Life is a valuable thing and most people will go through many terrible struggles in order to continue living. In Octavia Butler’s Kindred, a girl named Dana is send back in time every now and then to rescue her ancestor, who is the son of a big slave owner, from getting himself killed. Dana’s decisions affect her throughout the story. In Kindred, Octavia Butler uses the conflicts Dana must face to survive to reveal that her meaning of survival is doing whatever it take to survive.

Dana treats Rufus differently when she realizes that he is the reason that she was born. In Dana’s second trip she stopped Rufus from burning down the house and learns a little about him and the situation she is in. Dana thinks to herself why she was sent to save him and thinks up that he has to grow up and father Hager. “No matter what I did, he would have to survive to father Hagar, or I could not exist.”shows her first survival related encounter and “If I was to live, if others were to live, he must live. I didn’t dare test the paradox.”(29) is the second one. This is another sign of being desperate to know and sign of change she undergoes in the story to survive. …show more content…
After getting into trouble with the officers Dana realizes that she won’t get into any fair fights so she is planning to take a duffle bag with her on her next time warp while packing a dress and a big knife to have a better chance of surviving. The following conversation with Kevin illustrates this: “‘That’s it,’ I said. He frowned. ‘Kevin, I’m not going to be in any fair fights.’”(47) But that is not all she even said that “Before last night, I might not have been sure ,but now, yes.”.This is another way of her trying to be safe and ensure