Dana and Kevin

            Something that I’ve been thinking about a lot while reading Kindred is the dynamic of Dana and Kevin’s relationship. In the prologue, which is ominously vague, Dana and Kevin are portrayed as having strong feelings for each other. Dana, who is in the hospital during the prologue, repeatedly asks to see Kevin and, upon his arrival, thinks that “the important thing was that he was there” (Butler 10). The prologue hints at there being violent conflict throughout the novel, but also hints that Dana and Kevin are a strong couple that will get through it together. However, now having read more of the novel Dana and Kevin’s relationship becomes way more complicated.

            At one point, Dana and Kevin are transported together into the antebellum south, where they must simulate a slave and master relationship, because Kevin is a white male while Dana is a black female. This, unsurprisingly, begins to strain their relationship. Dana’s experience of the Weylin plantation is horrific: she is cruelly physically and verbally abused, forced to labor, and must act in a subordinate manner to white people. While Kevin has to deal with some discomforts that arise from lacking modern technologies like deodorant or effective razors, he doesn’t have to experience what being a slave was like. As a result of this, he is at times insensitive to Dana, such as when he describes slave children simulating an auction block as “a kid’s game”, or describes the early 1800s as “a great time to live in” (Butler 97,100). In both cases Kevin speaks from a privileged perspective, disregarding the implications behind what he is saying. When Dana points out why his statements are problematic he speaks condescendingly to her, or simply doesn’t answer.

            Even in the 1970s Dana and Kevin’s relationship doesn’t appear to be entirely healthy. The day they meet, Dana has no money so Kevin buys her food and tells her to eat it. Although this is not nearly as drastic as the slave-master dynamic, it still represents an unequal power distribution. Other moments in the 1970s, such as when Dana is unpacking boxes while Kevin writes in his office, or when Kevin asks Dana to type his papers for him even though he knows she hates it reinforces that Kevin seems to be the dominant figure in the relationship.

            The impression I got from the prologue of Kindred was that Dana and Kevin were going to work together to overcome the conflict of the story. However, the more I read the more I start to feel that Dana and Kevin will become one of the conflicts. Where we stopped for tonight, Kevin has recently come back after being stranded in the 1800s for five years. While undoubtedly that was a challenging experience, he seems to resent Dana for it even though it was beyond her control, and forgets that her experiences in the 1800 were much harder than his. I’m interested to see how their relationship progresses as they continue to process the situation they are in.