Teachers, check out our ideas for how you can creatively incorporate SparkNotes materials into your classroom instruction. Dana feels dizzy and blacks out, then finds herself at a river where a young boy is drowning. Kindred is a novel by Octavia Butler that was first published in 1979. The boy’s father comes and points a rifle at Dana, but Dana is transported back to her home before the man can shoot. Dana learns that Kevin waited for her a while, but five years have passed since Dana left and Kevin is now in the North. Kevin is also a writer, and has a book published. These patrollers are supposed to ensure order among the slaves, but really just enjoy torturing black people. Find out what happens in our Chapter 1: The River summary for Kindred by Octavia Estelle Butler. Last Updated on May 6, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. A boy—who looks like an older version of the boy that Dana saved from the river—is staring at his curtains burning in the corner of the room. Kevin helps Dana get medical attention for her wrists and the two have 15 days of peace to heal and reaffirm their relationship. With her education, Rufus also puts Dana in charge of household affairs. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. Tom and Rufus find Dana and bring her back, then whip her soundly. This is also a painful book to read because of its graphic depiction of slavery and Butler wastes no time in demonizing what was demonic. Dana continues to work with Sarah at the cookhouse. When Dana wakes, she is back in her home with Kevin. Women in American History (HIST 330 LEC) Academic year. In Rufus’s room, Alice finds Dana’s letter to Kevin—unsent. Kindred is a novel by Octavia Butler. Dana tries to convince Alice to wait and persuade Rufus to officially free Alice’s children, but neither is responsive. Kindred is a novel by Octavia Butler that was first published in 1979. Find out what happens in our Prologue summary for Kindred by Octavia Estelle Butler. We're not quite sure how this could happen, but it seems to be something Dana can't explain to the police or the hospital doctors. Dana spends a week recovering, then finds out that Tom wrote to Kevin on her behalf. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Dana (Edana) wakes in the hospital with her left arm amputated. Rufus gives her directions, saying that Alice is a “free black” and a friend of his. After a few hours at home, Dana is transported to the past again and finds Rufus unconscious in a heavy rainstorm. She finds herself in the woods with Rufus, now a young man, who is fighting a young black man while Alice watches. Others in the office make comments about their interracial relationship, as Kevin is white, but Kevin and Dana pay little attention. Ace your assignments with our guide to Kindred! They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!”, “This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. As Dana approaches the cabin, white men ride by and begin to terrorize the black family living there. He wanted her to type his stories, which she disliked doing, so they quarreled over the issue. It changes the way you exist in the world even though the world is exactly the same. The trouble began on June 9th, 1976 as Dana and Kevin are moving to a new house in Los Angeles, California. Dana tries to put the incident behind her, but a few hours later she again feels dizzy and finds herself transported to a bedroom in a wooden house. Dana saves the child and gives him CPR, despite the protests of the boy’s mother. Kevin isn’t sure if he believes Dana about where she went, but knows that something very strange is happening. Alice is in terrible shape from the patrollers’ beatings and dog packs, but Dana manages to nurse her back to health and keep her wounds free from infection. Rufus is stunned and blames her. Dana does her best with her limited medical knowledge. In the prologue of Kindred, an unnamed narrator—who turns out to be the novel's protagonist, Dana—contemplates the loss of her left arm.The police suspect Dana's husband, Kevin, of mangling her arm, but when questioning her proves fruitless, the police give up, and the next time Dana wakes, Kevin is sleeping beside her in a hospital chair. Dana throws the curtains out the window, then tries to talk to the boy to find out what is happening. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class.”. Rufus’ father arrives with the wagon, disgusted that Rufus’ fall is going to cost him money. Dana explains more about her relationship with Kevin. Kindred Summary and Study Guide. KINDRED: PLOT SUMMARY / ANALYSIS THE FALL Summary (Continued) PART 3 . Kindred is a novel by Octavia Butler. Course. Kevin crouches over Dana, explaining that she was only gone a few seconds, though Dana is sure she spent minutes saving the boy. Kindred Introduction. Available Analysis Octavia Butler begins her novel in a jarring fashion: her heroine, Dana, is in a hospital with her arm recently amputated and her confused husband Kevin at her side after he was just questioned by police. Terrified that the man will kill her when he wakes, Dana tries to run away but gets too dizzy and blacks out. Kevin hears the commotion and comes to the yard, but can’t reach Dana before she transports back to the present. Dana joins the household, helping the cook Sarah and Sarah’s mute daughter Carrie and reading to Rufus when his strict father and hysterical mother, Margaret, are not around. When Rufus dies, Dana is catapulted back to the present, but the place on Dana’s arm where Rufus’s hand was clamped is severed and crushed in the wall of Dana’s house. Struggling with distance learning? Though there is nothing Dana could do, Rufus blames Dana and sends Dana out to the field for a day of backbreaking work under the harsh overseer’s whip. Study Guides. Summary Read a Plot Overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter Summary and Analysis. Butler grew up in the racial mix of Pasadena, experiencing segregation and discrimination first-hand as she watched her mother and female relatives withstand abuse as maids from their employers. . The couple put together an emergency bag so that Dana will be ready when this happens again. Rufus then crosses the line by selling off a slave who had committed the “crime” of speaking to Dana and making Rufus jealous. Stripped of the semblance of control over her