Kindred (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Octavia Butler
- First Published: 1979
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Science fiction
- Time of Work: The early nineteenth century and 1976
- Setting: The eastern shore of Maryland and Los Angeles, California
- Principal Characters: Edana (Dana) Franklin, Kevin Franklin, Rufus Weylin, Tom Weylin, Margaret Weylin, Alice Greenwood, Sarah, Carrie, Nigel
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Social realism, Science fiction
- Subjects: African Americans, 1970’s, Racism, South or Southerners, Nineteenth century, Slavery or slaves, Interracial relationships, Marriage, Los Angeles, Plantations or plantation life, Time travel
- Locales: California, Los Angeles, CA, Maryland
Form and Content
In Kindred, a young black woman is mysteriously transported to the antebellum American South, where she must adapt to a society in which the vast majority of black people are slaves and where she too confronts enslavement. In order to survive, she must acquire basic skills that, as a modern woman, she has never learned, including cooking on an open hearth, sewing, and doctoring without the benefit of modern medicines or antisepsis. She must also determine whether she has the strength of character required for survival in a world that is rough and crude,...
[The entire page is 2280 words long]
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