The Known World

Slave Book Narrative?

I noticed right off the bat that this book was not going to invite me in to be a part of everything. Immediately it is obvious that the reader is supposed to be pushed back from connecting with the characters firsthand. The narration is in 3rd person omniscient, which gave me the feeling that I was opening a history book and turning the pages of a slave book that Robbins wrote himself. It had all the slaves’ names in it, their children, and their stories. Every slave within the novel has a different experience that is equally important in portraying the big picture Jones is trying to paint, the impact of slavery. Each little excerpt about a character, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, tells one story that aids modern day people in understanding the entirety of the institution of slavery. One example is the moment where Rita is being shipped in the box to freedom with Augustus’ walking sticks. This part seems really small, and you never hear about Rita again, really, after that. However, it is an example of something that happened during the time of slavery, which makes it important to read about and understand. It’s an experience that really happened to slaves, and that is why it is important in gaining a full understanding of the slave experience. However, as much as Jones does a great job in portraying the different things that happened to slaves on the plantation, I feel like people today can never fully understand the experience of being a slave unless they have actually lived it. This is what I think Octavia Butler was trying to get across to the reader in Kindred.  Jones does a great job, but I really feel that this experience  has to be lived in order to be fully understood.

Crazy Ending

I really didn’t like the way the novel ended, especially with all the shooting and deaths. It seemed so random that Counsel and Skiffington would go to Mildred’s house and shoot her for not cooperating. It seemed like it was an accident, but Skiffington’s tooth was making him crazy. However, I still think it is so out of character for Skiffington to do that, especially to a woman as kind as Mildred Townsend. Then to turn around and have Counsel kill John is just ridiculous! I was sitting there reading and thinking “What?!”  We always knew Counsel was a creep, from very early on, but I never expected him to kill his own cousin. Augustus’ story was the biggest disappointment for me as a reader. I was so frustrated when Travis ate his free papers and sold him to Darcy and Stennis. I was almost expecting him to die when that happened, though. It just made me think “How can they do that to this man?” However, I feel like this situation probably happened a lot, as sad as that is. It was almost like the only way Augustus could finally be free was when he was dead, which is sad but true in the world he lived in.

Add comment March 31, 2008

Olaudah Equiano

I accidentally put my African American AFTER 1970’s author first, so now I am going to do an overview of an African American author BEFORE 1970 for this blog post.  I chose Olaudah Equiano for my profile.

Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797)Major Works
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself, 1789

The life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by himself. 1969

The Classic slave narratives 1987

“Olaudah Equiano was born in the Essaka region, northeast of the Niger River, in the interior of Nigeria. In 1756, he and his sister were kidnapped by local raiders. Equiano was just eleven. He was carried west and south across a large river by tribal Africans who spoke a different language. Equiano was brought to the coast and sold to British slavers sailing to the American continent. The conditions aboard the slave ships that brought the slaves to the New World were inhumane.

On July 11, 1766 Equiano purchased his papers of manumission, and as a free man he continued his travels in the West Indies and America. He returned to America sailing under William Phillips, captain of a merchant ship whose cargo included slaves.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, by Olaudah Equiano, is the “most remarkable of the 18th century”(123) books by black writers. “At the time it was published in 1789, few books had been produced in America which afford such a vivid, concrete, and picaresque narrative.”(123) What is significant about the autobiographical form of Equiano’s slave narrative is that autobiography as a genre, was young during the 18th century and had not achieved stature as a literary form. The popularity of Equiano’s narrative was due to its spiritual elements and reader interest in the private lives of public figures The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is considered by some to be the most successful prose work written by an African in the Western World until the start of the American Civil War.”

 Works Cited:
Reuben, Paul P. “Chapter 2: Olaudah Equiano.” PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. URL: http://web.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap2/equiano.html

1 comment March 25, 2008

First thoughts on The Known World

 First Impressions…
When I first started reading The Known World, I thought it was kind of difficult to read. I don’t really know why…It might be because there are a lot of characters thrown at the reader in the beginning, and I had a really hard time keeping track of which character was which. I had to go back several times and reread passages, thinking, “Who’s THAT?”

Meet So-and-So…and here’s how they die!
I also thought it was strange how the author, Jones, would talk about a character and then tell you how they died later. I thought it was really bizarre that he would do that. Does he do that because he’s not going to talk about them later? Or is he doing that to show the reader all the misfortunes that slaves face, or all the different ways that slaves face death?  I thought it was a very interesting way to introduce a character by telling us how they eventually die.

I had no idea!
I also had no idea that African Americans could be slave owners. I will assume that this was very rare, but I was shocked to discover that Henry was a black man who owned slaves. That just seems very strange to me. I wonder how often this occurred, and if men like Henry faced any backlash or extra problems from other slave owners.

Where is this going? 
I’m also kind of wondering what direction this novel is heading. It keeps jumping from past to present and so on. I’m also sort of wondering what is going to happen, and which characters are going to be most important. I feel like Moses is an important character that they are going to go back to often, because he seems to appear a lot. He is also the first character we are introduced to. Elias has also been mentioned a lot lately. I wonder what the significance of his character is?

I guess I’ll just have to read on and find out!

Add comment March 11, 2008

Wrapping up Kindred

Dana’s Arm

I thought it was very interesting that Dana lost her left arm at the end of the novel before her last trip home. In the reader’s guide at the back, Butler said she did it because it serves as a parallel to antebellum slaves, who are never whole again after being enslaved. Slavery takes something from a person, never allowing them to be quite whole again. It changes you, and makes you something different than you were before. As Rufus grew up, he began to adopt the culture and racism of his father, and the antebellum South attitudes and beliefs took hold of him, making him eventually turn into Tom Weylin. Dana was also changed by the South, turning completely toward the slave attitude and eventually so desperate to escape that she ended up stabbing Rufus in the end. She knew that this was the only way she would ever truly be able to return home and rebuild her life again.

I think Dana was stuck in her wall where Rufus grabbed her to symbolize how the South will always be a part of her. She can’t escape the  history of the South and slavery that will always be a part of her, even though she is from the present day 1976. It also symbolizes how part of her will never leave Rufus. He took part of her with him even when he died. She never completely abandoned him like he feared. When he realized she was going to leave him, he grabbed onto her arm to ensure that part of her would always be with him forever. Every time she sees the stump that used to be her left arm, she will think back to her history in the South and always remember Rufus, which is exactly what he wanted.

I wondered why Rufus didn’t follow Dana to 1976 when he grabbed onto her while she was being taken back home to the present. Kevin grabbed Dana and was taken back home, but not Rufus at the end. I think its because Rufus didn’t belong in the present time like Kevin did, so he wasn’t transported back with Dana. Or maybe it was because Rufus was already dead or dying, and the time travel doesn’t bring the dead to the present.

Though Butler didn’t explain any of the things that happened to Dana in the end, which is kind of frustrating to the reader, I still thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I would recomend it to pretty much anyone! It was a quick, easy read that just keeps you turning the pages to see what’s going to happen next. Anything is possible in Butler’s Kindred!

Add comment March 2, 2008