Kindred (Bluestreak) Book

Kindred utilizes the devices of science fiction in order to answer the question how could anybody be a slave? A woman from thetwentieth century, Dana is repeatedly brought back in time by herslave-owning ancestor Rufus when his life is endangered. She chooses tosave him, knowing that because of her actions a free-born black womanwill eventually become his slave and her own grandmother. When forcedto live the life of a slave, Dana realizes she is not as strong as herancestors. Unable to will herself back to her own time and unable totolerate the institution of slavery, she attempts to run away and iscaught within a few hours. Her illiterate ancestor Alice succeeds ineluding capture for four days even though She knew only the area she dbeen born and raised in, and she couldn t read a map. Alice iscaptured, beaten, and sold as a slave to Rufus. As Dana is sent backand forth through time, she continues to save Rufus s life, attemptingduring each visit to care for Alice, even as she is encouraging Aliceto allow Rufus to rape her and thus ensure Dana s own birth. As atwentieth-century African-American woman trying to endure thebrutalities of nineteenth-century slavery, Dana answers the question,See how easily slaves are made? For Dana, to choose to preserve aninstitution, to save a life, and nurture victimization is to choose tosurvive. Distributor: Spring Arbor/Ingram Author: Octavia E. Butler Format: 287 pages, paperback ISBN: 9780807083697