Authors often use cause and effect scenarios in a text to build on an overall theme. Identify one moment of your text that has had a drastic impact on the characters or plot. How did this moment affect your reading? Why do you think that the author included this moment in the text?
A major moment in the plot is when Dana learns that Kevin as moved on after waiting. Alice tell her this after her husband bashed Rufus's head. She says, “‘Your man went away,’ she said. ‘He waited a long time for you, then he left.’” (120) The author creates this problem because now the story can go two ways, and it creates more conflict within the story. The first path Dana focuses on helping Rufus so that Rufus can help her find Kevin. The other is that Dana tries to make Rufus a better person and doesn’t focus on her missing husband until she is sure Rufus is a better person. Reasons for the second path is she says, “I would try to keep him from going after Isaac at all.”(121) The reason I believe this means she will try to make him a better person is because she would want him not to wait for her to leave and then go after the slave. The reason for the first path is that Kevin is her husband who she loves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Kevin moving on is a major moment in the story that could start conflict later on in the story but I believe that she can focus on making Rufus a better person as well as find Kevin. When Dana and Rufus are catching up and Rufus is informing her more about Kevin he says “I’ll write him...I’ll tell him you’re here. He’ll come running back.” Because of this I think when Kevin gets the letter he will come back to Dana so Dana will be with both Kevin and Rufus.
DeleteI completely agree Dana finding out the Kevin moved on was a huge part of the story and I agree with Sophie too.
DeleteI believe Kevin is a big part of Danas life and him moving on definitely brought a lot of conflict and was a major important moment. Agreeable.
DeleteI agree when Dana finds out that Kevin moved away it is a huge conflict in the story. I think Kevin was thinking Dana would not come back and that he could not play the role as a white master any longer, hence him moving north. Now that Dana is back in the past once Rufus sends the letters he will come back to Dana and be together once again.
DeleteI agree that Kevin moving on was a important event in the story because it led to Dana having to choose between Rufus and Kevin, when Kevin returned. I agree that Dana wants to help Rufus become a better person and stay with him to help him do that, but she decides to go with Kevin when he comes for her. Do you think this choice will have a greater impact on the plot later?
DeleteI also believe that Kevin moving is a big part to the story. I think that it does set up these paths that you talked about, however I think that it is more to show us more about Dana. Before herself, she was hoping that she could make it so that Alice and Isaac could escape. This moves forward the personification on our main character Dana.
DeleteIn the book Kindred by Octavia E. Butler there are a lot of events that have a big impact on Dana and how she thinks and views the world. Dana transporting back to a time where blacks were slaves and had no rights has made a huge impact on her. An event that made a big impact on Dana is on pages 121-123, when Rufus tried to rape Alice and got beat up by her husband. “Why would you do such a thing? She used to be you're friend.” Dana asked Rufus (123) This made a big impact on Dana because the last time she saw Rufus he was a little kid, who had a big heart and cared for Dana and she wanted to impact him so that he wouldn't turn into his dad. But now that she’s there seeing Rufus into what he is now, she had a different viewpoint on who Rufus actually is, and realized that she can’t impact Rufus as much as she thought she could. I’m predicting that there will be more events that take place that will change the way Dana sees Rufus. Do you think Dana is right to think of Rufus different seeing what he did?
ReplyDeleteI think she is right for seeing him differently if she didn't have I don't think she'll make such the same impact on his life.
DeleteAgreeable, If Dana didnt see him differently, situations and the rest of the story can play out differently.
DeleteI think Dana is 100% right in thinking of Rufus differently do to the events that occurred. His quick temper after the fight show that he truly has changed. She had so much hope and though she made him think differently and as she says in the text she lost hope in him.
DeleteI agree that Dana is correct for having her own opinion and looking at Rufus differently as well. It seems like he thinks about himself only... NOT others (especially other women). She thought he was a nice guy and wasn't harmful, she thought wrong.
DeleteIf anyone were to see Rufus rape his once best friend they would think of him differently. However on page 124 Dana makes a realization that helps shape this dynamic: "There was no shame in raping a black woman, but there could be shame in loving one." (Butler). For the time, this is an acceptable behavior, possibly even encouraged. For that, we can see Dana may see that he was more panicked than evil. The shape I see from this for Dana would have to be a child whos time tells him its not ok to love the person he loves, but it is acceptable to treat that person in any other way one wishes.
DeleteWill Kevin moving on bring more conflict throughout Danas life and will it effect her throughout the rest of the story?
ReplyDeleteOne of the scenes that had the greatest impact on the story was when Rufus raped Alice. This completely changed the dynamic of the character Rufus and how he viewed people of color. In the beginning of the story Rufus was a young man with a more willing heart to change. Alice and Rufus were best friends till it , ¨ got where he wanted to be more friendly than,” Alice wanted (Butler 119). This created a great especially when Alice married Isaac. As Rufus discusses with Dana after the fact about how Alice doesn't have right to say no to having sex with him (Butler, 123). This causes Isaac to get into a fight with Rufus defending his wife's honor. This also causes to Rufus to be devious and cruel toward Alice discussing how she will go to, ¨ jail. A good whipping and they´ll sell her,” and ultimately it is, “ her own fault¨ (Butler, 123). This was one of the turning point in Rufus'life and completely changes his outlook on people of color. This greatly effect my reading because I was hoping Rufus and Alice would end up together, but not on these terms. It completely changed my view on Rufus and his once innocent character into a jealous monster. I think the author incorporated this scene into the book in order to show a different side of Rufus’ character as well as to show how society has progressed through the years. In the 1800's this was sadly a more common event to occur. Do you think Alice even after all of these terrible events still feels something for Rufus? How do you think their relationship dynamic will change?
