Shadows of Power: Dana's Parallels Between Kevin and The Weylin Men
Shadows of Power: Dana's Parallels Between Kevin and The Weylin Men In Octavia Butler's Kindred, Dana constantly notices parallels between her white husband, Kevin, and the Weylin men, two white plantation owners who enslave her during her forced trips to the antebellum South. These parallels, however, do not suggest that Kevin shares the same outlook on slavery as Rufus and Mr. Weylin; rather Butler uses them to hint at how deeply woven racism and power dynamics are into American history. Dana's outlook on Kevin begins to change: she deeply loves him, but she cannot shake the ways he is able to protect himself by being a white man. Butler throughout the novel creates a main theme that the present is shaped by the past, she explores this theme by showing how hard it is for Kevin and Dana to keep up their "act" while living in the 1800s. The first parallel Dana realizes is how privileged Kevin becomes because of his whiteness. When Kevin en...
