Octavia Butler's Take on the Theme of Choice in Kindred
Octavia E. Butler’s novel was a novel that I enjoyed and was disgusted by at the same time. It’s a unique story that follows Dana, a young African American writer living in 1976. One day, while in the process of moving into a new apartment with her husband Kevin, she undergoes a sickness and finds herself back in the early 1800s, saving a boy who called her for help. The novel highlights many themes, but mainly focuses on the idea of what it would be like to live in this time period of slavery, where oppression and violence are real, especially as a black woman. One theme that I want to dive into is the theme of choice, which is portrayed differently for all kinds of people in this time period. For slaves, it is nonexistent, and for white individuals who own them, they are the ones who create the suppression, which leads to no choice.
To begin with, Dana’s view of choice evolves throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel, she comes from the perspective of a modern American. In the late 20th century, after the Civil Rights Act was enacted, the idea was that every American finally had equal rights regardless of race, sex, color, religion, or national origin. To an extent, it worked. Slavery was abolished, and everyone had equal rights. Of course, that doesn’t mean that racism was abolished. I hate to say it, but it will always be a lingering ideal that is ingrained into our society, regardless of whatever laws are put into place. These basic ideas that we live with every day and don’t even think about are completely thrown out of the window when Dana is sent back in time. During her first trip, she is totally confused and unaware of what is to come. But the first thing that she sees is a drowning boy. One of her key characteristics is portrayed in this first scene of travel, “Later I could ask questions, try to find out where I was, what had happened. Now I went to help the child” (Butler 13). Long story short, Dana manages to save the boy, but nearly gets shot by his father simply because she saved his son. “I had never in my life panicked that was – never felt so close to death” (Butler 15). At this point in the novel, she honestly has no idea what is going on, or even suspects that she is travelling back in time. All Dana is doing is acting out of the goodness of her heart, which seemingly was shaped by her modern-day 1976 society. Immediately during this first trip, her idea of acting out of goodwill is destroyed, with the text above suggesting that if she does it again, serious harm will come to her. Later on, she will realize that it is because she is in a different time period that is hostile towards her, but Butler seems to be suggesting that this time period isn’t a friendly one towards people like her, and that choice will not be the same while she’s there.
If that’s the case, then how is choice defined? Who creates it? Is it simply a social construct related to the time, and therefore are morals only defined by society? I think that Butler may be suggesting this. Choice, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is simply the act of choosing. But is there really a choice if you are choosing between life and death? It’s a part of human nature to do anything to survive, especially during the time period of slavery. When Dana enters this time period, she is in a survivalist mindset, and the only reason she isn’t hiding out to avoid working as a slave is that she needs Hagar to be born. While it is an understandable decision, it reveals key ideals of human nature.
If that’s the case for choice during this time period, then what does choice look like for slaves? And their masters? Obviously, based on the ideal of a survivalist mindset, slaves are forced to cave into oppression because if they do, they most likely will be punished (or worse, their family will be harmed), or they could be put on an even worse plantation with even worse circumstances. Page 145 is a prime example of this. Dana is conversing with the young slave Tess when she realizes yet another troubling reality: “She had done the safe thing—had accepted a life of slavery because she was afraid. She was the kind of woman who might have been called "mammy" in some other household. She was the kind of woman who would be held in contempt during the militant nineteen sixties. The house-nigger, the handkerchief-head, the female Uncle Tom—the frightened powerless woman who had already lost all she could stand to lose, and who knew as little about the freedom of the North as she knew about the hereafter” (Butler 145). This is only one example of hope being completely eradicated from slaves. They simply don’t have a logical choice of fighting back or resisting because all it does is make the situation worse.
There are so many other possibilities to go with this theme of Choice (Rufus' abusive relationship with Dana, Tom Weylin and his slaves, etc.), but since this basic analysis is already beginning to turn into an essay, I think I’d like to leave it here. Overall, choice is a basic right for individuals in America, but will it always be protected? Is Butler's novel a critique of choice and its history in America? One final thought that I want to leave you with is how choice is viewed by the slave owners of the time. How are their choices shaped? And can the morals of society really be destroyed simply by the laws enacted by the time? Is suppression inevitable . . ?
