Quiz on Kindred

Throughout reading "Kindred" I could never imagine being a black personl living in the south at this time. It must have been so hard for people to stand up for themselves and do the right things. Blakcs got beaten, whipped, and even raped throughout the south. Even if you were a "free black" you were never totally sure it was safe. I read the book over spring break and while watching and discussing the issues we did on Wendsday in class I definatley made some connections from the two. We talked in class what the meaning of the noose was. I see a noose as a sad, hareful, and tragic event for any person who has to endure it. Is was a sick way for people to get ammusement and at the same time get some kind of sick pleasure out of the event. Throughtout the south it was very common of people to sell tickets to make money to watch blacks get hung to their own death. The book had some very bad situations such as beating, whippings, and rapes that occured throughout the story. A good example about how blacks were treated was in the chapter named The Fire. Specifically in the third part of that chapter when Dana was told to go to a ansecestors house for safety and a place to stay. Well while she was going there she heard a pack of dogs and humans coing her way. Finally when the dogs stopped, she saw a black man getting beaten standing naked. Whites would use all sorts of things as weapons to hurts blacks. Slave owners during this time period as well were horribly bad and th meanest people. Slave owner Tom Wylin beats, sells, and kills slaves throuhgout the story and it just percived as those are the ways of life. I also thought it was very interesting about the first chsapter of the book. The part where Dana first goes back in time. She goes back to a small boy, Rufus, drownding in this great big river. Not thinking about what had just happened to her, she runs in the water after the boy. She gets Rufus to land but it might be too late. She then revives him all of this happening right in front of Rufus's mother who was yelling at Dana because she thought that Dana killed her son. At the end of this scene Rufus's father, a slave owner, runs down and holds a gun to Dana's face. I though it was very interesting how right after saving this mans son's life he runs up andf threatens her life by shoving a gun down her throat. If this would had happened presentr 21 century the women, in my opinion would have been looked upon as a hero not matter if she was black. It is hard for me to grasp the concept that no matter waht blacks did to please whites, whites still treated them worse than dirt.

I thought that this book was good, but I like non fiction more than fiction so it was hard for me to stay with it at times. I wish the author would have came up witha better way for her to send Dana back in time. Parts were a little far fetched which help the book in my rating level either. But other than that I think that reading is the best way to picture yourself some place your not. What I mean by that is, reading Kindred made me feel that I was apart of this horrible situation back in the south called slavery. It was a very well written book which helped me to think of how hard it must have been for slaves back in this era. I would never have wanted to have treated like this and I am sure glad that our society has moved on from slavery.