Having enough power over others may feel like an exhilarating enjoyment, but after a while, those people controlled may expunge that person from their life. The novel, Kindred by Octavia Butler, shows the abuse of power, and how society in the 1700s reacts with it. Dana, a young independent woman, transports to the past to save her ancestor, Rufus, from life threatening situations. She 's in the 1700s in Maryland, Dana converts into a slave throughout the novel, the independent woman changed by the act of power from Rufus, a slave owner. He has twisted and wrong affection towards people, and when he transfers power into his emotions, he becomes a bit chaotic. Rufus’s abuse of power effected many slaves, some treated kindly, but it all ended
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The master 's words and actions, can exacerbate the slaves lives. Thinking that a person is just a possession of them is the basics of a slave, they have no opinion on anything. They’re considered to have no power, but they do have it, they 're just too afraid to show it. “He had found a way to control me —by threatening others.” (Butler 169). This quote is an example of controlling, Rufus found a way through Dana’s love for others, she no longer holds any freedom. Alice, another slave, also has no freedom as well, so they 're both held hostage. Rufus uses Alice as a victim for Dana to protect because her queue to leave would be her future child, Hagar. Dana could kill Rufus, though that would cost the whole plantation to being sold. Dana does have the right to exert power over Rufus to protect herself from going back to the past and being inflicted. When he attempted to rape Dana, after the news of Alice’s death, she kills him. What else is Dana supposed to do, let herself get raped? He died as a crazed and lonely man, and she sacrificed the lives of the slaves of the plantation for herself. It 's worth it, she stopped a cycle of abusive power, but there are scars left over on her body. Therefore, humanity should learn when to stop a person from hurting others, otherwise it may lead to drastic
The master 's words and actions, can exacerbate the slaves lives. Thinking that a person is just a possession of them is the basics of a slave, they have no opinion on anything. They’re considered to have no power, but they do have it, they 're just too afraid to show it. “He had found a way to control me —by threatening others.” (Butler 169). This quote is an example of controlling, Rufus found a way through Dana’s love for others, she no longer holds any freedom. Alice, another slave, also has no freedom as well, so they 're both held hostage. Rufus uses Alice as a victim for Dana to protect because her queue to leave would be her future child, Hagar. Dana could kill Rufus, though that would cost the whole plantation to being sold. Dana does have the right to exert power over Rufus to protect herself from going back to the past and being inflicted. When he attempted to rape Dana, after the news of Alice’s death, she kills him. What else is Dana supposed to do, let herself get raped? He died as a crazed and lonely man, and she sacrificed the lives of the slaves of the plantation for herself. It 's worth it, she stopped a cycle of abusive power, but there are scars left over on her body. Therefore, humanity should learn when to stop a person from hurting others, otherwise it may lead to drastic