Dana's Gradual Immersion into the Past

 

    Throughout the novel Kindred, Dana and Kevin get sent to the 19th century Antebellum Maryland on a plantation. They eventually figured out that Dana was being sent back to save Rufus and she could only go back when she faced death. At first, Dana merely wished to fulfill her purpose. She didn't think her life was connected to those on the plantation apart from her blood relatives. In her perspective, she was an external spectator who had no place in the time. She would simply observe the lives of those around her and do whatever she could to survive until she could be returned to her real life, where she truly belonged. However, as time went on and her trips took longer, she became increasingly integrated in the society and lives of those on the Weylin Plantation. At times she became more involved without realizing it and at other times she was aware that the plantation was a true part of her life, an experience that will stay with her until the day she dies.

    One moment where Dana is involving herself in the lives of Weylin's slaves is when she teaches Nigel to read. There are many complex factors of this seemingly simple interaction that mean a lot of things for Dana and her life with her ancestors. First of all, it's the first time Dana willingly does something that can put her in danger. "'You scared?' he asked. 'Yes. But that doesn’t matter. I’ll teach you.'"(Butler 103). Beforehand, Dana simply did everything she could do to survive. She knew exactly how dangerous it was for her, a black person with no papers, on the run or even on the plantation. She stayed as far away as she could from any situation that could bring her harm. This was due to instinct and fear. She experienced the whipping of Alice's father for herself and was scared the same could happen to her. Despite all this justified self preservation, she proceeds to secretly teach Nigel to read even with the danger of being caught. She understood perfectly well that if she was caught, she would definitely be whipped by Tom Weylin. This does end up happening, and it's what sends her back to present time. This is significant because she's taking her first steps towards doing whatever she can to help the lives of slaves on the plantation. By doing so, she is unknowingly involving herself more than ever before. She lives in the same beds as the slaves, she secretly helps the life of one, and she suffers the consequence of being caught in the act. 

    The subsequent event that makes Dana realize that she is moving away from being an observer is when she and Kevin watch the slave children play at a slave sale. Before this, she acknowledged that she was a mere observer who took on the role of an actor. She knew that she never immersed herself into the role and she dropped the act as soon as she returned home. Her and Kevin both lived this truth, but it was even truer for Kevin since at the time he was barely integrated or accustomed to life in the 18th century. However, this changed when Dana watched the children of the field hands play a rather disturbing game. They were acting out a slave sale, with each of the children taking on different roles. Master, slaves, buyer, the whole dehumanizing deal. The thing that disgusted Dana was the fact that the kids were extremely casual with it and saw the ordeal as normal. This was obviously because they were just kids who weren't thinking about what they were doing, but that fact is what disturbed and enlightened Dana. She realized that the children as well as her and Kevin were becoming desensitized to slavery. "It’s nineteen seventy-six shielding and cushioning eighteen nineteen for me. But now and then, like with the kids’ game, I can’t maintain the distance. I’m drawn all the way into eighteen nineteen, and I don’t know what to do. I ought to be doing something though. I know that"(Butler 106). The outrage from these realizations shortens the distance between what she sees as her real life and her act on the plantation. The outrage makes her want to do what she can to help the lives of the slaves, which further immerses her. Just like Dana says, every now and then she goes through an experience that blends her life with the Weylin slaves. This goes on until she is fully immersed physically and mentally. Then finally, she is technically separated from that life but she is still mentally and physically affected for the rest of her life.

Butler, Octavia E. Kindred. Boston, Beacon Press, June 1979.