Kevin as a Charater
Kevin throughout the book is pushed to the background. We don’t get details about his 5 years in the past or much of his thoughts. This is because Kindred is a book about Dana, not Kevin. Butler uses this book to show the horrors of slavery and the book would have different points if it were about Kevin
Still I find myself fascinated with Kevin. How the book initially treats him as someone who might be susceptible to influence, then saying how he helped slaves escape. On page 109 and 110 Dana and Kevin are talking about how their relatives might react to their marriage. Kevin says “The only close relative I’ve got left is my sister… She’ll Love you, believe me.” Out of all the relatives either Dana or Kevin mention, she is the only one who is believed to accept their marriage, but when Kevin calls she rebukes their marriage. Kevin’s theory is that she married someone who “would have made a good Nazi.” (page 110)
This odd inclusion seems to be hinting at Kevin and his potential to be influenced. This is right after Kevin had been left in the past to fend for himself, so this seems to attempt to plant the idea in the reader's mind that if and when Kevin is reintroduced, he could be a little more racist, or at the least complicit in the system of slavery.
This idea placed in the reader's head is contradicted when Kevin comes “home” to 1976. I have put quotations around home because on page 190 when Kevin is attempting to get situated with his old life he says “If I’m not home yet, maybe I don’t have a home.” We do not know what Kevin is thinking due to the 1st person nature of the novel, but we can make a pretty good guess. In the past he was longing for his 1976 home with Dana. Feeling lost and boggled by the atrocities that he saw. Not only slavery, but childbirth and the failure of medical technology (page 191). He saw many things that even Dana has not, partly due to the fact he is white, partly due to how long he stayed in the past. No matter how long he stayed he was longing for his home with Dana.
The fact that he almost bought land as stated on page 192 shows how he was close to giving up. How maybe Dana was never going to come back, how maybe he should have stayed in Maryland, but he comes rushing back for her as soon as he can as shown on page 183, ready to be with her.
We never get everything that happens during his 5 years, but we get a synopsis. I find his involvement in helping slaves escape particularly interesting. In the previous chapter there is this hint with his sister and Nazi husband, but here he is helping slaves escape. Kindred has a heavy undertone of nature versus nurture. If we are to use Kevin, no matter his nurture, he is pretty against racism.
Hi Tucker, I really liked your analysis of Kevin as a character! I agree that he is often ignored? (in a way) in Kindred. But, I also think he plays a pretty central role because he changes Dana's course of action. For example, Dana is arguably given better treatment on the plantation because she pretends she is Kevin's slave. I also think his character is sometimes contradictory - he helps slaves hide away, but sometimes makes comments demonstrating that he truly doesn't understand what is going on in the time period.
ReplyDeleteHi Tucker! Interesting thoughts on Kevin. Thought Kevin often only plays a small role in the course of the book, I still think that he still shows a lot about the society and I think that was intentional by Octavia Butler. For example, though he is obviously not racist and cares for Dana, he is clearly privileged by the society and shows some sympathy to Rufus and Tom, simply because he has never had to go through what Dana or any other slave has.
ReplyDeleteThe novel does something interesting where it plants seeds of doubt in the reader's mind through elaborating on his relationships with people that have questionable morals. This helps it extend the tension between Kevin and Dana to Kevin and the reader. When Kevin gets trapped in the past, is he going to turn into a racist? The reader gets to also feel this sort of worry that Dana feels.
ReplyDeleteThis was a fun read on a character I'm only now realizing is taken out of the spotlight pretty often, despite feeling like such a core character in the book, likely due to Dana's emotional reliance on him. I think Kevin is one of the most nuanced characters to get a clear like and dislike on, written with flaws and misogyny and ignorance, but does pretty good given his situations. I like your ending touch on how Kevin's nature or nurture seems to pit him against racism. And, I think that despite how easy it might be to nitpick Kevin, his actions are incredibly admirable. Fighting against systemic racism, helping slaves escape directly, and putting his own body and potentially life on the line, are, at least I think, more than a lot of people who might hate on Kevin would do. Definitely more than I would be able to accomplish if just plopped in that time period.
ReplyDeleteHi Tucker, I liked how you explored Kevin's character, since he’s often pushed to the background and we only see him through Dana’s perspective. Your points about the hints Butler gives, like the scene with Kevin’s sister, were really interesting because they show how the novel plays with our expectations about whether Kevin might be changed or influenced by the past.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Kevin is an important and significant character in this novel, and that this largely has to do with his race--especially when it comes to the questions about Dana's unstated fears about how this time period might influence him. And he DOES seem to "pass the test," helping the Underground Railroad and agitating against slavery at great personal risk. This isn't THAT kind of horror story, where Kevin is completely transformed into a white supremacist after existing in a society that asserts and reinforces his supremacy at every turn. He does remain not only non-racist but also antiracist.
ReplyDeleteAs a number of other posts have suggested, though, the issues with Kevin and Dana have more to do with gender than race, especially around questions of distribution of domestic labor.
Hi tucker! I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I liked the points on how Butler gives hints.
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