Paragons In Kindred

Kindred by Octavia Butler displays many controversial topics such as slavery, rape, and violence, which can bring out some of the best and worst qualities in a human being. Dana Franklin, a strong african american woman, and Kevin Franklin, an intelligent white man as well as Dana’s husband, travel back to the antebellum south where they meet some of Dana’s ancestors and encounter situations that are eye-opening, which changes their views on life and gives them a better understanding of what kind of actions were going on back then. All the characters in this book change over time, but Dana, Tom Weylin, and Rufus are all paragons because they convey multiple traits that lead to great reactions from the reader.

Dana, the main character
and narrator, goes through the most situations that are completely out of her comfort zone; and most of them prove that she is smart, brave,and strong. Dana teaches Rufus how to read, and she improvises with some fundamental first-aid when Rufus gets in a fight with isaac by wrapping his ribs so he feels a little more comfortable. In her present day, 1976, her education could be considered average, but since she is in the antebellum south, she knows way more than the average man at that time. She also knows what to do in pressured situations most of the time because of her common sense, which contributes to her intelligence. Dana is brave because she knows the consequences of her actions, but she does what she thinks is beneficial to her rather than stress about the consequences. Nigel asks her to teach him to read, and she has to decide whether or not she wants to risk it. She eventually teaches him how to read because she wants to help as many slaves as she can, especially Nigel. She eventually gets caught and whipped, but this still shows her bravery. Bravery is a great trait to have because it is similar to having confidence. In this case, Dana is confident that she won’t get caught. She does get caught and whipped, but it doesn’t affect her confidence; she just knows what it is like to feel that kind of pain. Being a black woman at a plantation in the 1800’s, she endures a generous amount of physical and emotional pain throughout the book. Dana gets whipped twice in the book: first for teaching Nigel to read and the second time for trying to escape the plantation. After the first whipping, she passes out and travels back to 1976. The second time she doesn’t pass out because she knows she can stand the pain. She knows how much pain she can withstand, which helps her in the long run because it affects some of her future decisions.

Unlike Dana, Tom Weylin is on the other side of the spectrum because he is the plantation owner and he is the person who whips rather than the person who gets whipped.
He is the man in charge for most of the book, and having so much power can either make you a monster or a hero. Weylin is selfish, fair, and somewhat of a businessman. When his son breaks his leg, he doesn’t care much. It is almost like he just tells Rufus to rub some dirt on it and act like a man. That’s just a sign of a bad man. There are lots of exceptions back then because of the different laws, but a man should still love his family. An attribute that balances out his selfishness is his fairness. When Rufus refuses to send Dana’s letter to Kevin, Weylin decides to put the load on his back and send the letter himself. It might have been that he was getting older or that he was scared of Dana in some way, but Weylin knows what is right and what is not. His fairness helps himself whenever he wants to negotiate when buying or selling slaves. Weylin treats his plantation almost like a business because he wants the slaves that that will work the hardest without any extra attitude. If they don’t do what they’re told or talk back to Weylin, then they can either be whipped or sold. Weylin asks Kevin if he’s scared of Dana running away because she’s so well educated. Kevin says no and Weylin explains that she could write her own pass and run away when he’s not paying attention. It’s almost like Weylin knows everything about owning a plantation and the slaves working for him. He has a lot of experience, which is why his plantation is so successful under his orders. Well, until Dana showed
up.

The reader should react to Rufus the most because we basically witness his whole life and how he was raised, so he is one of the easiest characters to build a bond with. Rufus has a nice side, then a clueless and stubborn side. Rufus is very nice to Dana at the beginning of the book and continues to act that way towards her while she’s caring for him. When Rufus broke his leg, he would always choose Dana over his own mom to care for him, which shows how much he liked and enjoyed Dana’s company. Rufus is always easy to work with as long as he gets what he wants. If only he would treat everyone that way, then he could be considered a good guy. He is lucky because Dana always pops up out of nowhere when he does something bad. He always does those bad things because he is so clueless/dumb. Time after time he always ends up getting in some kind of trouble because he thinks he has a reason for doing it, and it might seem like a good reason to him, but he really just does not have the common sense to think of what will happen if he performs a certain action. He never learns from his mistakes, so anyone can call him dumb or clueless. Rufus was raised a white man who usually gets what he wants, so it is predictable that he would be stubborn. When he can not have what he wants, he just takes it anyway. Alice was married to a man, but Rufus wanted him so he just took her from him. Rufus actually loved her, but he did not care about what she felt like. He only wanted her for himself. This trait is similar to his dad’s selfishness because he does things for himself, not worrying about how other people feel about it. As long as he is happy, the world is well.

These three characters display many characteristics that contribute to many conflicts and resolutions within the novel. The reader develops deep connections with each character that makes the story and every situation more interesting. The characters in this book can be compared to a plate of food because they all need each other to be great, just like a plate of food needs a balance of flavors to taste good. If only one character is missing, it would lead to an imbalance of personalities that would affect some of the characters’ decisions.