you’re gone, he’ll be able to teach others.”’ (Butler, 101). This shows her dedication to freeing the other slaves by risking her life to teach Nigel to read and write. A mute slave girl by the name of Carrie, sees Dana teaching Nigel and she points to the book, Dana sees that Carrie wants to read and write as well. She sees this as another oppurtinity of them writing their own freedom. Dana will risk anything to help the slaves learn to
In the story, evidence claims that Alice is rejecting and opposing to the religion. In reality, religion can be overwhelming to a lot of people, and Alice is no exception to this. Alice has her own way of thinking and throughout the book there are several examples where the other characters get angry, offended, or become afraid of Alice. Alice does attempt to offend fewer characters as the story progresses, but doesn’t fully accept their way of thinking. Throughout the story, Alice is rejected by the Mouse, the Duchess, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, and the Queen and King of hearts. This line of rejections continues to build up in Alice, and she gets frustrated. Finally at the courtroom scene in the “Alice’s Evidence” chapter, she continues to build up this frustration until it gets to the point where she grows in size uncontrollably, (the only time where she can’t physically control her growth,) and unleashes that anger on the Queen of hearts by saying “Who cares for you? You’re nothing but a pack of cards!) (Carroll 95.) When Alice experiences this outburst, she finally completely rejects their “religion” or their way of
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. ...
Alice in Wonderland belongs to the nonsense genre, and even if most of what happens to Alice is quite illogical, the main character is not. “The Alice books are, above all, about growing up” (Kincaid, page 93); indeed, Alice starts her journey as a scared little girl, however, at the end of what we discover to be just a dream, she has entered the adolescence phase with a new way to approach the mentally exhausting and queer Wonderland. It is important to consider the whole story when analyzing the growth of the character, because the meaning of an event or a sentence is more likely to mean what it truly looks like rather than an explanation regarding subconscious and Freudian interpretations. Morton states “that the books should possess any unity of purpose seems on the surface unlikely” (Morton, page 509), but it’s better to consider the disconnected narrative and the main character separately, since the girl doesn’t belong to Wonderland, which is, as Morton says, with no intrinsic unity. Whereas, there are a few key turning points where it is possible to see how Alice is changing, something that is visible throughout her journey. Carroll wants to tell the story of a girl who has to become braver in order to contend with challenges like the pool made by her own tears, or assertive characters, like the Queen.