In Kindred, by Octavia E. Butler, the main protaganist, Dana, begins her story as an average 26 year old woman that lives in 1976. She does not make very much money and starts to get used to living in run down apartments, but that is about as tough as it gets for her. Suddenly life gets even more tough when she travels back to 1815 in Maryland. Once she goes through a few harsh whippings and a day in the cornfields, she realizes that pain is actually the only thing keeping her grounded. Dana overcomes this pain through education and by showing her power she obtains in the end. She does not allow herself to become the typical powerless slave with no voice. She uses the inevitable pain she goes through as a slave to her advantage to ultimately transcend slave stereotypes.
Dana goes from living a normal life to being a slave in the early 1800s. When she first travels back in time she does not think she will be able to survive, but she is reminded that her “ancestors survived that era—survived it with fewer advantages than you have. You’re no less than they are” (51). Dana tells Kevin that she is afraid she cannot survive that time period. As a modern day woman that is educated, she believes she is unprepared for the daily pain her black ancestors went through to stay alive. She believes that she cannot match their endurance both physically and mentally, so she thinks. When she gets whipped “it came like a hot iron across my back searing my skin” (107). This shows the true violence of slavery through her eyes and allows the reader to feel her pain and humiliation. Eventually, she uses this pain as a way to overcome slavery because she will not let it take away her voice. It is almost as if she took her life at home for granted and finally she finally realizes that “the pain was a friend. Pain had never been a friend to me before, but now it kept me still. It forced reality on me and kept me sane” (123). She experiences physical pain from working in the fields and being whipped along with emotional pain of being a modern black woman in a slavery driven society. She quickly feels shame for giving into this culture, but she knows she will not let this take over her. Dana reflects the strange dynamics of being a slave:
Rufus came out to play hero for providing such a good meal, and the people gave him the praise he wanted. Then they made gross jokes about him behind his back. Strangely, they seemed to like him, hold him in contempt, and fear him all at the same time. This confused me because I felt about the same mixture of emotions for him myself. I had thought my feelings were complicated because he and I had such a strange relationship. But then, slavery of any kind fostered strange relationships. Only the overseer drew simple, unconflicting emotions of hatred and fear when he appeared briefly. But then, it was part of the overseer’s job to be hated and feared while the master kept his hands clean. (229)
In the end, Dana realizes that as a slave you will be physically harmed in so many ways, but it is how a slave thinks about it mentally. She concludes that slavery is a state of mind where one can accept enslavement, but still want to be free. Only fear helps a slave accept slavery to make freedom mentally impossible showing that slavery is not purely a physical state. Ultimately, Dana uses the pain she experiences both physically and mentally to show her strength.
Dana also sets herself aside from the other slaves because she is educated, which the other slaves lack. Since she is from a modern day society, she knows “about towns and rivers miles away—and it hadn’t done me a damned bit of good! What had Weylin said? That educated didn’t mean smart. He had a point” (148). She has 150 years of historical knowledge to her advantage, but she cannot find a way to figure it out. When she tries to escape the plantation, she is ashamed of herself for not making a cleaner getaway. This fearlessness she has to escape sets her apart from the other slaves. Dana is aware that she has this “kindred spirit crazy enough to keep on trying” (57). Dana always feels that she should put up more of a fight even though she will likely get whipped. Without this, she would never overcome the harsh reality of slavery. She puts up this fight with education as well. Reading becomes a huge part of Dana’s life. Tom makes sure that she does not read and when she gets caught, “he snatched the book from me and threw it on the floor. Then he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me toward the door” (106). If the slaves are educated, then it is one step closer to them being like the white people, which is despised, especially by Tom. Education is a privilege and if the slaves are able to maintain it, then it is no longer a privilege. Even though this is prohibited for the slaves, Dana still finds a way to find a book and at the beginning would read to Rufus because “Tom Weylin didn’t want me reading on my own, but he had ordered me to read to his son” (73). Tom hates the fact that Dana can read. Since he knows she can, he thinks that he should use this to his advantage and use her education to benefit his son Rufus. This is not seen by any slaves besides Dana, which shows how she is not like a typical slave. Despite the potential harsh concequences, Dana tries to educate the other slaves as well. This desire she has to seek education is what most of the other slaves lack because of the fear they have of being caught. Dana is an educated slave that can read and write which is unheard of in this time period.
Fearlessness is something that Dana ulitmately defines in the end. She kills Rufus and shows that she will stand up for herself. When Kevin asks Dana about Rufus, she tells him that “I’m not property, Kevin. I’m not a horse sack of wheat. If I have to seem to be property, if I have to accept limits on my freedom for Rufus’s sake, then he also has to accept limits- on his behavior towards me. He has to leave me enough control of my own life to make living look better to me than killing and dying” (246). Dana tells Kevin that if Rufus tries to rape her, she will kill him. No other slave would ever say this type of bold statement because they are considered the slave owner’s “property.” The fear instilled in slaves during this time was so immense that even if their owners caused this much pain to them, they would never actually kill them because of the consequences. When Dana faces Rufus, she closely observes him:
He was not hurting me, would not hurt me if I remained as I was. He was not his father, old and ugly, brutal and disgusting. He smelled of soap, as though he had bathed recently—for me? The red hair was neatly combed and a little damp. I would never be to him what Tess had been to his father—a thing passed around like the whiskey jug at a husking. he wouldn’t do that to me or sell me or . . .“No.” I could feel the knife in my hand, still slippery with perspiration. A slave was a slave. Anything could be done to her. (260)
Rufus tries to seduce Dana and she feels as if the reality of this moment is overwhelming. She finds herself slipping into the same pleasure with hidden danger that she has seen in other slaves where they convinvce themselves that things are not as bad as they acually are. Dana remembers that slavery is not always tolerable. Painful and dehumanizing things happen to a slave. Her modern day mindset takes over and she quickly realizes that she cannot become Rufus’s mistress, even if she has to kill him. She develops this need to stand up for herself with Fowler and “began to realize that I should have resisted, should have refused to let Fowler bring me out here where only other slaves could see what happened to me. Now it was too late. It was going to be a grim day” (211). Dana quickly develops a strong hate for Fowler when he forces her into the fields and whips her as she is working. Dana often shames herself for not showing more resistance to the white slaver-masters throughout the novel. She is too scared of physical pain to put up much of a fight. However, when it comes to Rufus, she puts up the ultimate fight in the end. After Alice commits suicide, Dana knows this is her time to kill Rufus to avoid being Alice’s replacement, so when she sees him she “pulled the knife free of him somehow, raised it, and brought it down again into his back. This is the only time he grunted. He collapsed across me, somehow still alive, still holding my arm” (260). Dana finally shows the power she is able to hold over Rufus when she kills him. She always threatens to use her power over him, but Rufus always holds the dominant power. Rufus has always pushed Dana’s buttons by abusing his own power. There is one point where Dana sympathizes with Rufus because his father, but he actually never becomes the kind man Dana once sees in him. In the end, Dana decides that there’s nothing left to do than to kill Rufus to save her from him using his power against her. This is huge for her because she shows that she will not be a voiceless and powerless slave that will be taken advantage of.
As a slave, Dana can never truly avoid pain both physically and mentally. She accepts this and uses it to transcend slave stereotypes and show that she has power. She shows this through her punishments, education, and ultimately when she kills Rufus, who has taken advantage of his power. She allows herself to overcome the harsh reality of slavery and seperate herself from the typical slave in the 1800s.