One subject I never had the opportunity to touch on in my Kindred response paper was the importance of family in slave culture. Kindred as a hole seems to value a strong family connection like one brought on by the slave culture. The family that Dana becomes a part of welcomes and shelters her from judgement by other slaves on the plantation. Family really is important to the slaves, its what kept them together and the strong bonds of love made slavery a little more bearable.
As with all things that may bring some joy to the slaves, it is used against them. As the Weylin family shows us one more aspect of what slave life really meant. The people you love may be sold off if they become to close to certain people. Isaac and Sam are both sold off after they pursue a closer relationship with the people near to Rufus, whose childlike attitude selfishly demands he gets everything he wants.Margret Weylin sells off Sarah's children for the sake of having more spending money, the concept of which is so morally unjust that it hurts to even think about it. The pain one would go through from being permanently separated from your kids so the person who owns you could have some extra spending money is really expresses and captures the true tragedy of slavery, that not even your own children can be considered yours rather they belong you tour master.
This is one further aspect of the title of the novel: Butler exposes the systems of kin within the abstract slavery system, and explores the ways the slave-owners deliberately exploited family ties among slaves in order to maintain dominance. This gets at the heart of the reality Dana has to face: her own family line is a result of a woman's "natural" family inclination being dominated and altered by the slave master, as Rufus dispenses with Isaac and forces her to procreate with him. She has to acknowledge this mess as HER family.
ReplyDelete