Time Travel in Kindred

Themes of Time Travel in Kindred

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Kindred takes an interesting yet not unheard of pretense of looking at the racially motivated culture in the southern united states during the early 19^th century through the eyes of a modern day character of colour. What truly distinguishes it from other works along this theme is the author, Octavia Butler, uses the idea of time travel as a plot device to physically transport the primary characters, who happen to be a mixed raced couple, to this period of time. The idea of time travel comes into play in several key ways in the telling of the story. Most outwardly, looking at the entirety of the text as a cohesive work, the periods of time travel establish natural distinctions between sections of the book, stages in the lives of the individuals, and separate realms of reality between past and present. Most importantly, is established the difference between “reality” and “a distant time and place.” Interestingly enough, whether or not California of the 1970s or Maryland of the 1800s represented the most real “reality” to the main characters actually changed thorough the story. This is perhaps one of the most powerful effects of the use of time travel in the story.

Time travel likewise is not an uncommon theme in fiction, however rather than taking a science fiction like take on an occurrence that is definitely of that realm, Butler completely or nearly completely ignores the practical or scientific examination as to how the event occurs. It is almost as if Dana just accepts it from the very beginning of the work. This is an idea that is further reinforced by the fact that the reader is introduced to the plot at its end, and then brought back ‘round to the start of the duo’s time traveling ways. The ability for the characters to easily come to grips with the idea of time travel is paralleled by the same ease in their ability to integrate themselves into their assigned racial roles of the 1800s, and by doing so accepting the injustices of slavery. Thus, the reader is clearly clued in to just how quickly a modern socially and racially accustomed individual can become jaded by the racial conditions into which they are thrown. Further, the fact that the characters’ time travel cannot be readily controlled parallels their own inability to change or exist outside of the racial barriers established in this period of time.

The No Rape Culture

In the short story, “No Name Woman” by Maxine Hong Kingston, the author is trying to understand her family’s secret past concerning an aunt that had committed suicide. Her family had completely erased her from the family history because the aunt became pregnant while her husband was out of the country. The author presents three possible reasons for why the aunt took her and her baby’s life. Option number one was that she was raped. Option number two was that she had an affair by choice. Option number three was that she was simply interested in having a one-night stand. It is interesting that the author gives the reader these options because it allows the reader to make their own decision about what happened. Assuming the aunt was raped or coerced into a sexual relationship this story symbolizing modern day rape culture. It is seriously so upsetting that there is a such thing as rape culture but it is there, much like a big elephant in the room.

            The predicament of the aunt resembles the situation of a modern day college rape victim in many startling ways. First is that the blame is immediately placed on the victim. The way the village reacted to the aunt’s pregnancy was much worse than how society today would react but nonetheless there are similarities. Automatically the villagers assume that the aunt is guilty of cheating on her husband and begin ravaging everything that could be related to the aunt, “They ripped up her clothes and shoes and broke her combs, grinding them underfoot,” (Kingston 5). The villages vandalize the house, kill livestock, and ruin everything in the kitchen. When the villagers come into the family home and destroy everything, it was like reenacting the rape all over again. A reaction so extreme as this would not happen in our society but it is definitely safe to assume that the victim could be considered guilty of her own rape. When a woman reports a rape she will probably be asked many questions that seem to have nothing to do with her perpetrator. Such as, “were you drinking that night? What were you wearing? How late did you stay out?” By asking these kinds of questions, the victim becomes just as guilty as her abuser, which is ridiculous. In both the story and in modern day rape culture, the victims are automatically assumed to be guilty for another man’s crime.

