Fragility of humanity


I never thought Dana to be capable of murder. She was young, educated, and an aspiring writer working dead end jobs without a murderous bone in her body. Yet throughout the novel we saw the deterioration of Dana as she was put through trial after trial at the plantation. In her first trip to the plantation, Dana mentally comforts herself by telling herself that one day she will return back to her modern life. However, with each trip to plantation she starts to experience the full physical effect of planation life (i.e., whippings, the fields, selling of slaves) and she becomes unable to mentally detach herself. Instead, Dana starts to feel as if she belongs at the plantation more than she does in her own modern life.
               As Dana suffers from the whippings and daily inhumane treatment, she starts to lose herself and she results to drastic measures such as slitting her wrists just to go back to her modern life. In addition, with every trip she realizes that she is unable to change Rufus for the better and that the plantation life is changing her more than she is changing Rufus. Eventually she is willing to kill Rufus to end the torture he has brought her. Dana’s transformation is a testament to how we as human beings are capable of going to extreme measures to live and survive. Dana’s mental coping mechanism at the plantation demonstrates how easy it is for people to fall into complacency to an unjust and inhumane societal structure. Kindred warns us of the fragility of civil society because the progress made over the years can quickly become undone because of how easily humans mentally fall into step with the immediate surroundings around them.
               This fragility of society comes to the surface often in times of stress in our society. Just look at our lives right now. The reaction to the COVID-19 was not a good one. Immediately there was a rise in hate crime and hate speech against Asians. In China, there are reports of police evicting African people living in China from their homes. In addition, a sign was posted at a Chinese McDonald’s that barred Africans from entering. Progress made over years can become quickly undone in a moment, turning people against each other.

Comments

  1. MitchellApril 24, 2020 at 12:15 PM

    A line can be traced from Dana's first encounter with violence in the 19th century--when she's "too squeamish" to scratch out the patroller's eyes, but then feels ready and emboldened to do so moments later--to the end point, where she's willing and able (but still emotionally hesitant) to kill Rufus himself, in a chillingly similar act of self-defense. There's a world of difference between this anonymous patroller and Rufus, whom Dana believes she knowns and to some extent loves. It seems like a reflection of how she's maintained her humanity that she's *still* trying to cut him some slack as he assaults her, but her willingness to kill is clear self-defense, just as it would have been with the patroller. It's not a matter of the rightness or wrongness of the killing, but her "squeamishness" and ability to actually *do* it (which saves her life).

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  2. spolonus282May 4, 2020 at 10:20 AM

    I think this is, in a way, Dana accepting the situation she is in. She is accepting, unconsciously that this is the world she lives in and she needs to learn how to kill in order to be able to survive. While this may not be known by her, her constant presence in the world is taking its toll.

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  3. Mayahuel MalikMay 15, 2020 at 11:45 AM

    its interesting to think of our reactions to times of crisis, relating Dana's changes throughout her experience to what we see with COVID today. It seems that deep down our fight or flight instincts come out regardless of our preexisting moral inhibitions or whatever it may be. As Mr. Mitchell mentioned, Dana is hesitant to scratch out the eyes of the patroller initially, but at the end she is able to stab Rufus, the person she had the strongest tie to. its also interesting that in our world today, people are able to turn so quickly when put into situations of distress and panic. The reaction that has risen from COVID 19 has highlighted the issues with our world, but also shown true colors in many surprising ways.

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