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Blog 6

How does the theme of drug use further convey the plot or develop more dynamic characters within the book?

Among the sisters, we know that Cypress has a large quantity of coke that she sells. Then, near the center of the story, she gives Sassafrass a portion to sell to help her and her artist community. Shange writes, “…Cypress admitted she couldn’t spare much, because she was saving the best and the larger rocks for her sister to have some money when she got back to L.A” (Shange 108). Usually authors insert drug use and its associated themes to add to the narrative. What is added in this narrative is the leniency between these two sisters and the manipulation of negativity. Sassafrass left Mitch when she saw his drug use in their home. What becomes dynamic about her character is her acceptance of the coke from her sister and the way she transforms this negative item. Instead of associating it with a negative portion of her life, as a woman, she is repurposing it to serve her dreams and aspirations. This is very reflective of the advice their mother gives them in the letters she sends. In one letter, their mom states, “And you girls realize, by now, how hard an artist’s life is” (Shange 106). If given negativity, they must find a way to make everything useful because they are artists. Their mother knows they can’t take anything go to waste, and it is in their capable talent to transform anything.

Leniency is expressed when Sassafrass is accepting of her sister selling coke. They both understand the difficulty of an artist’s life and the years of dedication to their practice has yet to supply them with enough money. Selling coke also ties into the sense of female empowerment they hold. Most of the time, drug dealers are men because, generally speaking, they are less likely to be overpowered or fooled. The author is furthering the plot by showing instances of female empowerment. This ties in well with the instances where the sisters are torn down or belittled by men.

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Blog 4

Within the text, the author establishes a theme with hearts and broken hearts. This theme is revealed through George’s weak heart that he must take medication for and the constant restatement of her great-grandfather dying of a broken heart made by Mama Day. The author seems to convey this theme within male characters only. The theme of broken hearts can be interpreted to represent a common thread between men involved with the Day family and their death. Their death being caused by a woman of the Day family.

In the novel, Mama Day states, “Yes—it just might come to her. Up and down this path, somehow, a man dies from a broken heart” (Naylor 118). This man, the father of Saphira Wade’s children, is referred to several times by Mama Day. The reader is left with the impression that he is significant to the plot, but the significance is left to interpretation. Parallels can be made with this man, which is Mama Day’s great-grandfather, and George Andrews. The reader can allude to the idea that George will die in Willow Springs. His significance lies within the way Miranda’s great-grandfather died, which is by broken heart, and Georges current weak heart. The reader can see foreshadowing within Georges character arch based of Mama Day’s great-grandfather’s character arch. To further support this argument, in the novel, Mama Day begins receiving a strange sense of death. Naylor writes, “Death. Miranda feels death all around her… This here was real death. But Whose?” (Naylor 226). The author establishes that Miranda has greater powers, so this sensation is not a mistake. The author is eluding to Georges death by having Miranda sense death just as he and Cocoa come to visit. The author also eludes to his death by linking Miranda’s great-grandfathers death by heartbreak and by drawing attention, several times throughout the novel, on Georges weak heart.

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BLOG 3

Insightful Question: What is “the other place” and what does it do for the community? As of right now in the novel, why is Mama Day the only one that goes there? 

Looking at the map in the front of the book, “the other place” is next to “the Graveyard”. It is also mentioned in Mama Days thoughts, “She knew know for certain that her and Bernice would end up at the other place, and she knew what had to be done there” (Naylor 91). Based on my personal experiences and thinking logistically, I am led to believe “the other place” could possibly be a church. Usually, you can find a place of worship near where they lay the dead to rest. Though, if this was a place of worship, it would not be the main one where the people of Willow Springs go every Sunday because the reader does not get information of other people visiting “the other place” regularly. After observations of Mama Day’s character and her role within the community, I also arrived to the conclusion that the other place could be woodland. The author does state that Mama Day could move through the woodlands of Willow Springs without snapping a twig which leads me to think that maybe “the other place” is a special portion of woodland (Naylor 79). If she could move so carefully through nature that must mean she was comfortable being there. When it is referenced in the text, Mama Day approaches the idea of going there when she has a problem at hand. “The other place” seems to help Mama Day resolve her problems or find methods to alleviate them. This benefits both Mama Day and the community of Willow Springs because they rely on her power and really cherish it. For Mama Day to use her powers she needs resources that she seems to find in the woods and at “the other place”. Mama Day may be the only one that goes there because the location may be secret or perhaps sacred. Mama Day is the one that holds the healing power to help her community, so I theorize that everyone allows for this area to be reserved for her or the Day family to use.

