Through our reading of Kindred, the character I am constantly changing my mind about is Kevin. When Dana is in the hospital at the beginning of the book, I was mostly just interested in reading further in the book to find out how the incident of losing her arm had happened, but I also took notice that Kevin was there comforting her. When Dana starts traveling back in time, however, there were some details in the book that made me a little uneasy about how Kevin would turn out as a character. For instance, her description of his eyes being similar to those of Tom Weylin’s, a very racist and cruel man, seemed like foreshadowing. Similarly, Dana mistaking Kevin for the patroller who beats her, and Kevin then asking her about it seems too specific to just be a random detail. I was also worried about their relationship in 1976 when Kevin became angry that Dana wouldn’t type things for him.
Another thing that makes it easy to doubt Kevin’s character is the amount of control he has over Dana as a result of the situation they are put in when they travel in time. Because of Kevin’s skin color and his role of being Dana’s owner, he has so much control over everything that happens to them. Dana spends a lot of time contemplating how easy it is to accept slavery and how her and Kevin fit into their roles so easily. Because Kevin isn’t in the same role as Dana and doesn’t have to change how he acts as much, it seems much easier for him to just brush off the awful things happening to the slaves. Kevin doesn’t have to change who he is as much. Dana, on the other hand, has to take up the role of a slave and be careful with every word she says, or she might get whipped. For instance, when he expresses excitement about being in a different time period and being able to travel, he does not seem to consider how Dana must feel about being put in a time period where she is treated as less than human. At this point of the book, I was not a big fan of Kevin as a character.
In class, we also talked about how Kevin is not intentionally acting racist or numb to what Dana is feeling, but just doesn’t always articulate things the way he should. When he and Dana discuss the whippings, Kevin, as Dana points out, minimizes the wrong that is being done even though he doesn’t mean to: “One is too many, yes, but still, this place isn’t what I would have imagined. No overseer. No more work than the people can manage…” (100). Even though it’s hard for him to understand Dana’s experience, we see evidence that Kevin isn’t actually racist. He still got into trouble for “not being able to tell the difference between black and white,” and when he remained in 1819 without Dana, he moved to the north where there is more equality.
Even though I know that there is support in the book for Kevin’s lack of racism, I was again worried when Dana traveled back to 1976 without him. When they were united again, I was curious to see how much he would change and if he would have become more racist as a result of conforming to society. When Kevin and Dana returned home, seeing Kevin’s anger made me anxious, but I was also comforted by the fact that while he was away he had tried to help black people. So, although there are definitely things about his character that I don’t like, I am comforted in knowing that at the end of the book he will be supportive of Dana in the hospital, and I am eager to see Kevin and Dana’s interactions for the rest of the book.
Another thing that I think is important to consider when looking at times when Dana compares Kevin to Tom Weylin is that she herself is making the comparison, and she has been affected by the antebellum south as well. I think that her comparisons of Kevin to Tom and the patroller emphasize the amount of mistrust the slavery lifestyle could induce in individuals just based on skin color. The fact that Kevin and Dana love each other and are married further stresses this point and possibly points to how sad it is.
ReplyDeleteSo this comment is barely related to the story, but I just have to stand up for Kevin saying that the plantation was not as bad as he was expecting. And hear me out, because people not hearing each other out is exactly what this comment is about. People make it way too hard for each other to get across a point if they assume it means something that they disagree with, even if the point is only superficially similar to the thing they disagree with. Dana jumps on Kevin for suggesting that the past wasn't as bad as he thought it would be because she assumes that he means that it's not very bad, or that he doesn't appreciate the more subtle types of oppression going on. Now, that could be what he was saying, but I honestly think that it sounds more like he's saying that his imagination just didn't quite line up with the reality. The situation is still bad--he says this-- but maybe he was imagining something more violent. I don't think that Dana would disagree that more violence towards the slaves would make the situation worse. It's entirely conceivable that he could have imagined some situation that was worse that the reality, even if the reality was really really bad. This is a legitimate point but there would literally be no way for him to communicate it with her, because she would always assume that he was making a slightly different point (that he was claiming that it wasn't that bad at all). Even when he clarified, she would insist that actually that was the point he was making. I can't count how many arguments I've gotten into with friends because they just won't consider that maybe I'm not quite saying what they think I'm saying-- especially if what I'm saying seems similar to something they've heard before and have already decided they disagree with. I do agree that Kevin shouldn't minimize the significance of the kids playing slave auction, but I don't think that Dana can say if what he was imagining was worse or not because she can't know what he was imagining.
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