In The 1979 Novel, Kindred, Octavia E. Butler Writes Of

During the 19th century slavery was a very prominent and controversial issue between the north and the southern states. In the South, most people believed that slavery was a profitable way of life and if the slavery was to be abolished it would then affect their economy. On the hand the northern had different opinions about slavery and intended to stop it. The fact that the perception were different between the two led to a very difficult situation in resolving the issue.

The first issue was abolitionist movement wanted to end slavery and that was because colonist in the North didn’t want slaves to be part of the society unlike the colonist in the South. With that going on it started to divide the country really bad, by the 1830s many settlers was saying that slavery was a good thing and a lot of other settlers didn’t believe that. As time went the country grew worse and worse by the da, until eventually segregated by the settlers who want slaves and who didn’t, another reason would be that slaves were counted as three-fifths of a vote for the purpose of population and representation in the House of Representatives. The Constitution also prohibited the importation of slaves that begin in 1808, but have to manage without using the words slave or slavery. The last reason is that with the improvements of the cotton grin and the sewing machine increased the demand of slave labor in the US especially in the South. The

Octavia Butler’s Kindred is a compelling novel in and of itself. It incorporates the thrill of science fiction, the truth of historical fiction, and the power of a neo-slave narrative to create an unforgettable story. However, Kindred is also impressive on the front of literary techniques and style. A large part of what makes the novel so fascinating is its consistent use of parallelism. In particular, the major parallel between Dana’s experience as a black woman in antebellum America and 20th century America gives the plot depth by debunking the notion that the future is exclusively progressive in comparison to the past. In Kindred, the literary device of parallelism relates Dana’s experience as a black woman in the 19th century and the 20th century on the bases of education, gender, and race, all of which show that the two time periods in

As Americans were moving west to fulfill the Manifest Destiny and conquering new territories, new boundaries for the Union were having to be shaped. With the northern states having officially abolished slavery since 1804, the argument over which territories would be free or not was now coming into play. The North and South have had differing opinions regarding slavery for over sixty years, but with the topic being kept out of most, if not all, political debates the dispute never seemed to come to a head. After the

Northern and Southern states both had different ideas about slavery; the North wanted to ban it whereas the South wanted to keep slavery in all states. This disagreement led to many different disagreements that had to resolved with multiple

The turmoil of war offered other avenues for freedom and the idea of freedom petitions. Many slaves fought for the Americans and gained their freedom, but more slaves obtained their liberty from Britain. Abolition was happening after the Revolution; however, it was a drawn-out process and took a long time to get rid of the idea of having slaves. Abolition created a division between free and slave

Slavery was one of the main issues that divided the North and the South. All of the Southern states allowed slavery, while most of the Northern ones didn’t. Both parties strongly believed that they were right and argued with others who didn’t feel the same way. One example of this is a letter written by the American Anti-Slavery Society to its new members: “...our object is, the overthrow of American slavery, the most atrocious and oppressive system of bondage that has ever existed in this country...we expect to correct...our slave--holding fellow-citizens, and convince them… of the immediate abolition of slavery. Slavery is un-American.” (Doc. 2a) This goes to show how abolitionists not only believed that they should get rid of slavery everywhere, but also thought of the South as detached from themselves.

This debate created much animosity between the north and south, and put into question the future of slavery. The south wanted to ensure its continuation of it’s a way of life, and the right to own slaves. They wanted to ensure that the new territories of the United States were free to choose for themselves whether or not slavery should be justified in their territory. This

One of the main issues as to why there was a such a big debate over slavery was the Declaration of Independence. As written in the Declaration of Independence, “All men are free.” However, the North interpreted this as both white and black men are created equal while the south interpreted this

Neo-slave narratives were initially defined by Bernard Bell and further solidified by Ashraf Rusdhy. With both of their ideas put together, they defined neo-slave narratives as contemporary novels that assume the form, adopt the conventions, take on the first person voice of the antebellum slave narrative. They are a product of the 1960s “intellectual and social conditions associated with the civil rights and Black Power Movements.” Neo-slave narratives questioned “race and racial identity, literature and literary history, texts and intertextuality.” On the other hand, traditional slave narratives differ from the neo-slave narratives in the sense that they have a set narrator. In Octavia Butler’s Bloodchild and Kindred, the literary tropes

Slavery has always been a controversial and debatable issue in the United States. No one attacked the African-American slavery of the southern states with greater vehemence than a group of young, radical abolitionists. Frustrated at the betrayal of the revolutionary promise that all forms of bondage would disappear in the new land and marshalling all the religious revivals that swept the country, abolitionists demanded no less than the immediate emancipation of all slaves. Bursting upon the American political system in the early 1830s, abolitionists not only opposed any reparation of slaveholders, but they also demanded full political rights for all African-Americans, North and South.

First published in 1979, Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred is a unique novel, which can be categorized both as a modern-day slave narrative, and as a science fiction time-travel tale. In the novel, Butler uses time-travel as a way to convey W.E.B. Du Bois’ theory of double-consciousness. Dubois’ theory is based on the idea that people of color have two identities, both struggling to reconcile in one being. His theory about the complex nature of the African-American experience directly relates to Butler’s use of Kindred’s protagonist, Dana, and her experience time travelling as a modern-day African-American woman, and her experience of a pre-abolition, nineteenth-century slave.

The only people slaves could turn to were each other. In essence, they formed a community of sorts in which each one tried to watch out for one another while maintaining their own survival at the same time. This is evident when Sarah welcomes Dana into the cookhouse to help. She gives her work, despite the fact that Dana has few skills in household chores. Also, we see camaraderie when Alice’s mother welcomes Dana into her home. “I saw her glance over at her daughter, then touch her own face and wipe away blood from the corner of her mouth. “Wasn’t going to turn you ‘way,” she said softly” (38). The welcoming of Alice’s mother stretches beyond kindness because she is putting her whole family at risk. Furthermore, she is taking in a woman who she doesn’t even know. As a result, we can concur simply that slaves did all they could to help fellow slaves.

Before the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the enactment of it 1865, the issue of slavery was dividing the nation. Many, mainly those in the Northern states, began to view slavery as immoral. Those in the Southern states didn’t agree with them, causing a secession

The controversy of racism scorches Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass written by Frederick Douglass himself. Douglass unveils the atrocious truth about slavery that was hidden for so many years. Every beating, every death, every malicious act was all recorded for the people of the U.S. to finally see the error of our ways. The short essay, Slavery as a Mythologized Institution, explains how people in that time period justified the disgusting behavior that was demonstrated regularly. Religion and intellectual inferiority were concepts that were used to manipulate the minds of everyone around into believing that practicing slavery was acceptable. However a very courageous man, Frederick Douglass challenges those beliefs. Douglass debunks the mythology of slavery in his narrative by rebuking the romantic image of slavery with very disturbing imagery, promotes his own views on the intellectual belief of slaves, and exposes the “system” for promoting the disloyalty among slaves.