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When it comes to writing, I never really have a set plan, which has always been a flaw I have refused to acknowledge for a long time. Many of my weaknesses come from my refusal to recognize my flaws. Still, thanks to my experience in university so far, I have been able to create solid plans before writing, which has made me stronger as a writer.

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This paper analyzed and debunked the myth of "the happy slave." There was no such thing as a happy slave, no matter how much the Confederacy tried to make it seem. With no freedom, there is no happiness.

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This essay was a deep dive into the relationship between Kevin and Dana, specifically the problematic aspects within and outside of Kindred's context. a relationship like theirs is survivable, but not without proper conversations and education.

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Exploring freedom through gender and in a life where freedom is not afforded to you, though you can afford the world, were profoundly intriguing concepts for me, and it was lovley to explore it further on a medium I've relied on for years.

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Refer to Paper 3's grid

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The question, "Who is Alice?" was posed in class, and the answer is very complicated. We're nearing the end of this story, and though we knew of her before, we don't know who she is when we finally meet the adult version of her in the fight. We briefly see her afraid when Dana appears, then proud when she says she's Issac's wife, and then she's gone for a good while. All we know about her is that she's Dana's great-grandmother; she was Rufus' friend, and now she's a runaway. We finally see her again after her spirit has been broken and she is badly injured. Her mind has been reverted temporarily to a child's mind, and I believe this was Butler's way of showing us a side of Alice we've been unable to see due to the focus being entirely on Rufus and his survival. Still, now it's time we know who she's been despite her being off-screen. Alice is being cleaned by Dana, who calls her "Mama." This shows a slight connection with her mother, who died off-screen after the fire. Her disorientation may show us that she is a girl who was hurt and is desperate to know why. The pain she goes through and Rufus' unhealthy attachment to her may be the thing that has worn on her even in this fragile mindset. Alice is later shown to be slightly independent, insisting that she never needs help when her mind goes to an adolescent's. She is gaining awareness of her situation, somewhat unable to fathom how she is a slave despite living her life as a free woman. Her anger towards Dana is a hard scene to read, but it's necessary because she is living a nightmare. Her life has been shattered; her mind has been as well, and her inability to express this to her abusers makes Dana more susceptible to her abuse. The fact that Dana looks like a carbon copy of her mother can also cause her an even more profound sense of pain, and that's why it's so easy for her to take it out on her. Dana can't do anything against Alice and doesn't want to because she understands this is her fault. She lets it happen because the fact that Rufus is alive is all on her, so she has the opportunity to live. Alice, seeing her mother's spitting image, breaks, and lashes out because she is angry in a way Dana can't fathom because she's never had to confront such a fate. Being abused and then forced to sleep on the same bed as that abuser cause he can't imagine you with anyone but him, uncaring of how you felt about him because he never was told the word "no.", especially by someone who looks like you. Alice is still a mystery, but we know one thing: she is tragic. She is forced to lead the rest of her life not in freedom and not with the man she loves, but as a slave, just because of an action she never asked for.

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Baptist's work offered me a nuanced and unsettling insight into the story of Charles Ball and how the explosion of the slave population did not raise productivity but the invention of new torture methods. The dehumanization of black people to simple machines was heart-wrenching. It also shows how deeply slavery went into the American economy to the point if it was gone the day Ball came to the plantation in Carolina, the economy probably would've collapsed. The North may have thought they were above having slavery, but it was the driving factor for all their factories.

Baptist often emphasizes the scale and complexity of the financial activities connected to slavery, including the intricate networks of trade, finance, and agriculture that depended on it. This broader perspective helps explain why the institution of slavery was so deeply entrenched and resistant to change. A shocking element could be his examination of the brutal conditions of slavery and how they were justified economically. For example, Baptist's might detail how slave owners rationalized the inhumanity of the system through economic arguments or how they worked to maximize profit despite the cost to human life and dignity.

I found Baptist's work, though hard to stomach, easier to read than Sundiata's explosiveness. However, I did agree when Sundita said that slavery was not raced in the beginning because I am aware that Greece was very much the beginning of slavery, to my knowledge. I, however, can't entirely agree with him when he says that slavery was not indeed raced because we have clear evidence against that because of living in the future. Still, the economy, one more thing, would not have survived without the practice at the time.

This article makes me want to research further the ongoing inequalities that further the get-over-it argument used against black people when asking for actual reparations and not just basic human decency.

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In Kindred, love is neither an uplifting force nor a weight that drags the characters down; it's a complicated emotional landscape that interacts with themes of power, survival, and identity. The novel raises the question of whether love can exist when oppression shapes relationships. Dana's love for her husband, Kevin, gives her the strength to endure the dangerous and disorienting time-traveling episodes. Their bond is a source of comfort and stability amidst the violence of the past. This love motivates Dana to maintain a sense of normalcy and navigate the challenges they face in the 70s and 19th century. Love also connects across time and space, as Dana feels a complicated connection to her ancestor, Rufus. This connection is rooted in blood ties but also develops into reluctant care, and because of this, Dana's feelings towards Rufus reflect a conflicted sense of responsibility.