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that this scene was the greatest impact on the story as well. After what Rufus has done to Alice, I strongly believe that she would have absolutely no feelings for him anymore. Never have a man treat you like dirt. Their relationship dramatically will change. NO matter how many times she tries to run away from him, she'll never get away.
DeleteI completely agree, because in the beginning Alice and Rufus were very good together. Now that Rufus did that to Alice why would anyone want Alice and Rufus to be together? if Rufus treats her poorly.
DeleteI completely agree on how this event greatly impacted the plot because it showed a new side to Rufus. This scene showed how Rufus had assimilated to the society he was living in and was willing to do anything to get what he wanted, even if that meant being violent or betraying his friend.
DeleteAn important part in the text is when Alice runs runs away from Rufus, the man that bought her. Rufus bought her because he wanted her as his slave. “There was no shame in raping a black women”(Butler, 124). The effect of her running away was from her getting raped. The outcome was her thinking that she could escape for good, but she thought wrong. When reading about this, it made me feel very sad and let down because it was a lot to take in. I say this because back then no one truly cared about women and their rights. Also from reading this it reminded me of a close family member that got raped as well. The author does a great job making the readers get connected with the book and start to feel emotions towards the characters. When seeing Rufus’s name in the text, it makes me want to skip to the next page because that’s just how much I do not care for him. I think that the author includes this moment in the text because she wants us to stay intrigued and for us to learn from reading along. If you were in Alice’s shoes, would you make the decision to run away from Rufus as well?
ReplyDeleteI agree I feel like the author adds this so we build a suspense to what will happen if we... situation. Throughout the whole book and our groups book talk we have been discussing how the author goes into also of the "what if" aspect and i think that is good to see how our world has changed but also she does a great job like you said connecting the reader to the story and drawing her audience in.
DeleteOne important event that has cause and effect, is when Dana tries to run away. When she comes back from the present to the past and she can't find kevin, so she decides to go look for him. In this part of the story Dana goes to Rufus and asks him to help Dana find Kevin. “you threaten me, I’ll threaten you. Without me, you'll never find kevin.” (Butler, 125). This shows that if Rufus doesn't help Dana that unfortunately in the day and age Dana has traveled too, people think if you are black, you are a slave. Unfortunately the patrollers that walk around at night looking for slaves will find her. This moment affected my reading because i came to a realization that Dana is dependent on a white person to help her find her husband and how this time period was discriminating blacks left and right. I think the author included this to show us how the world has changed and how differently we treat people now. Because thankfully now we all view everyone as equals to one another. This will affect Dana later on in the story because she might be dependent on white people for help because the story describes that slaves have no rights so she needs to find a white person to help her.
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ReplyDeleteA significant event that took place within Kindred was when Kevin was left in the past for five years. When Dana was being whipped by Tom Weylin, she started to go back to the present because her life was endangered, however, in the process Kevin was not able to reach her and was stranded in the past for five years. Little is known about what Kevin went through during those five years, except that he stayed on the plantation for a little while and then started to head north. When Kevin finally returned home it was a major adjustment for him because he was living another century before that had little technology and a completely different society. After arriving home and being in the apartment for a little, Kevin stated, “I just need to be by myself and get used to...to things again”(Butler,195). I believe this impacts how I empathize with Kevin because I feel sorry for him that he was alone and living in a drastically different society. I think this transition back into modern society will be extremely difficult for Kevin, especially because no one will know what happened to him. Also, I believe that Butler included this situation into the plot to create a conflict between Kevin and Dana. I think Kevin will begin to foster resentment towards Dana for putting him in that position. Do you think Kevin will begin to resent Dana for bringing him to the past and then unfortunately leaving him behind? Do you think it will be hard for Kevin to adjust back to modern society?
After Rufus warns Dana she has the realization, “I said nothing. He was right, of course. I had no rights- not even my papers to be torn up”(Butler 139). This is a strong moment for Dana. Throughout her travels thus far, she has always held an air of arrogance towards the deeply ingrained racism of the South. After she was whipped, she now is forced, by Rufus, to realize what it means to be a black in the South at this time. How else could this affect her? I think that she will change her outlook: instead of trying to change all of the south, she will aim to only change Rufus.
ReplyDeleteOne important event is when Alice is raped by Rufus on page 119. This changed the tone of the story and how the character Rufus is viewed by the readers. He has changed a lot since his innocent days at the beginning of the book when Dana saves his life. Now Rufus is like most of the other racist slave owners in the south during this time period. This added more to the story and I think that it may have changed they way I expected the rest of the book to play out. I am not sure what the purpose of incorporating this part in about Rufus. Possibly to show the change in Rufus as an example to how people then were manipulated into thinking a certain way about people with color. It shows the complete lack of respect for these human beings when it is made out to be “her own fault,” (Butler, 123). How do you think these actions taken by rufus in the story will impact the characters and the plot?
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