Skip to main content

Kindred

Kindred was definitely my favorite book to discuss in class, and it left me thinking for a long time. One thing that I found really interesting and enjoyed discussing in class (over zoom) was the significance of Dana losing her arm from time travel.

As we discussed in class, I think the loss of Dana's arm shows that she can never return as exactly the same person she was before. Part of her now exists in both time periods, and due to the things she experienced in 1815, Dana will forever be missing a part of herself. I really like the way Butler chose to represent this. I think everyone in life goes through things (although nothing like what Dana went through) that tear us down, build us up, and change us. There are definitely people, places, and events in my life that hold parts of myself that are pretty much as significant to me as my arm.

For example, while I'm graduating and going off to college, I still feel like I am leaving a part of myself behind at Uni. As I grow and change through these next 4 years and rest of my life, the memories, stress, victories, and failures will forever remain constant in that century-old building. Just as Dana is two different 'versions' of herself at the beginning and end of Kindred, I feel like I am a totally different version of myself now than I was subbie year. Graduating kind of does feel like leaving your arm behind in high school before taking on the rest of the world, which is why I love the symbolism behind Dana losing her arm through this experience.

While Dana had way fewer good memories living in 1815 than I did at Uni, she was still forever changed by her time there. Eventually she'll adapt to having one arm, grow used to it, and maybe even have moments where she forgets about it. But still, she will always remember that a part of her will eternally belong to 1815. 

Comments

  1. Raneem SaadahMay 17, 2020 at 9:48 PM

    I also find the symbolism very interesting, and it's sad to think the seniors are actually leaving Uni (it doesn't feel real that y'all aren't gonna be here next year). I think it's also important to see how Dana losing her arm affects the people around her, specifically, Kevin. He will also be reminded about their time in the 1820s and the experiences they both went through every time he looks at her; and he, too, will also have to adapt some things in his life because Dana now only has one arm. Yeah, Dana'll be missing a physical part of herself but at the end of the day she developed so much more emotionally from her experience, and I feel like that's something that applies to the seniors as well.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vonnegut's Portrayal of War

So far this semester, I think Slaughterhouse Five  has been my favorite book to read and discuss. One thing that came up multiple times throughout the discussion of this novel was whether it was successful in its goal of portraying war as accurately as possible, with no sugarcoating or glorification. I personally think that this novel did do a good job of that, especially of showing how big of an impact war can have on its veterans after the war.  I think that Billy was a good 'poster-child' for a war veteran. He fought at a young age, and saw and experienced many horrors of war that stayed with him for life. His family around him treated him as if he was slowly going insane, but he felt that he was completely justified. Even we, the readers, debated over whether the events that Billy describes were true or just a figment of his imagination. Billy wasn't the type of war hero or role model archetype that anyone would envy or try to take after. He wasn't portrayed as ...
7 comments
Read more

Reed's Portrayal of Women

As we've finished reading Mumbo Jumbo,  there were many very interesting aspects of it to discuss. One discussion that was really fun to talk about in class was the idea of gender in this novel. We touched a lot on this topic in class over the two panel presentation days, and there were a few specific points that especially interested me. One thing that I am now kind of ashamed to admit is that I wasn't aware of the fact that none of the really significant characters in Mumbo Jumbo  are female until it was brought up in class. I think part of the reason why I didn't notice is because a lot of really popular books and movies today are still the same way, with no significant female characters except maybe one for sex appeal and 'diversity.' But when I went back and thought about it, I realized the characters we spent the most time talking about in class, and who had the most depth and growth throughout the novel, were all male. The only female character who I can r...
4 comments
Read more

Blurred Lines

I thought we had a really interesting discussion in class about history, fiction, and how they're similar and different from each other. It's strange that we are so quick to believe any historical source as the truth, when in fact some stories are told from extremely skewed perspectives. Contrastingly, novels deemed as "fiction" are considered to be 100% false, when many books are actually based on real events or experiences. I think the line between history and fiction is much thinner than some people might realize.  As we've heard from Mr. Leff multiple times, it is always important to look through sources, even ones that seem credible, with a grain of salt. As the saying goes, "history is written by the victors." We often hear about certain events only though one perspective, that being the people in positions of privilege and power. When one certain group gets to mold history to their will, it's easy for records to end up falling short of the...
11 comments
Read more