How Does Octavia Butler Present Dana's Relationship With Family In Kindred

In almost anyone’s eyes, family comes first. You would do absolutely anything for them, and in the novel Kindred by Octavia Butler there is no exception. Although the novel concentrates on the previous existence of slavery and the harsh realities of racism, another theme that is not exactly centralized is how far an individual will go in order to protect their loved ones. In this particular novel, there are two major examples on how far a person will go for their family. On one end, you have the slaves protecting their loved ones from being sold, and on the other hand you have the strong bond between the main characters Rufus and Dana. Family can be described in many ways, a close relationship among a group of people through blood or even non-biological friends. Although there are so many differences, the one thing that remains similar between the two groups is the love and trusting relationship you posses.
During this time all the slaves had were their
There are many instances in the novel when Dana saves his life, each time she is brought back to the past she is saving him. It isn’t until the second time she goes back that she realizes that Rufus is not just some boy she continuously is saving, but her own ancestor (28). As time goes on, Dana constantly is thrown back and forth through time, saving his life once there, and then risking hers to go home. Because they are family, she feels a special bond to Rufus; she admits that she cannot remain upset with him, regardless of his appalling actions. “However little sense it made, I cared. I must have. I kept forgiving him for things” (180). At this point, Dana has just talked to Rufus about him not sending Dana’s letters to Kevin. Although she is furious at what he had been hiding form her, it’s impossible for her to stay mad at him. It’s impossible because he is family and in the end they really do care and posses love for each