life, Dana sends herself back to the present by cutting her own wrists. Rufus is sprawled on the ground, having broken his leg falling from a tree as a young slave boy named Nigel watches, unsure how to help. Dana saves the child and gives him CPR, despite the protests of the boy’s mother. She finds him distraught outside the Weylin house, and learns that Alice has committed suicide by hanging herself in the barn. Four days later, Alice and Isaac are caught by patrollers. As an apology, Rufus then assigns Dana to the relatively easy work of being a servant to Margaret, who is now addicted to laudanum. Summary: The Fight, Part 1. With Rufus’s rifle pointed at her face, Dana gets scared enough that she transports herself and Kevin back to the present. Rufus punished Alice for trying to run away again by pretending to sell Joe and Hagar, plunging Alice into a deep depression that ended in her death. Finally, the boy chokes out water and the woman gathers him … As Alice recovers, Rufus forces Dana to convince Alice to become his mistress. After they leave, Dana creeps up to the house and secures a safe place to stay for the night. Dana explains that she traveled back in time, and Kevin realizes that she must be traveling to the past whenever Rufus is afraid he will die, and then returning to the present when she herself is afraid of death. Kevin struggles to readjust to the present after five years spent in the past trying to help slaves escape while keeping himself alive. They just drifted back and forth between the two. (including. Instant downloads of all 1440 LitChart PDFs Kevin and Dana had decided to get married even though their surviving family members did not support an interracial marriage. One night Weylin has a heart attack; Dana tries to help, but cannot resuscitate him. the novel one returns to, again and again.—Harlan Ellison "One cannot finish Kindred without feeling changed. Our, "Sooo much more helpful than SparkNotes. They have a hard conversation about whether Dana can manage to kill to Rufus if she travels again. He forces himself on Dana in her room in the attic, and Dana is compelled to get her knife from her emergency bag and stab Rufus. Dana decides to run away on her own rather than trust Rufus. View all While Kevin symbolically looks forward, dreaming of living unencumbered by this history of suffering, Dana looks backward – tied forever to that trauma in her skin and her lost arm as reminders of everything her ancestors survived. Kevin arrives and he and Dana try to escape the Weylin estate. But another patroller waits outside and snatches Dana when she goes out to collect another blanket. It has been frequently chosen as a text for community-wide reading programs and book organizations, as well as being a common choice for high school and college courses. Brief Biography of Octavia E. Butler. Unluckily, they meet Rufus on the road and Rufus threatens to shoot first Kevin, then Dana, if they leave. Dana still desperately waits for her ancestor Hagar to be born so she can be freed of her connection to the Weylin family. After graduating high school, Butler found many temporary jobs that allowed her to attend … You can view our. Alice hates it, but does so to keep herself safe from more punishment. Read a Plot Overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter Summary and Analysis. This free study guide is stuffed with the juicy details and important facts you need to know. The woman beats Dana’s back as Dana tries to get the child to breathe on his own. This is the present moment, 1976, and also the end of Dana’s story. Its author, Octavia Butler, has gone on record saying that the book is a sort of "Grim fantasy," although it includes elements of both science fiction (like time travel) and high literature (like difficult themes). By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. See Plot Diagram Summary. Rufus agrees to let Dana write Kevin a letter, but makes Dana burn a book on slavery and a map of Maryland so that Dana can’t escape on her own. When Rufus repeatedly calls Dana, a black woman, a “nigger,” Dana starts to believe that she is in the pre-Civil War South. Here's where you'll find analysis about the book as a whole. Kindred isn't your average Sci-Fi novel. Nigel covered up Rufus’s death with a fire and he and Carrie, now Nigel’s wife, took Joe and Hagar to Baltimore to raise them. They whip Alice’s father for leaving the Weylin plantation without a pass and drag him off, then beat Alice’s mother. He offered to support Dana so that she could quit her job, but she kept working. 2017/2018 It is backbreaking and she collapses. The two bond over their isolation from society and the fact that they have both lost their parents, and they soon begin dating. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Octavia Butler’s Kindred explained with part summaries in just a few minutes! He seems to see Alice and Dana as two halves of his wife. She sneaks out and manages to make it past Easton town, but is betrayed by another slave. American River College. After Dana’s amputated arm heals, Kevin and Dana travel to Maryland in the present to find out what happened to the Weylin family. Rufus Weylin, The trouble began on June 9th, 1976 as Dana and Kevin are moving to a new house in Los Angeles, California. The Kindred study guide contains a biography of Octavia E. Butler, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. The woman screeches that the child is not breathing, so Dana takes the child back and begins to perform artificial respiration. Kindred, first published in 1979, would become her most best-selling novel. Octavia Butler’s Kindred explained with part summaries in just a few minutes! Dana feels dizzy and blacks out, then finds herself at a river where a young boy is drowning. Check out our detailed character descriptions. Dana convinces Rufus to be a true father to Joe and Hagar, even drawing up certificates of freedom for the children when he brings them back to the Weylin plantation from Baltimore. Now back in the new house that they had bought together, Dana does not feel at home without Kevin there. It has been six years for the Weylins, and Alice has had a child with Rufus named Joe. Kindred Yet Rufus wants Dana to stay with him and act as a mother to his children. He admits that he knows this to be true. 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