Love in the book, at times, is shown to be a burden. Dana's love for Kevin is tested when they are separated across periods. She struggles with the pain of separation and the anxiety over whether Kevin, as a white man, will be changed by the racism of the time. In this sense, love becomes a source of the emotional burden that weighs her down, adding another layer of worry to her already precarious situation. Dana's relationship with Rufus proves how love can become disillusioned with obligation and coercion. Dana's duty to protect him and preserve her lineage creates a painful moral conflict. Rufus's desire for Dana's approval and affection, despite his abusive behavior, further complicates their relationship, turning love into a form of psychological trauma bond. Alice is also able to embody this struggle. Her complex feelings towards Rufus, born out of coercion, survival, and the impossible circumstances she endures, illustrate how love and survival can become inseparable, especially in a context where power dynamics distort genuine feelings. Throughout Kindred, the character's experiences show that love cannot always overcome the forces of racism and power. Despite her empathy for Rufus, Dana is forced to see and recognize that her bond with him and the care she holds for him cannot save him from himself or change the reality of his cruelty and privilege. This realization is pivotal for Dana's understanding of her limits and agency when she is both in the 19th and 20th centuries. The novel also suggests that love can transform positively and negatively over time. The bond formed from the love that Dana and Kevin share begins to evolve as they endure trauma together, becoming more nuanced and tempered by the harsh and opposite realities they face as an interracial couple. Meanwhile, Dana's feelings towards Rufus shift from reluctant care to a firm resolve to protect herself from his destructive love.

The relationships in kindred across time present love as a complicated, complex, and, at times, unexplainable event capable of uplifting people and driving their actions yet also entangling them in dilemmas that challenge their sense of self and morality.

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In Kindred, love is neither an uplifting force nor a weight that drags the characters down; it's a complicated emotional landscape that interacts with themes of power, survival, and identity. The novel raises the question of whether love can exist when oppression shapes relationships. Dana's love for her husband, Kevin, gives her the strength to endure the dangerous and disorienting time-traveling episodes. Their bond is a source of comfort and stability amidst the violence of the past. This love motivates Dana to maintain a sense of normalcy and navigate the challenges they face in the 70s and 19th century. Love also connects across time and space, as Dana feels a complicated connection to her ancestor, Rufus. This connection is rooted in blood ties but also develops into reluctant care, and because of this, Dana's feelings towards Rufus reflect a conflicted sense of responsibility.

Love in the book, at times, is shown to be a burden. Dana's love for Kevin is tested when they are separated across periods. She struggles with the pain of separation and the anxiety over whether Kevin, as a white man, will be changed by the racism of the time. In this sense, love becomes a source of the emotional burden that weighs her down, adding another layer of worry to her already precarious situation. Dana's relationship with Rufus proves how love can become disillusioned with obligation and coercion. Dana's sense of duty to protect him and preserve her lineage creates a painful moral conflict. Rufus's desire for Dana's approval and affection, despite his abusive behavior, further complicates their relationship, turning love into a form of psychological trauma bond. Alice is also able to embody this struggle. Her complex feelings towards Rufus, born out of coercion, survival, and the impossible circumstances she endures, illustrate how love and survival can become inseparable, especially in a context where power dynamics distort genuine feelings. Throughout Kindred, the character's experiences show that love cannot always overcome the forces of racism and power. Despite her empathy for Rufus, Dana is forced to see and recognize that her bond with him and the care she holds for him cannot save him from himself or change the reality of his cruelty and privilege. This realization is pivotal for Dana's understanding of her limits and agency when she is both in the 19th and 20th centuries. The novel also suggests that love can transform positively and negatively over time. The bond formed from the love that Dana and Kevin share begins to evolve as they endure trauma together, becoming more nuanced and tempered by the harsh and opposite realities they face as an interracial couple. Meanwhile, Dana's feelings towards Rufus shift from reluctant care to a firm resolve to protect herself from his destructive love.

The relationships in kindred across time present love as a complicated, complex, and, at times, unexplainable event capable of uplifting people and driving their actions yet also entangling them in dilemmas that challenge their sense of self and morality.

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Regarding the use of time travel within Kindred, there is a demand to disrupt the past, as Rufus's experiences have the potential to cause the future not to exist. Time travel influences the narrative by not giving characters a choice but to interact with one another. The intertwining of the past and the present brings a sense of urgency within Dana to get out of the period as soon as possible and a sense of necessity as Dana's life depends on her actions towards Rufus and her choices in the 1810s. The narrative shows how each action affected real-time in the 1810s and 1970s, especially regarding Dana's injuries and traumas. In this universe, cause and effect as we know it are shown to be nonlinear and complex because Dana's interruptions within the past both save and harm her in the present. There is no fear when it comes to altering the past as it affects whether Dana will even exist. The past isn't just a setting; it's the mindset of the Weylins and the slaves of the time. Dana and Kevin's modern perspectives are seen with disgust by both the slaves and the Weylins because it's so abnormal to them that such a concept of a black woman being educated makes them sick. Her relationship with Kevin is also seen with disgust as Marget beats her and tells her that the Weylins have a Christian household and she is a "black whore" because of what it's implied she and Kevin did by sleeping in the same room. The power of interconnectedness from the ancestors allows them to confront the dark parts of the past that were often marginalized, unheard, and silenced. Butler shows how understanding and engaging with one's heritage can provide a sense of agency. It shows how acknowledging history can give them more advantages when making decisions in the future. With Dana being a black woman, there is an opportunity to re-examine her identity and her familial understanding of history. In her work, Butler uses time travel not just as a plot device but as a means of exploring the legacies of slavery and their ongoing impact. The act of a black woman confronting a white ancestor who enslaved people holds significance and a profound engagement with the past that requires understanding the complexities of oppression and survival. In her work, Butler uses time travel not just as a plot device but as a means of exploring the legacies of slavery and their ongoing impact.