I admit that I am engaging in a bit of overkill here, but I can’t stop writing about familial ties in Kindred. Every time I think about the book, something new pops up that I can’t believe I haven’t seen before. I keep on finding these random thoughts and facts that I should have thrown in the paper. This one is blaringly obvious, at least more so than the others: the title of the book. Dictionary.com defines kindred as many things:
1. a person's relatives collectively; kinfolk; kin.
2. a group of persons related to another; family, tribe, or race.
3. relationship by birth or descent, or sometimes by marriage; kinship.
4. natural relationship; affinity.
All of these can be seen in the book. The simple title of the novel conveys so much meaning. Dana and Rufus and all of the other related characters can be seen as part of a large tapestry of relatives. It is interesting to see these two focused on out of a huge number of relatives. Also, the book centers on this one group of people who are all related through the Weylin plantation, as well as focusing on race. The connections of both marriage and birth are explored deeply in the relationships between the Weylins, between Kevin and Dana, Rufus and Alice and Isaac, and almost every other character in the book. Lastly, I feel that natural relationships are explored. Dana definitely has an affinity for Rufus early in the book, being almost made to care fr Rufus as Tom Weylin says. Then there is the affinity between Alice and Dana, who are seen as similar in so many people’s eyes. These natural relationships are a huge focus in the novel. Octavia Butler accomplishes so much through the use of one word: kindred.
This is an excellent observation, and certainly could have been the focus of a response paper in itself. An additional aspect of the "kindred" metaphor has to do with the general (American) reader, and the idea that Butler is compelling any such reader to confront his or her own quite literal relationship (a word that reflects "kindred" in the root "relation") with this era of our history. And the idea that part of Dana's feeling of "kinship" with Rufus is *voluntary*--a sense of *affinity* between them--and not just the abstract fact of blood relation (which Rufus never learns about) is also really important. She voluntarily accepts this connection to her past.
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