When I read the end of Kindred,
I found myself strangely surprised. Did I really not think Dana would
eventually kill Rufus? To be honest, I didn’t think she would actually do it,
but I suppose it is the only way we can know that Dana is through with her time
travel. I would expect the scene to be brutal and violent, but it was actually
quite subdued. Right before Dana kills Rufus she describes that they were
laying together “with his head on my shoulder, his left arm around me, his
right hand still holding my hand” (259). The scene almost feels peaceful, and
Dana momentarily contemplates giving in to Rufus. After all, he was preparing
to rape her. She notices that “he was not hurting me, would not hurt me if I
remained as I was” and almost convinces herself to give in. But then she stops
herself mid thought, and kills Rufus.
The mixed
emotions and thoughts in this scene really tie in to the rest of the story.
Rufus and Dana seem to fall into a cycle of wrongdoing on Rufus’ part and
forgiveness on Dana’s part, and the end shows the limit to Dana’s forgiveness.
She knows she will not forgive Rufus—or more importantly herself—if she lets
Rufus rape her. She says of Rufus just before killing him that he is “erratic,
alternately generous and vicious” she notes that she “could accept him as my
ancestor, my younger brother, my friend, but not as my master, and not as my
lover” (260). Dana put up with a lot of abuse from Rufus, and even developed a
strange caring relationship with him, but she retains her power over herself in
the end by putting limits on their relationship. While I don’t believe that
murder is usually the right answer, here it brought a natural close to the novel.
Sure, Butler could have just had Dana hurt Rufus enough to get away from him,
but that is not really a realistic outcome given the context of the situation.
When I
first read the part where Dana gets her arm stuck in the wall on her last
travel through time I thought it was a very strange thing to end the novel
with. But the more I think about it, the more sense it makes in the story. When
Dana went back to 1976, Rufus’ hand was still gripping Dana’s arm in the same
spot that was stuck in the wall in 1976. Dana loses part of her arm in the
incident, which is symbolic to her losing a part of herself in the past. I
think the reason Dana’s arm gets stuck in a wall and not something else is
because walls are natural and mostly permanent dividers. The wall represents
the division between the past and the present, which Dana was stuck between
throughout the novel, and in the end she is finally able to break free and
remain on one side of the wall. She loses a part of herself in the past, but
gains an understanding of her history that she could get in no other way.
I really
enjoyed Kindred by Octavia E. Butler,
and found it complex and fascinating. The ending first perplexed me, but now I
think I see why it ended in the way it did, and find it to be a good conclusion
point for the story. It doesn’t sum everything up perfectly in terms of themes,
but is a good conclusion to the plot.
Works Cited
Butler, Octavia E. Kindred. Boston, Massachusettes; Beacon Press, 2003. Print.
I just finished this novel. I was always a fan of Ms. Butler's short stories. I searched for an interpretation of the significance of Dana losing her arm. The one above is excellent.
ReplyDeleteI just finished this novel. I was always a fan of Ms. Butler's short stories. I searched for an interpretation of the significance of Dana losing her arm. The one above is excellent.
ReplyDelete