...Octavia Butler’s novel, Kindred, describes the impossible life of Dana Franklin. Dana and her husband, Kevin, go through a series of events that include time travelling and ensuring her birth by helping her ancestors, Rufus Weylin and Alice Greenwood. Throughout the novel, the reader is introduced to slavery through a progressive black female’s perspective. Dana is forced into slavery again and again, ultimately and unfortunately learning the ways of the South in the pre-Civil War era. She acts the part of slave for the sake of survival and adjusts quickly while trying to alter the thinking of Rufus with little success. Although slaves had similar jobs and enslaved women worked mostly in the domestic sphere, black women tolerated harsher labor...
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...Racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. Racism is still very evident in today’s society and is the cause of much controversy. The use of language has always played a large role in racism by playing on stereotypes and the use of offensive terms. In the books, Kindred, by Octavia E. Butler, and, Forge, by Laurie Anderson, language is used to, both create and define relationships. Both books feature both the use of words to encourage and oppress others. In my opinion, a healthy relationship is built around mutual respect for one another and language is a powerful tool in building relationships. This is shown in the book Forge,...
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