            Another way that the “No Name Woman” connects to modern day rape culture is through the victim’s rapists. The author suggests that the aunt’s rapist was most likely someone she knew, “Perhaps he worked an adjoining field, or he sold her the cloth for the dress she sowed and wore. His demand must have surprised, then terrified her. She obeyed him; she always did as she was told,”(Kingston 5). The author also suggests that he could have even organized the raid to attack the aunt’s home. If this is true it could explain why the aunt had felt so trapped and humiliated that she would kill herself and her baby. On college campuses a victim’s rapist is almost always somebody they knew and thought they were safe around. Because of this the victim is less likely to report her rape. In this regard, both the aunt’s rapist and the rapists of college girls across the nation are able to go free. There are no consequences for the rapists even if the victim decides to speak up later on because the evidence that it even occurred goes away. Even here on our beautiful campus, the rapists that knew their victims do not face as much punishment as rapists who are outsiders. You know those emails you get from Public Safety that inform you of any criminal activity that comes from people that are not affiliated with the University of Redlands? Have you noticed that they are never concerned with within campus conflicts? The University of Redlands wants to be presented as a safe campus and it absolutely is, however there are a few policies that could be improved upon. They don’t even have to use students’ names but if reports were sent out about how a student that had raped another student was suspended for a semester, other students that participate in these awful crimes might realize that there are real consequences. Now if villagers knew who the aunt’s rapist was or if he had even been an outsider, I think that the aunt’s fate may have been very different. Also because she probably did know her perpetrator, she was not able to speak up for herself.

            As I said before, rape culture is much like a big fat elephant in the room that nobody wants to see. I don’t think we want to admit that there is a serious problem because it makes people uncomfortable. This is also how the family sees the aunt’s pregnancy, “She could not have been pregnant, you see, because her husband had been gone for years. No one said anything. We did not discuss it,” (Kingston 3). The family’s avoidance to talk about what was happening may be because once the silence is broken it makes the situation much more involved and real. Kingston is the only person in her family who is willing to share family scandals with an audience. By being open about her family’s past, Kingston is creating a way to talk about the big elephant in the room. By bringing up the issues with rape; she is forcing people to be more open to hearing about it. Then the more exposed they become the more unacceptable rape becomes. But first, people must be able to fully understand the problem before it can be fixed.

The Power of Fear

Anyone and everyone has one fear or another. For me, the simple thought of a spider can send my heart rate through the roof and make me running faster the fastest person on the planet. Others fear falling, reptiles, war, enclosed spaces, and so on. What is it about these thoughts that have the capability of driving someone into madness and paranoia? Fear is a product of the mind that takes into account all of the experiences you have had and attempts to deter you from each respective thing or object. Fear is a complex idea that can be defined in a million different ways, however, it manifests itself in times of warning and danger.

The No Name Woman, written by Maxine Kingston, is about injecting fear into the narrator. The mother of the narrator is fearful that her daughter, the narrator, may be heading down the same path as her aunt. The aunt was written out of the family's history due to her being accused of adultery, and bearing a child as the result. The story makes it a point to illustrate that cheating will not be tolerated in the Chinese culture. The narrator recognizes this and is attempting to make sense of everything the story means and why her mother chose to tell her it. At the end of the story, the narrator is essentially having a battle within herself to determine whether she accepts the aunt, or denies her like the rest of her family. This is when the idea of fear comes into play.

The narrator believes that "The real punishment was not the raid swiftly indicted by the villagers, but the family's deliberately forgetting her." In the statement, the narrator seems bitter trying to understand why someone could possibly forget a family member. However, now the narrator's aunt "haunts" her and she believes that the ghost doesn't "always mean well." The narrator treks back and forth in between whether this haunting is going to turn into a fear or if she is going to honor her aunt by remembering her although she was specifically told not to utter a word by her mother.

At the very end of the story, the narrator states that "the Chinese are always very frightened of the drowned one, whose weeping ghost, wet hair hanging and skin bloated, waits silently by the water to pull down a substitute." From this concluding sentence, I believe that the narrator has developed a new fear. That is, she now fears that if she travels along the same path as her aunt that she will too be ostracized by her community and family. From an American point of view, it is hard for me to understand how a culture can threaten others with the fear of being written out of the communities history.

What do you think? Do your fears deter you from doing things?

Brandon Rominger