Kindred, pg 9-49

In Octavia Butler’s Kindred, the protagonist, Dana is first introduced in the prologue. The prologue opens with Dana having gone through a severe accident, resulting in losing her left arm. It is unclear how the injury occurred to the readers or the character, as they can hardly formulate how it happened. 

Chapter one begins with Dana recounting her first shift to the past and encounter with Rufus. Dana and her husband, Kevin, had just moved to their new house in Los Angles. As she was unpacking books, she felt nauseous and dizzy, and the room began to spin. Everything vanished, and she was immediately transported to early 1800’s Maryland. Once there, she had little time to take in her surroundings before she jumped into action to save a boy from drowning. The boy’s parents come to the scene as well, and Dana shifts back right as Rufus’s dad is holding a gun to Dana. Her sudden disappearance and reappearance have both Kevin and herself completely astonished. Extremely concerned, Kevin begins asking her many questions to try and understand what happened. Despite their overall confusion and panic, they figure out that Dana’s few minutes in Maryland were only a few seconds in her present time continuum. How and why she ended up in 1815 Maryland is still a complete mystery to both Dana and Kevin.  

In chapter two, The Fire, Dana struggles with forgetting the events that took place when she shifted back in time. Then suddenly, Dana has transported once again to the past, except it is apparent that a few years have passed for them despite her only shiting the first time a few hours before. On page 20, Dana notes that Rufus has aged since she saved him in the river. Dana states, “He was not Rufus. I could see that now. He had the same red hair and slight build,, but her was taller, clearly three or four years older” (Butler 20). Time has a bizarre effect in this novel, as the time she spends in Rufus’s era is significantly longer than how long she is gone from her actual reality. Her second shift places her in Rufus’s room as he lights his drapes on fire and is about to burn them down. She then realizes that her changes occur when Rufus is in immense danger or is frightened. 

Her second time in Rufus’s era provides her with much more information about the shifts. She learns that Rufus Weylin is her ancestor and she is somewhat a guardian for him, saving him from many dangerous situations. She also met Alice Greenwood, another ancestor of Dana’s, as Alice provides Dana with shelter from Rufus’s father. Dana is finally transported home after fighting off a white patroller trying to attack her. Dana goes back to her present time much more terrified than before due to all the events she witnessed and encountered. However, this new shift back in time prompted the characters to realize that not only is it Rufus’s peril that controls the shifts, but Dana’s as well.