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Blog 2

Throughout the novel Kindred, author Octavia E. Butler layers into her writing the ideology of how everyone must act according to their roles. Dana, Kevin, and Rufus all have their own pronounced roles within the story line. I believe that Dana uses acting and roleplaying in order for her not to attach herself to the past or the people she encounters while there. If they were to fall out of their roles, they would suffer consequences imposed by the society of Rufus’ time and lose a piece of their resistance toward actions against them. They would lose their resistance toward being oppressed, lose their love in an interracial marriage, and lose the resistance toward the manipulations that come from Rufus. Kevin does not discriminate his roles. He exhibits a newfound attachment to the era when he states, “This could be a great time to live in. I keep thinking what an experience it would be to stay in it…” (Butler, 97). As the reader later finds out, because Kevin did not separate his identity and the role he had to play, he immersed himself into the culture of the time. This left Kevin’s character struck with remnants to hang on to pull him toward Dana in the end. Roles connote the unfamiliarity of the societal norms upheld during this time and how easy it becomes to tangle yourself within this lifestyle. These societal norms include gender norms and racism. With Dana’s role, she becomes the white talking black women. She is a slave in the eyes of the Weylin family and too white to be black amongst the slaves. Dana is left with a divided role to appease the Weylin’s and to cajole the slaves she serves with on the plantation. In an encounter with Tom Weylin, Dana internally states, “At first I stared back. Then I looked away, remembering that I was supposed to be a slave. Slaves lowered their eyes respectfully. To stare back was insolent” (Butler, 66). She reminds herself by physically saying it out loud or enduring racism by telling herself internally that this is just a role she is playing. As Dana, progresses throughout the novel, she repeatedly reminds herself that she needs to play the part of a slave and that those actions are separate from herself and do not embody her beliefs. Doing so was a way to tolerate the treatment she received and understand the roles Tom and Rufus Weylin are forced to play due to the pressures of their slavery-based society.

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Lessons Learned Through Time

In the novel Kindred, written by Octavia E. Butler, everytime Dana teleports to Rufus’ time, she learns a new detail about herself through interactions with the characters in 1819. The aspects that are brought out shine light on the type of character Butler is depicting and the way that this depicted character couldn’t live a life in a era where slavery was legal. Each of her time traveling trips, thus far through the novel, have brought to light an aspect of Dana that previously the character nor the reader had known about. The new things she learns include how she finds safety and comfort when in the presence of people she knows and her unwillingness to kill another person even when they are trying to kill her. 

One detail that is revealed concerning Dana is her insecurity and dislike in being alone. After resolving the issue with Rufus, Dana must leave and that is when she comes to the realization that she doesn't like being alone (Butler, 33). Dana illustrates a dependency on others to create a sense of safety and comfort. Butler writes, “I stood beside the house for a moment feeling frightened and lonely” (33). Her interactions with Rufus provided her with self assurance and comfort as Dana states, “I hadn’t realized how comforting the boy’s presence had been” (Butler, 33). The author writes on this aspect of the character to highlight how solitude and trusting no one are normal traits to survive in a slave state and how Dana doesn’t have any of these self dependent traits. For a slave at this time, they couldn’t hold as much attachment, as Dana did, with anyone because they next day that person could be sold or whipped to death.

A new detail is also learned about Dana when she is in the middle of the woods fighting off a KKK patrolman (Butler, 42). The moment where she overthinks her actions over defending her life is a defining moment where this new detail can be observed. In Kindred, Dana states, “My squeamishness belonged in another age, but I’d brought it along with me” (Butler, 42). In her mind, raised by the society from which she is from, she has these moderating forces of what is correct and what is not. Butler includes this attribute in Dana to establish a tool of power over her in 1819. These small instances of reconsideration and unwillingness to kill play a huge role within the story. It's a common tool of power used by slave owners as they know that their slaves would not raise a hand against them.