Kindred vs Incidents In the Life of A Slave Girl, Miscellaneous, College Term Papers.com


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Kindred vs Incidents In the Life of A Slave Girl

Kindred vs Incidents In the Life of A Slave Girl Kindred vs. Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl According to “the conventions for slave narratives”, it is possible to categorize Kindred by Octavia Butler as a slave narrative. However, the circumstances that take Dana back in time are imaginative and fantastical compared to slave narratives such as Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. While reading Kindred, one doesn’t really get the experience of the slaves, but how Dana feels as she participates in slave times. Compared to the lives of slaves, her life is much easier and she has the luxury of knowing she is not and never was a slave. In contrast, Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl is a direct portrayal of slavery through the eyes of a slave. Although the viewpoints are very different, there are similarities in their experiences and in the way each responds and fights for their freedom. The first parallel exists in how both Dana and Jacobs are taught to view themselves. Jacobs states, “ I was born a slave; but never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away” (Jacobs 7). Jacobs’ father allowed her the freedom to grow up happy and unfettered by slavery. Once she did realize she was a slave, her mistress further encouraged independent thought with kind treatment and by teaching Jacobs to read. Therefore Jacobs had little worries about slavery for the first twelve years of her life. Dana grew up in 20th century America, where life for African-Americans is drastically changed. She never had to worry about slavery nor gave it much thought beyond what she read in books or learned in classes. She is even married to a white man. When transported back in time she is truly perplexed by the treatment she receives from Tom and Margaret Weylin. As she stated, There was something about me these people didn’t like except Rufus. It wasn’t just racial. They were used to black people. Maybe I could get Kevin to find out what it is. (Butler 70) Most slaves knew that education got slaves killed. Yet it never occurs to Dana that her speech, her education, her whole aura was unlike any other slave encountered before and therefore she was a potential threat to the slaveholder’s way of life. Further parallels exist in the relationship they have with their masters. Jacobs’ master, Mr. Flint, is obsessed with having her and takes every chance he gets to proposition her in some vulgar fashion. Yet while he desires her, he never tries to force or beat her into submission. Instead he attempts to manipulate her and when that fails threatens to beat or kill her. Jacobs does not hide her dislike of Dr. Flint and at times wonders herself why he does not punish her. She states, “Sometimes I so openly expressed my contempt for him that he would become violently enraged, and I wondered why he did not strike me” (Jacobs 35). With the threat of physical violence constantly hanging over her head, she is terrified and traumatized by Dr. Flints constant harassment. Dana’s master Rufus treats her much the same. Once he grows into a young man, he too becomes obsessed with her and makes every attempt to seduce her. He is often kind and sweet but once rejected he becomes enraged and violent. Dana recalls, I can’t be with you Rufus. You don’t love me. You just want what you can’t have. His eyes shot daggers into hers and then it came. A blow that sent her falling to the ground. (Butler 86) Dana later wakes up back in her own time confused and shocked at the turn of events. This is the turning point for Dana. She now knows she can no longer live with slavery and begins to devise a plan for her escape. Desperation for escape is the next parallel that exists between Dana and Harriet Jacobs. Although enacted differently, they are the same in nature due to the extremes in which they accomplish it. After yet another violent episode with Rufus, Dana checks out once and for all. She creeps into the attic and slits her wrists. As Kevin stated “ Why the hell did you cut your wrists? You could have bled to death! Or did you cut them yourself?” Dana replied, “Yes. It got me home” (Butler 242). Dana’s desperation to get away from the sickness of Rufus and of slavery drives her over the edge. She does the unthinkable to get away and loses her left arm in the process, a small price to pay for freedom. Jacobs plight for freedom although less bloody, is just as extreme. When she is certain her children are in danger she runs from the plantation of Mr. Flint. First, she runs to a friend’s house, but later is confined to a crawl space in her grandmother’s house where she stays for approximately seven years. Jacobs recalls, It was a pent roof, covered with nothing but shingles according to the southern custom of such buildings. The garret was only nine feet long and seven wide. The highest part was three feet high and sloped down abruptly to the loose board floor. There was no admission for either light or air. (Jacobs 128) Both women are driven to act first, with little time for thought, Dana desperate to return to her own time where slavery doesn’t exist, and Jacobs, desperate to save her children and give them freedom. As stated earlier, Jacobs and Dana experience slavery from very different perspectives. Dana is well educated and prior to going back in time, has only read about slavery, while Jacobs, although literate, is born into slavery and knows nothing else. Yet these major differences do not change the veneer of slavery. Both are considered property and both had to endure and watch others endure unimaginable cruelties. It seems only natural that the similarities in their experiences produced similarities in how they reacted and how they escaped to freedom. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1005