Works Cited:
Butler, Octavia E.. Kindred. Doubleday, 1979.
“Choice.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/choice. Accessed 12 Nov. 2025.
Hi Mateo! I like how you characterized the theme of choice in this novel! I thought your question on the relationship between choice and social construct was very interesting, and I do think there is a causal connection. For people like Tess, the system of slavery deprives their humanity and freedom to choose their lives. For the slave owners, they are simply products of the system. Tom Weylin, at some level, is a righteous man who lives up to his promises (sending Dana's letter because Rufus gave her the word that he would). Yet, he still whips his slaves because that is the normalized punishment. For Rufus, we see that before he is influenced by the system, he makes friends with Nigel and Alice. Yet, under the system, he eventually becomes a rapist and power abuser.
ReplyDeleteHi Mateo, I think the idea of choice is an especially interesting one to focus on! I think that though Dana and Rufus technically do have free choice, those choices are affected by previous experiences and may come with ramifications which ultimately influence their choices. Additionally, especially for Rufus, these choices are affected by his background in 19th century life. throughout the book, it is depicted that Rufus is not necessarily a "bad person", but heavily affected by his society and the people around him, especially his father.
ReplyDeleteHey Mateo, this was a pretty unexpected choice for a blog, but it turned out be quite interesting and insightful. I like how you introduced the idea of choice and how we can say there are multiple choices in a situation, but that there is only really one choice, like in the case of Dana saving Rufus's life time and time again. We can only wonder why Dana has been put in this situation where she is teased with technically having a large variety of choices on what she can do, but really being forced into helping Rufus. It really is emblematic of the freedom slaves at the time had, as they only had one real choice too, as their "other choices" were risky and usually life threatening (like running away). Overall, nice post!
ReplyDeleteHey Mateo! This is a really interesting theme that I hadn't really considered before. You do a great job of highlighting how choice can be taken or can be an illusion from the start. One thing to consider though is that in some cases slaves did end up choosing death over life. They realized that the choice between life and death was there, and while in many cases it was no choice, in others they took the latter. I'd say that slave owners were very aware of the dynamic of choice and exploited it to the best of their ability. Great blog post!
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point when you note that Dana's time-travel takes the form of a literal "sickness," and there is something "disgusting" about having to return to this time and place (as indeed she notes how bad the place *stinks*, in addition to her constant sense of moral revulsion). It seems fitting that Dana would feel so nauseous as she is forcibly transported back in time.
ReplyDeleteFor me, probably the most complicated and egregious example of *choice* being a theme in this novel is when Dana presumes to grant Alice the "choice" of going to Rufus without resistance: it is "her body," and she can decide what she wants to do, whether she wants to take the chance of escaping again (not really a choice) or going "willingly" to Rufus in order to avoid suffering. But Alice calls her out directly, saying her body is NOT her choice, and Dana never really acknowledges her own compromised position as moral counsel to Alice. It's maddening: the very essence of enslavement is this utter lack of choice about her own body, her fertility, her affections. Rufus has already violently nullified Alice's "choice" to marry Isaac. Alice HAS no meaningful choice, just as she has no choice in her enslavement. And it's surprising how Dana doesn't seem to fully grasp this point (or, worse, she ignores it in order to coerce Alice).
Mateo, Mateo, Mateo, you've done it again old boy! once again showing your strong understanding of the book, this time being Kindred. I appreciate how you were able to highlight the idea of choice by looking at how it could human nature to so some of these things such as saving the lives of those indeed. But then you look at how slaves choose to live more of a survivalist mindset, but not because they wish to but because they are forced so that they can avoid being punishment and choose to give in to the oppression which really highlights how there are some people who choose to do thinks while there are those that are forced to choose to do these things for the greater good of themselves such as slaves.
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