Kindred

I really liked the book kindred. I liked the fact that the book dealt with past and present times and I think that, that added to the readers understanding of what was happening. Dana the main character seems really strong. She puts up with a lot and even inflicts pain on herself to return to present time America. I thought it was interesting that the time was very different, she would be gone for seconds in 1976 and months in the 1800's. I would have liked to have gotten a better picture of Rufus though. In the book it gives a little description about how he has red hair but mostly his personality and reckless ways are on display. I found it interesting when Dana was on the plantation how the slaves were divided, some worked in the fields and others worked in the kitchen and throughout the house, it makes sense but I just never really thought about it. How did they distinguish which slaves worked on the crops and which had to work closer to the house? Also I was suprised to know that slaves slept in the attic in the house, I thought that slaves slept in the yard in small shacks that could very well be sheds. The description that the author gives while she is being whipped made me feel pain. Also I thought it was sad how the slave trades were, when they would just chain them up and take them away. In the book (and I am assuming in real life) free blacks could easily become slaves, for example Alices mom was free but she was very scared when the whites would come by on their horses, and made sure Alice was inside. Issac and Alice tried to runaway once Issac beat up Rufus and Dana found him face down in a puddle. When they found Issac they beat the crap out of him and as I remember he died or was sold. Alice becameRufus's slave pretty much, but I never understood how he could love her and hurt her with a whipping. Kevin saved Dana when he was there, she got to work in the house and he protected her from getting a beating from Tom. As terrible as Rufus and Tom were some of the things they did after they were done beating the crap out of the help makes me think that they are bad people, but they have a tiny bit of sympathy. Kevin is portrayed as being the perfect husband and I was suprised to know that he was white and in fact didnt until they were talking about how his family didnt approve of Dana at first and how they were not allowed to refer to each other as husband and wife in the 1800's I thought that because it was obvious that some owners were having relationships with their slaves that it would be no suprise to Rufus that Dana and Kevin were together. Rufus in my opinion was crazy, I dont think anyone in their lifetime sees as much accident as he does. At the end when Dana kills him, I think that in a way it had to be done. And I thought it was admirable for Nigel to burn down the house to make it look like an accident. I think that if anyones life was on the line, they would say "sorry, but I come before you", it was just a method of defense, it is not like she could have just laid there and let herself get rapped, or even worse. I felt terrible when Alice hung herself but Rufus should not have sold those kids, they were his too. Overall I was very pleased with this book and would read it again, it sent across strong messages with great detail and opened my eyes to the terrible things slaves had to endure in the past. In comparison to what we have been doing in class "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow" comes to mind right off. Dana had to adjust the "rules" of slaves, the way she addressed people, her attitude, and having to do household work. I also think about the movies we have watched recently such as "Eyes on the Prize", I think that it is very sad that African Americans were not free to begin with and that whites took their freedom for granted. Personally, most of our readings can be compared in some way to this book but specifically I think about "Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom" because although the African Americans in Kindred were not all free, the ones who were and had "papers" could easily get their freedom taken away from them if they came across a white man who was having a bad day. I feel like this time in our history was a sad one and another reason I liked the book Kindred is because it puts a picture in the readers head that we arent necessarily given in our more academic readings.