Alex Zhao

A Block
1/29
Slavery Essay

In the present age, there is a growing trend of the word slavery showing up

on peoples social media. Some people forced others to do things they do not

want to, such as child labor, forced marriage, and human trafficking. The

public really cares about this topic since there was a period of American

slavery history in the past. White people bought black slaves to force them

to work. People describe that period by using books, movies, and other

artistic works. Many great books are written by authors and one of them is

called Kindred. Kindred is an impactful portrayal of American slavery through

following reasons. First, the author used many different characters. Second,

the entire life of character shows readers the story well and help them

understand the book. Third, the author tells a story about time traveling to

compare the modern society with slavery society.

The book Kindred is a story that includes many different characters. They all

have different characteristic, so the story between them is a vivid example of

American slavery. The main character is a modern black woman called Dana.

The story was based on the ability she has, it is time traveling. In the past,

she met the Weylin family and they got a son named Rufus. Once Dana

traveled to the pass with her husband since her husband worried about

Danas safety, Dana needed to act that she was the slave of her husband.

The reason why was Danas husband was a white man and nobody believed
that a black woman was married to a white man during that time. Rufus had

a friend which was a black girl called Alice, they had a great relationship

when they were all kids. In Kindred, Dana is from modern society, so she is

smart, helpful, and kind to everyone. She helped other slaves ran away and

also treated them when Weylin did not pay for a doctor to treat any slave

after they got whipped. She refused the order from masters in Weylin

family because she believed that she was not a slave. Rufus was mean and

selfish after he grew up, he raped women slaves and whipped them because

he believed they were the things he owned. It was a common sense for the

white masters during that dark era. Alice was a black woman born in that era

that black slaves got no freedom and the family could be separated. Alices

husband was sold by Rufus because he wanted to sleep with her, Alice got no

right to find her love she used death to defend the right of slaves at the end

of Kindred. Dana, Rufus, and Alice, who are characters can help us learn

about that era in Kindred.

Most of the characters spent their entire life in this book and it tells readers

that what did those character change under the culture of American Slavery.

The book Kindred is not same as other novels which only use characters

parts of life as the story. As the example, the book Kindred talks about

Rufuss life from kids to he died. The first time he showed up in the book is

Danas first time traveling, Dana saved his life in the river. Rufus was a good

kid, he liked to study and asked Dana read for him. He made a prodigious
change as he grew up. Because of the situation, Rufus became to the same

kind of person as his father. His father Weylin was rude to all the slaves, he

whipped them when they did not listen to him. When Rufus was a child, Alice

was his friend but then he believed Alice was his slave after he grew up. He

sold Alices husband just because he wanted to own her, he also raped Alice

and got one daughter and a son. According to Rufus, To punish her, scare

her. To make her see what could happen if she didnt ... if she tried to leave

me (251). Rufus acted that he sold Joe and Hagar who are his daughter and

son since he wanted to frighten Alice. He was selfish because he did not give

Dana freedom although Rufus loved her. This driving Alice committed

suicide. If the Kindred did not use Rufuss entire life, readers cannot

understand that situation that clearly.

The author let Dana be a time traveler to compare the modern society with

American Salary. In Kindred. According to Dana, I bent to push him another

box full, then straightened quickly as I began to feel dizzy, nauseated. The

room seemed to blur and darken around me (13). Dana traveled to the pass

which was a slavery world and it is the start of the story. In the slavery

society, black slaves could not study and learn knowledge but Dana was a

writer in her world. Dana taught other slaves how to read and write, she was

lucky that she was born in a freedom age and was able to study. The

relationship between Dana and Kevin are husband and wife although Danas

sister objects it for Kevin is a white man. In slavery world, Rufus wanted Alice
to be his wife but he believed Alice was a thing that he owned in his mind.

The author used this kind of way to compare the difference between modern

days and past. In Kindred, the readers can see how a modern black acted in

slavery society according to know Danas reflection.

In conclusion, Kindred is such a great book to read and is an impactful

portrayal of American slavery. As what has been discussed above, the author

used many different characters, entire life of main characters, time traveling

to show reader American slavery. The author shows us a darkness world for

black people who had no freedom, it was American slavery.