The Parallels of Oppression in Kindred
The Parallels of Oppression in Kindred
Kindred does an incredible job showing the parallels between racism in the 1800s and sexism in the 1900s. While these seem like two completely different systems of oppression, their time periods made them both equally normalized and often led to good people acting in mean ways because their society allowed for it. We see this with Rufus and the way he treats Black people even as one of the most progressive white people in the book, and we see this from Kevin who often takes Dana for granted in their relationship because of certain obligations he believes she has as a woman and as his wife. Even though readers understand that both Rufus and Kevin are far more progressive than others of their time, it is frustrating to watch Dana experience the unfairness of their inherent biases.
We see the most obvious oppression through Rufus’ treatment of black people throughout the book. He is clearly on the more progressive end regarding treatment of slaves and black people at this time, however his society does excuse a lot of bad behavior and racism. Dana is probably the black person he treats the most like an equal in this book and even she endures a lot of mistreatment from him with no remorse or apology. He manipulates her constantly, bending her to his will with emotional blackmail, shown when he makes her tell Alice that Rufus wants to sleep with Alice (Butler 166); torture, shown when he sends her to the fields to do grueling work and get whipped for a whole day after she is unable to save his father (Butler 211); and intense labor, shown throughout the book when he makes her doing everything from caring for his difficult mother to writing letters for him (Butler 217). She often takes this with silence, accepting that he is a product of his time more than a product of bad character, but even in the few instances when she does call him out, nothing changes and she is often punished for it. This abusive environment slowly wears her down and allows her to become complacent in the mistreatment in a way she wouldn’t usually.
Dana experiences oppression more subtly in her relationship with Kevin. Readers are shown a relatively normal relationship where they share similar interests and love each other, however Dana often bears the brunt of the labor in their relationship. From the beginning she is already in a lower position in society. They meet in the same job, however he is already in a stable place financially, whereas she is struggling to stay on her feet. This feeds into the sexism that is really common in 1900s relationships. Additionally, he is a lot older than her, and the power dynamic already shifts in his direction because of this. He thinks he is better than her because he has more experience and is a more accomplished writer, and his belief in this seems to stay the same throughout their relationship. This is especially evident when he proposes to her by jokingly telling her to write all his manuscripts, a job she absolutely hates (Butler 109). While this is meant to be a joke, it's a sore spot in their relationship as he often asks her to do secretarial work for him because he feels it is below him but not her. Additionally, he feels very comfortable dismissing her feelings, as we see when she brings up the games the slave children play (Butler 99). He makes excuses for it that she sees right through because of her experiences, but he doesn’t bother to understand her perspective on anything. She seems like someone who would always stand her own before having met him, never backing down when told to do something she doesn’t want to do or when she is dismissed for her feelings, but she allows Kevin to take advantage of her softness towards him and over time her complacency allows him to subtly push her down constantly.
Both these characters’ behavior can obviously be excused as a product of a systemically biased society or a time period that allowed bad behavior, but the minimization of these oppressions as “normal” leads to complacency from Dana and society. Rufus and Kevin’s behavior goes relatively unchecked, chipping away at Dana’s resolve and making her a more emotionally-numb person. Both of them are good people who unintentionally — or intentionally — treat people from marginalized groups poorly, and their mistreatment has the same product: pushing someone down and making them feel as if they deserve to be used.
Work Cited
Butler, Octavia E. Kindred. Beacon Press, 1979.
Hi Praachi! I agree with you on the parallels of oppressive power dynamics presented in Kindred! I think an interesting detail you could consider adding to support the Kevin argument is how Dana notices (multiple times) similarities between Kevin and Rufus, from both appearances and the way they talk. While Kevin doesn't exactly become physically abusive and emotionally manipulative like Rufus, he is resembling/becoming him in subtle ways.
ReplyDeleteHi Praachi, I think it's really interesting the depiction of more progressive people and how they still have different things they need to work on. It really makes you consider in our current age what ideas we have that will be considered bigoted in the future. I do agree that Rufus and Kevin are both products of their society, but we shouldn't just be excusing them for the consequences of their actions.
ReplyDeleteHey Praachi! This is a really interesting comparison. Kevin is one of the most interesting characters in this book. I do wonder how much of the wrong that he does wasn't actually written in back when the book was published, but is almost another time travel narrative now that we get to experience the "modern" 1980s from our 21st century perspective. Even just the image of Kevin is interesting, the kinda scary + grey hair thing he has going one, and I really wonder why Butler choose to build his character that way. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Praachi! This is such an interesting topic, and one that I think is very present in the novel. I think you do a really good job of illustrating both of the types of oppression that are present in both time periods, and how the systems of oppression prevail even when one person is "better" than the average person subscribing to that system. This was a really great post!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that Butler depicts Kevin and his relationship with Dana in ways that emphasize gender more than race: racially Kevin seems pretty cool, from everything we can tell, and we really don't see race as much of an "issue" between Dana and Kevin (they both are disgusted by the creep at work who harasses them, and they're both surprised and dismayed to learn that their respective families don't approve of their relationship). In a number of ways, Dana insists that Kevin isn't "like that" (i.e. racist), but she does express all kinds of exasperation at the gender dynamics between them. Kevin is a little older than Dana, and he would have come of age in the mid- to late-1960s, so while he would have experienced the Civil Rights movement as a young person, he's maybe a little late to second-wave feminism, which seems to have significantly influenced Dana. Kevin truly sees no problem in his insistence that Dana type his manuscripts "for" him (his "I'd let you" is especially obnoxious!). And perhaps most gross, he starts to get "jealous" of Rufus when he probes Dana to find out if she has been raped. This novel is all about intersectionality--Dana is attuned throughout to the ways her experience in the past is shaped as a Black woman, with a constant emphasis on race and gender. With Kevin, things seem to be pretty cool racially, while in terms of gender the picture is less clear.
ReplyDeleteHi Praachi! This was such an important part of the book that I think goes largely unspoken (which makes it more realistic in my opinion). Racism never truly goes away, though it can be less intense and less outright, and I think Dana's regular life shows that. It's a system that is sort of inherent to the world unfortunately and it takes a lot more than just things like policy to get rid of it, and it definitely isn't gone today with slavery still so close to us in history's timeline. Great post!!
ReplyDeletehi praachi!!! I think connecting the racism and sexism parallels in the novel is a very interesting blog comment and something I think you should totally explore further. I was distracted by the book's intense portions of slavery that the detail about dana and kevin's jobs didn't even phase me that it is blatant sexism. You did a very good job highlighting that. I agree with you that rufus and kevin just behave the way they do because of what society they grew up in. Its very obvious that there are some ideas that rufus has that he could never achieve or go after because of the rules of his society. Amazing blog!!
ReplyDeletePraachi!! I went about this blog post in a similar way since the book really focused on the struggles that Dana still faces in the 1970s. Even when Dana is taking breaks with Kevin from the racist world they are stuck in, she is met with another struggle just between the two of them through sexism. The form of storytelling that Butler uses could very easily be used to go back in time from now to the 1970s, and create interesting commentary on the sexism going on both in the workplace and domestic situations. We are all shaped by the environment and grow into thinking that some forms of discrimination are normal. Great blog!
ReplyDelete