The document provides summaries of two chapters ("The Fall" and "The Fight") from the novel Kindred by Octavia Butler. In "The Fall", Dana is taken to the antebellum south and stays at a plantation pretending to be a slave. She is whipped for reading. In "The Fight", Dana stops a fight and cares for injuries, but her letters are betrayed and a runaway slave is caught and tortured. Both chapters depict the violence, family dynamics, and racial inequalities of slavery.
2. The Fall- Plot
Butler begins the chapter by describing how
Kevin and Dana
Dana returns back to the ante bellum South
when Rufus falls off a tree branch
Dana not only travels in time by herself but
also brings Kevin (her husband)
This is the first long-term visit to the past for
Dana
3. The Fall- Plot
Dana and Kevin stay at the Weylin plantation
where they pretend to be slave (Dana) and
slaveholder (Kevin)
Dana takes care of Rufus while his leg is
broken and is treated as a real slave on the
plantation
The chapter ends with Dana being whipped
for reading when she wasn‘t supposed to
which takes her back home
4. The Fall- Family
―My poor baby, she murmured, cradling his
head in her hands. Seems like everything
happens to you, doesn‘t it? A broken leg!‖
(page 69)
―Weylin grunted and knelt to look at Rufus‘s
leg. Guess it‘s broken all right. Wonder how
much that‘ll cost me‖ (page 65)
White family
5. The Fall- Family
―Sold
them. First my man died— a tree he
was cutting fell on him. Then Marse Tom
took my children, all but Carrie. And, bless
God, Carrie isn‘t worth much as the others
‗cause she can‘t talk‖ (page 76)
Value of family to give inspiration
6. The Fall- Race
―He was an unusual-looking white man, his
face young, almost unlined, but his hair
completely gray and his eyes so pale as to be
almost colorless…Maybe he had some
authority…‖ (page 54)
―In this place, he [Kevin] was probably better
protection for me [Dana] than free papers
would have been…‖ (page 59)
White superiority
7. The Fall- Race
―Does Dana belong to you now?
In a way, said Kevin. She‘s my wife.
Wife? Rufus squealed
I sighed. Kevin, I think we‘d better emote me.
In this time…
Niggers can‘t marry white people! Said Rufus
(page 60)
Interracial marriage
8. The Fall- Violence
―Weylin
punished a field hand for the
crime of answering back. Weylin ordered
the man stripped naked and tied to the
trunk of a dead tree… Suddenly, he
brought the whip down across the slave‘s
back. The slave‘s body jerked and
strained against its ropes… The whipping
served its purpose as far as I was
concerned‖ (page 92)
9. The Fall- Violence
―Weylin
dragged me a few feet, then
pushed me hard. I fell, knocked myself
breathless. I never saw where the whip
came from, never even saw the first blow
coming. But it came— like a hot iron
across my back, burring into me through
my light shirt, searing my skin… (page 107)
Whippings were used as a scare tactic
10. The Fight- Plot
The chapter starts with Dana being in present day
where she is injured from her whipping.
She is at home without Kevin. Eight days pass in
present time while many years pass in the past.
Dana then is called back to the past where she
ends a fight between Isaac (Alice‘s husband) and
Rufus.
Alice and Isaac run away while Rufus is injured.
11. The Fight- Plot
While Rufus is healing for his injury Dana writes
a letter to Kevin.
The letter Dana writes to Kevin isn‘t sent
because of Rufus‘s doing and Alice is caught
and bought by Rufus into slavery.
The chapter ends with Kevin coming back to
the Weylin plantation where he finds Dana
while Rufus threatens to kill them both if Dana
leaves the plantation.
12. The Fight- Family
―I
don‘t think Daddy relaxed until Nigel
married Carrie. Man marries, has children,
he‘s more likely to stay where he is‖ (page
139)
Family values make a slave more trustworthy
13. The Fight- Race
―She [Alice] Remembers more every day, I said.
And she asks questions.
Don‘t answer her!
If I don‘t, someone else will. She‘ll be up and
around soon.
He swallowed. All this time, it‘s been so good…
Good?
She hasn‘t hated me!
(page 154)
14. The Fight- Race
―You
want Kevin the way I want Alice.
And you had more luck than I did
because no matter what happens now,
for a while he wanted you too. Maybe I
can‘t ever have that– both wanting, both
loving. But I‘m not going to give up what I
can have‖ (page 163)
Rufus‘s fear of being hated by Alice/ forbidden
love/ White superiority
15. The Fight- Betrayal
―He
[Rufus] had had his father send me
back to him so that I could write my letter
to Kevin‖ (page 138)
―I
should have sent the letters. Even
Daddy said I should have sent them after I
promised you I would‖ (page 181)
Rufus betrays Dana
16. The Fight- Betrayal
―She
[Liza] heard you get up in the night.
Alice told me. She got up after you and
went straight to Mister Tom. She knew
better than to go to Mister Rufe. He might
have let you go. Mister Tom never let a
nigger go in his life. (page 178)
Betrayal from another slave
17. The Fight- Violence
―He led me to the wagon where Alice lay
bloody, filthy and barely alive… Most of
Alice‘s wounds were new, and the cloth
came away from them easily. Those that had
dried and stuck to the cloth, I left alone.
Warm water would soften them‖ (page 146)
―They cut him! They cut off his ears!‖
(page 158)
Cruel torture to runaway slaves
18. The Fight- Violence/Betrayal
―Suddenly,
I saw the gun, blurred but
seemingly only inches from my head. I hit
at it and missed. It wasn‘t quite where it
appeared to be. Everything was distorted,
blurred‖ (page 188)
Breaking point for Rufus where finds no other
option to make Dana stay but to shoot her and
Kevin
