Question

In Kindred, how does Dana come to feel at home at the Weylin plantation?
What is Octavia Butler's idea of home in Kindred?

Accepted Answer

"Dana enjoys a privileged status in the Weylin household. She is disturbed by how easily she seems to acclimate to her new role, but realizes that this is because most of the time she can act as an observer. As time goes on, however, she is drawn more deeply into the pain of slavery."

Dana makes the Weylin plantation home by playing a role.  She integrates herself into the life of a slave by working in the kitchen, carrying water, cleaning the house and doing as she was told.  She became to care about the other slaves and the children on the plantation.  She worked behind the scenes to teach reading and this almost gets her killed.  She realizes that the reason that she is able to do this is because she approaches the situation as if she were an observer and playing a role, not actually in the situation, but playing a part. 
Ocatvia Butler believes that home is exactly what people make of home.  It doesn't matter where one is, or who one is with, it is an attitude and a point of view. Home is one's culture, ancestors, and what is in their heart and soul.

"Dana makes friends with the other slaves and Tom hires Kevin to teach his son. They settle into a routine, until Dana becomes uncomfortable with how easy it is. She realizes that slavery is a mental degradation, not just a physical one. When Tom discovers her teaching slave children to read, he knocks her to the ground and beats her. Before Kevin can reach her, she is returned to 1976."

Answer

Dana's relationship to the Weylin plantation is a complicated one. It is simultaneously the birthplace of her ancestors and a place of historical and personal horror. As the novel progresses, Dana is forced to spend longer and longer periods at the Weylin plantation. Paralleling this, Dana's injuries become more and more serious. As Dana travels back in time, she takes the physical scars with her; thus, the Weylin plantation becomes a literal part of her.
At one point, Dana says:

I could recall walking along the narrow dirt road that ran past the Weylin house and seeing the house, shadowy in twilight, boxy and familiar ... I could recall feeling relief at seeing the house, feeling that I had come home. And having to stop and correct myself, remind myself that I was in an alien, dangerous place.

The concept of home in the novel, then, in part shows that people become acclimated to anything—even the most horrendous circumstances. This is precisely how systematic atrocities such as slavery are able to be perpetuated: people become complacent. It is linked thematically to both the strength of familial bonds (as Dana's family acts as a safety net at the Weylin plantation, giving her a sense of safety) and slavery's corrupting influence.
At the culmination of the story, Dana loses her arm to the past. This becomes a symbolic representation of the idea that part of Dana, and more broadly, part of the black American experience, will always be rooted in the atrocities of slavery. Furthermore, Dana herself (and again, the larger black community) will never be whole, because the horrors of the past have taken something from them. The concept of home is linked to this—neither the Weylin plantation nor her 1976 apartment is fully home to her or Kevin after this experience. No matter where they are, they struggle to feel "at home."

Answer

When all is said and done, Kevin is Dana's home. He is the place she longs to return to each time she is sent back to the Weylin plantation. He supports Dana, encourages her, and tries to protect her. In fact, he tries to desperately hold on to her and ends up being transported back in time himself, eventually risking it all to help black slaves escape from the South. Kevin and Dana enjoy their life together, and although their view of the present shifts after their experiences, Kevin is Dana's ultimate sense of home.
However, Dana is forced to spend years living on the Weylin plantation and even comes to feel fairly at home in those surroundings. Part of this hinges on Rufus, whom she meets as a child; although she finds him spoiled and prone to getting into trouble because of it, she hopes that she can help him overcome his surroundings of racism and slavery and make him a better person. Sadly, she doesn't. And this is conflicting because Rufus also represents her home because he is her ancestor. Dana partly feels that she needs to protect him to ultimately save her own lineage, but she also feels compelled to save him from his evil tendencies because he represents a part of her.
In Part 5, Dana is fairly shocked to catch herself thinking, "Home at last" upon reaching the Weylin Plantation. This highlights the idea that one's home can be found in unlikely places and ultimately hinges on the people there. At the Weylin Plantation, Dana has Alice, an ancestor who views Dana with contempt at times as she thinks Dana is somehow tied to her forced relationship with the cruel Rufus. But Dana also respects Alice's strength and reflects, "The danger to my family was past, yes. Hagar had been born. But the danger to me personally . . . the danger to me personally still walked and talked and sometimes sat with Alice in her cabin in the evening as she nursed Hagar." She and Alice are bound together by both DNA and a shared fear of a man capable of inflicting any harm he wishes on the two of them. Dana forms relationships with other slaves as well and learns about their lives intimately.
Through these complex relationships that span over a hundred years, Butler shows us that home exists where people share common experiences. Home is where people share their greatest passions and also their greatest fears. Home is where people support each other and listen to each other. Home is the place you always try to find your way back to.

Kindred

In Kindred, how does Dana come to feel at home at the Weylin plantation? What is Octavia Butler's idea of home in Kindred?

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