Time travel in Kindred is very unique
Time travel is very crucial to the central plotline of Kindred as Dana travels back in time to the early 1800s to the Weylin plantation where she meets her enslaved ancestors. She also meets Rufus Weylin whom she apparently gets traveled back in time to save in near-death scenarios, as it's discovered he is also one of Dana's ancestors. What stands out about the time travel in Kindred is how it's not explained. It is not like other science fiction novels where they develop fictional explanations or devices to enable the characters to travel through time. Alternatively, it remains a mystery how Dana suddenly gets transported back into the 1800s involuntarily. She is the only character throughout who is directly time travel, however she can bring Kevin to and from 1976 and the 1800s by way of physical contact.
What makes Butler's use of time travel brilliantly unique is how it bridges the gap between modern times and history in an unfiltered way from the traditional telling of American history specifically about slavery. The Modern lens of Dana witnesses the brutality of the past that is often untold or diluted. This is apparent when Dana and Kevin stumble across some kids playing a game that is more like roleplaying a slave auction. Dana and Kevin understand the situation and are horrified with how they have been shaped. in their exchange, after seeing the game Kevin tells Dana they are just imitating what they see and Dana responds, "'They don't have to understand. Even the games they play are preparing them for their future- and that future will come whether they understand it or not.'" Dana then later realizes, "'The ease. Us [Dana and Kevin], the children...I never realized how easily people could be trained to accept slavery.'" This direct experience contrasts with how history is often taught or depicted, shedding light on untold or diluted aspects.
The element of time travel also explores the complex relationship between the past and present. Dana is directly interacting with her ancestors and it is essential she protects Rufus and allows him and Alice to have a child named Hagar, Dana's direct ancestor. However, the book also centrally shows how the past has been covered up within the present. When Dana and Kevin return to the location of the Weylin Plantation in the present day they find some of the old buildings restored and a papers describing the sale of the estate and a mention of a fire burning the house down. But otherwise what used to be a nasty scar of American History has been repurposed as farmland. This reflects society's tendency to gloss over or bury uncomfortable truths, emphasizing the ongoing struggle to reconcile the past with the present. This juxtaposition underscores the significance of confronting and acknowledging history's darker chapters, as they echo through time and continue to influence contemporary perceptions and realities.
The lack of explanation for the time travel is something I wondered about through the book. I wondered about the differences in how long she was gone from the 70's because it didn't seem to add up, but I think it's meant to add to the book. You should read Walters post for a similar theme!
ReplyDeleteI like to think of the time-travel element in _Kindred_ as a thought experiment, a complex "what if?" that the author is interested in exploring, and also a metaphor for history and traditional historical fiction itself, which represents an intellectual kind of "time travel" as we imagine what it would be like to occupy a different historical era. So Butler is not interested in "explaining" how the device works--it doesn't matter, it's conspicuously fictional, and you either go along for the ride or you stop reading the book. You do a nice job of describing what this thought experiment enables Butler to achieve, as the modern perspective on the slavery era is explicit throughout the book. And within this thought experiment, it is vital that the author insists that Dana AND Kevin must BOTH take a close look at this traumatic past--through Dana, we see that the modern world, the people living in the modern world, are all a product of BOTH sides of the slavery dynamic. Dana can't easily claim allegiance to Alice or Rufus as an ancestor--she has to grapple with the fact that her very existence (as with the existence of the modern world) is equally dependent on BOTH.
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