Kevin’s character in Kindred was basic. He enters the 19th century as a normal white male from the 1970s. As he is forced to ‘role play’ with Dana into the roles of slavery, Olivia Butler begins to drop hints that he is beginning to internalize the world of slavery. He begins to talk about how the Weylin plantation is not that bad, having had only one whipping. He claims that things around the house “just gets done.” With all these hints that Kevin was beginning to internalize the dynamics of the 19th century, we see no further development of this. Kevin escapes to the north and helps the underground railroad, and when he meets Dana again his morals and thoughts are relatively unchanged.
Personally, I think Kevin's character in Kindred was two one-dimensional. The way Kevin is maintained as a non-racist, 1970s man makes his involvement in the story unimportant. I think Kevin could have had a valuable experience having gone to the 19th century as a white man, similar to Dana’s experiences. However, there is no fundamental difference in what the two characters take away from the experience. If Kevin were to stay at the Weylin plantation during those 5 years, instead of going to the north, I wonder if his character would have changed in a meaningfully different way. Perhaps he had begun to, in small ways, internalize the dynamics of slavery. This would not only allow Butler to follow through on the hints she left towards the beginning of the novel, but further perpetuate the message that your environment can shape you positively or negatively.
Having finished the novel I was personally disappointed at the lack of complexity in Kevin’s character. I think his arc as he deals with these experiences could be valuable, however it has nowhere near the complexity or depth at which Dana’s is explained. For me, Kevin seems like an unused tool that Butler could have used to further her message. Despite this, it was still relieving as a reader for Dana to have someone that she could relate with, and rely on to be with her during these times.
Nice post! I personally agree that Kevin's role in kindred had many used possibilities and also agree that the dynamics would heavily change if Kevin stayed in the south or even went back to the past with Dana more times. Overall great analysis of the book!
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see how a reader might be frustrated that Butler doesn't take the opportunity to use Kevin to make more of a "point" about how the slavery system shaped white people's sensibilities, and how Kevin's anti-racism is solely a product of his 1950s-60s upbringing (which still seems to have left him with a considerable quantity of sexism, at least). Readers in 2023 think we can kind of see where she might be going with this thought experiment, and maybe we're particularly interested in observing how Kevin's progressive ideas about race are only a product of his time and place.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think there are enough troubling indications that, had he remained on the plantation occupying the role of white man in the antebellum South, he MIGHT have developed in some distressing ways--when Dana has to spend nine months at a stretch in the past, we do see this intelligent and critical-minded modern woman starting to think and act more and more like a slave.
But maybe Kevin had spent a brief enough time in the past, retaining his critical "anchor" or moral compass in the 20th century, that he knows better than to test the proposition: he goes North, and he engages in abolitionist agitation. He deliberately surrounds himself with a less toxic version of white people, and he does what he can to be "on the right side of history," at seemingly significant personal cost and injury (that scar on his face). He exercises some control over the environment in which he immerses himself, in other words--but that too reflects white privilege. Dana has no such freedom of choice or control when she is in the past--and, distressingly, she even starts to view the Weylin plantation as "home."
I agree in a lot of ways and certainly see the ways in which Kevin remained a flat character throughout the novel (which for me made reading the scene with him in them mudane in a way). I like how you framed him as an unused tool but I do see the point Butler tried to make with him, though it comes off weak since his work for the underground railroad is only meantioned once and briefly. Great post Taehan!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Kevin character was underdeveloped/utilized. I think a large part of the issue is that most of his development occurs "off screen," so the next time we see him after these seeds are planted he has taken a different direction than what may have been alluded to. I wish there was at least some reference to statements he had previously made or acknowledgement of what made him change his mind.
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