The racial implications of Writing in Kindred.
Writing plays a significant role in the story of Kindred. Both Dana and Kevin make their living as being writers and back in 1815, Dana is forced to use her talents as a writer to survive. But Butler also explores the racial elements of the power of writing. Dana's teaching of writing to Rufus as well as other slaves is a central conflict throughout Kindred. The first mention of writing is in the beginning of the Fall, where we are given the backstory of Dana. She is a struggling writer who has to work in a labor agency to survive. She meets Kevin, who is also a struggling writer, albeit with a little more success. When Kevin and her are sent together back into the past, they disguise themselves as a writer and a slave to stay with Tom Weylin. In the past, we are shown the what society thinks of an educated slave. Tom Weylin warns Kevin of the dangers of an educated slave and Magaret doesn't even believe Dana can read. We see time and time again Dana's talents being taken for granted by white people, with Tom literally offering to buy Dana to teach Rufus, taking her talent for his personal use.
Dana's teaching of Rufus also shows some of the racialized elements of writing. Rufus struggles with reading and writing, essentially failing to live up to the model a white plantation owner is supposed to be. Writing is supposed to be the thing that separates the "master" race from the "slave" ones, as black people are rarely allowed to learn to read. At this time Rufus is still good friends with Nigel and Alice, and isn't as racist as he grows to be. Dana is essentially being asked to guide Rufus into the role society want him to play by Tom. This leads up to Tom Weylin catching her taking some of his books and violently beating her. Dana's autonomy in terms of reading and writing in his eyes is something he must be constantly monitoring and controlling. Otherwise she could use her abilities to loosen the divide between Tom Weylin and his slaves
Throughout Kindred, Tom Weylin has a fear of looking less educated than the black slaves he keeps around him. Dana constantly shows she is far more intelligent than him throughout the story. One of these ways is in terms of writing. Writing is presented as a means of upward mobility in Kindred. Dana and Kevin's success in writing means they can quit their job, Slaves who can write are able to forge passes so that they can escape captivity. Dana teaches several of Tom Weylin's slaves to write and read, thereby shortening the divide between them. Tom expresses both fear and contempt for Dana. This is a sharp contrast to Rufus who uses Dana's ability to write to his advantage several times. The biggest one is when he has her write to the people his late father owed debts to. Not only does this scene show an example of Rufus's manipulation, it also shows that Rufus still isn't ready to take on the role Tom Weylin fit. He is still reliant on Dana; a figure prone to leaving at any moment. This reliance on her will ultimately be his downfall as he is eventually killed by her.
In 1979, the amount of black women science fiction authors are few and far between. But Octavia Butler acted as a pioneer for black women in science fiction back when the majority of sci-fi books were either very racist or attempted to be "racially blind," essentially ignoring all of the problems and oppression minority groups could face and most likely will face going into the future. Similar to Butler, Dana is a challenging figure throughout Kindren. Challenging the racial notions of the gift of writing in the early 1800s and providing opportunities to black Americans who likely would never meet someone like her otherwise.
I really like this take! I didn't think about how Morrison's own experiences as a writer, particularly as a black, female writer, Ould have shaped her depiction of writing as something that can save Dana (both mentally, since it keeps her from going crazy in the past, and physically, since it makes her useful) and the other slaves (through free papers)
ReplyDeleteYes, this is an excellent point. Writing and its differing roles is a motif throughout Kindred, and making Dana a writer makes it all the more poignant when her writing autonomy is taken away from her and manipulated for someone else's use in her stints of time travel. I also completely agree with your take on how writing characterizes Tom Weylin and Rufus: while Tom is generally against teaching enslaved people how to read in order to retain the racial hierarchy at the plantation, Rufus blurs the lines by using Dana's writing for his own needs, showing his manipulative, dependent and emotional nature towards Dana. Also, at the end of the novel, Dana loses her writing arm, which I think shows how the time period of slavery took away that independence over her writing permanently.
ReplyDeleteYour observations about the general climate of SF writers in 1979 make a lot of sense, and I can see something of these politics reflected in the book itself. We're never told exactly what kind of writing Dana does, aside from "fiction" and the fact that she's working on a novel, but it is implied that the notes she takes with the paper Rufus provides might become her next book, and we certainly can imagine _Kindred_ as the book she will write (disguised as "fiction") to account for her incredible experiences. There's also an implication that *Kevin* is a sci-fi writer, too--when she mentions his first novel, the title sounds like classic sci-fi (I don't have my copy of the novel on hand and can't remember the actual title!). So when they meet, Kevin is able to quit his day job and make a living as a writer of science fiction, while Dana is still struggling to get her stories accepted by magazines while working on a novel. She is trying to break into the field that he already occupies.
ReplyDeleteI had to look it up when I was reunited with my copy of _Kindred_: the title of Kevin's most successful novel is _The Water of Meribah_, which sure smacks of 1970s sci-fi (p. 193).
DeleteGreat post! I really like how you explore the theme of writing within the writing of Kindred, and how it represents each character and their identities, especially with Dana losing her independence and being forced to perform the secretarial duties she previously avoided at all costs, and being enslaved though she had the power and knowledge to give herself freedom.
ReplyDeleteI really like this observation! Something that really stands out to me is how Rufus almost weaponizes the racial nature of writing at the time to manipulate and appeal to Dana. His "apologies" and attempts to butter her up often come in the form of giving her a book she can read, or a journal she can write in. For a time period where Dana would normally risk great danger doing either - and has experienced whippings at the hand of Tom Weylin for reading and writing - the weight of Rufus giving her these things is much heavier. He's not just giving her things she enjoys, he's the *only* (mostly safe) access she'll likely have in that time. It seems slightly sinister, then, that this is Rufus' go-to apology method. If Rufus hadn't shown to be extremely manipulative in other instances, I might not think anything of it (he's trying to make her feel better, so he gives her something that makes her feel better - simple, right?), but as it is, it seems like a very calculated and aware move on Rufus' part.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the comparison between how writing allows Dana to stop working at the "slave market" and how it also allows slaves to forge free passes and quitting their life as a slave. I also really liked the analysis of how Tom Weylin constantly tries to stop Dana from using her knowledge while Rufus uses Dana's knowledge for his own benefit in exchange for not restricting her as much. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteThese are some really interesting and insightful connections! One aspect of writing that the book engages with in a few different contexts is the idea of secretarial writing vs. writing for oneself. A specific attribute of Dana's character (and one of the most specific details we learn about her, really) is that she hates doing this first kind of writing in service of someone else, and the instances where she's put in this position (first with typing Kevin's manuscripts, and later with Rufus's letter) feel like they're enforcing a bigger power dynamic. But even these skills prove useful to her—we learn that she's able to keep a private journal by writing in shorthand, which looks like meaningless symbols to Rufus.
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