Family in Kindred

Themes regarding family are included throughout Kindred, and Butler portrays a realistic and conflicting dynamic between familial love and the slavery era. During a time when a group of people were considered nothing more than property, the bonds and affection that come from families would be some of the few positive aspects of life in slavery. Butler makes the reality of how easy it was for slave owners to break families apart very clear throughout the novel. Dana and Sam’s brief interaction is a good example of this. The extent of their conversation was basically Sam asking Dana to teach his siblings how to read, yet three days later Sam is taken away from the Weylin Plantation in chains and sold. The only reason for this being that Rufus was upset at Sam simply talking to Dana. Rufus’ ability to just separate a family with no hesitation exemplifies the slavery era idea that black people were nothing more than property.

Another dynamic that Butler explores is how slave owners use family to keep slaves more attached to their plantation. When Nigel marries Carrie, the Weylin’s finally trust him because he’s much less likely to run away and take risky actions with a family to care about. Dana points out that they could easily sell Carrie because she’s so hard working and self driven, but she also cares for Nigel and her mother, making her more useful at the Weylin plantation: “Not only did she work hard and well herself, not only had she produced a healthy new slave, but she had kept first her mother, and now her husband in line with no effort at all on Weylin’s part.” There are many more examples of how owners could manipulate and ruin slave families for personal or business related interests, but I thought these two were pretty straightforward and clear.