The Effects of Assimilation: Dana and Kevin in Kindred
Octavia Butler's Kindred hinges on one central premise: what if modern people from 1976 were to be dropped into the harsh, slavery-filled world of 1815 Maryland. It deals with some fundamental questions about human nature vs nurture, and about acting vs assimilation, and further complicates this by utilizing an unreliable narrator who is not simply an observer or bystander but a participant actively being changed by the story. The difference between the effects of the 1815 environment on Dana, a black woman, and Kevin, a white man is immediately put in the reader's mind. Kevin, near the start of the book, is often directly compared to the various white antagonists, such as the patroller, through nothing other than racial appearance - the first sign of Dana's unreliability as a narrator (Butler 43-44). Kevin is also, more rightfully, portrayed as more ignorant - such as when Dana is talking to him about the horrors of the game the children are play...