Octavia Butler’s Octavia Butler’s KindredKindred

Take a minute to respond to these 3 Take a minute to respond to these 3 different edition covers of different edition covers of KindredKindred. .

What do you see in each of them?What do you see in each of them?

Cornell NotesCornell Notes

Why Should We Study Why Should We Study KindredKindred??

"I would have been able to free a thousand more slaves if I could only have convinced them that they were slaves." ~Harriet Tubman

“It is better to speak remembering we were never meant to survive." ~Audre Lorde

“I will tell you something about stories. They aren’t just entertainment. Don’t be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have to fight off illness and death.” ~Leslie Marmon Silko, from Ceremony

What is What is KindredKindred about? about?

In In KindredKindred, the protagonist , the protagonist Dana’s journeys back into the Dana’s journeys back into the past become symbolic of our own past become symbolic of our own efforts as readers to make efforts as readers to make sense of slavery and comprehend sense of slavery and comprehend our own relationship to it. The our own relationship to it. The novel treats a number of key novel treats a number of key topics in the understanding of topics in the understanding of the institution of slavery.the institution of slavery.

Meet Octavia ButlerMeet Octavia Butler June 22,1947-June 22,1947-February 24, 2006February 24, 2006

AwardsAwards 1984, 2000 Nebula 1984, 2000 Nebula Awards - highest Awards - highest award in science award in science fictionfiction

1984, 1985 Hugo Award1984, 1985 Hugo Award 1995 MacArthur 1995 MacArthur Fellowship (for Fellowship (for geniuses!)geniuses!)

11 Published Novels11 Published Novels Parable of the SowerParable of the Sower FledglingFledgling Wild SeedWild Seed

“ “I'm comfortably I'm comfortably asocial — a hermit asocial — a hermit living in a large city living in a large city — a pessimist if I'm — a pessimist if I'm not careful; a not careful; a student, endlessly student, endlessly curious; a feminist; curious; a feminist; an African American; a an African American; a former Baptist; and an former Baptist; and an oil and water oil and water combination of combination of ambition, laziness, ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, insecurity, certainty, and drive.”and drive.”

Inspiration for writing Inspiration for writing the novelthe novel

“ “When I got into … Pasadena City When I got into … Pasadena City College, the … Black Power College, the … Black Power Movement, was really underway with Movement, was really underway with the young people, and I heard some the young people, and I heard some remarks from a young man… He said, remarks from a young man… He said, "I'd like to kill all these old "I'd like to kill all these old people who have been holding us people who have been holding us back for so long. But I can't back for so long. But I can't because I'd have to start with my because I'd have to start with my own parents."own parents."

(Rowell, C. “Interview with Octavia Butler.” (Rowell, C. “Interview with Octavia Butler.” CallalooCallaloo 20:1) 20:1)

According to the 4 July 1863 Harpers Weekly, "McPherson and Oliver, Baton Rouge, La." distributed this carte de visite photograph of "Gordon" who escaped from his master in Mississippi, "his back furrowed and scarred with the traces of a whipping administered on Christmas day last."

“My blouse was stuck to my back. It was cut to pieces, really, but the pieces were stuck to me. I had seen old photographs of the backs of people who had been slaves. I could remember the scars, thick and ugly” (Butler 113).

“Actually, I began with a man as main character, but I couldn't go on using the male main character, because I couldn't realistically keep him alive. So many things that he did would have been likely to get him killed … The female main character, who might be equally dangerous, would not be perceived so. She might be beaten, she might be abused, but she probably wouldn't be killed and that's the way I wrote it. She was beaten and abused, but she was not killed. That sexism, in a sense, worked in her favor. … But, anyway, that's a long-winded answer. And that's how I came to write Kindred.”

Why the title Why the title KindredKindred?? first used p. 57 “kindred spirit” Kinship, kindness, similarity, relationship, connection

Pun: “kin-dread”—fear of relatives, ancestors Plot: Dana reluctantly discovers her ancestry, which includes whites, as well as, enslaved Africans

Dana’s kindness is evident in many scenes (such as in first saving the young Rufus from drowning

Dana’s light skin and educated speech are seen as her kinship with white people, one of whom she has married

Black and white folks are kin—deconstructing the myth of separate “races”—and dependent on one another for survival

SettingSetting Talbot County Maryland

Home of the young Frederick Douglass, whose Narrative of the Life of an American Slave (1845) is the most famous slave narrative

Serves as a source for most of the details in the novel

SettingSetting Pasadena, California Time of the novel: June-July 4, 1976

With Flashbacks to 1800’s America’s Bicentennial, anniversary of the Declaration of Independence Are all men (and women) treated equally as the Declaration promises?

The Time TravelThe Time Travel

Rufus born about 1805Rufus born about 1805 ““The River” (about 1811)The River” (about 1811) ““The Fire” (1815)The Fire” (1815) ““The Fall” (1819)The Fall” (1819) ““The Fight” (1824)The Fight” (1824) ““The Storm” (1830-1831)The Storm” (1830-1831) ““The Rope” (1831)The Rope” (1831)

Historical ContextHistorical Context

Missouri Compromise 1819Missouri Compromise 1819 Rebellions and AbolitionistsRebellions and Abolitionists

1811 Louisiana - Charles Deslondes1811 Louisiana - Charles Deslondes 1822 Denmark Vessey1822 Denmark Vessey 1831 William Lloyd Garrison1831 William Lloyd Garrison

Black Power MovementBlack Power Movement Black Panther Party, October 1966, Black Panther Party, October 1966, OaklandOakland

Key ThemesKey Themes Race as a social Race as a social constructconstruct

Trauma and Trauma and Historical Memory Historical Memory (Historical (Historical Amnesia)Amnesia)

American MyopiaAmerican Myopia PowerPower Education as a Education as a subversive actsubversive act

Sex and GenderSex and Gender

PatriarchyPatriarchy White Supremacy White Supremacy and White and White PrivilegePrivilege

Black CommunityBlack Community SurvivalSurvival NormalizationNormalization RedemptionRedemption HomeHome