Definition of Heroism



Torture of a female slave
Image from historycooperative.org

This is blog ninth for my English class 102. On this blog we are going to take into account the definition of Heroism that Karen Joy Fowler uses in her tribute to Octavia Butler. Also, we are going to plot in this definition on each of this three main characters, Dana, Alice and Sarah, by bringing out their endurances and sacrifices in a way that are being consider heroism.

Most slaves, especially women slaves, were forced to endure constant exploitation and degradation. The author in kindred uses three of her major character to show the different ways how women were exploited and degraded. One of these characters was Alice, who suffered tremendous amount of pain from the abuses of her master. Rufus, who was obsessively in love with her, used to treat Alice like an animal. He took advantage by raping and whipping her whenever she refused him. She was also punished many times for trying to run away from him but every time she did she was caught. Another character who had suffer tremendously was Sarah, however she had opted to live a passive live and accept that she was a slave. She saw how her master Weylin destroyed her family, took away her children and sold them to different bidders. He left her with only one child, Carrie, who was mute, so this way he could make sure that Sarah was not going to escape. Dana’s case was worst because she was from a different time of life; she was not used to the life style of the 1800’s. She had to suffer all types of punishment, from being whipped, insulted, to almost being raped. She could not talk back to the master or any other member of the Weylin family because she was a black woman; this was unacceptable behavior for the slaves. Dana was accustomed to talk back and defend herself if she felt attacked by another person; she had to sacrifice her freedom and life style. The only way Dana was able to escape from the past was by putting herself in danger situations. 

In my point of view, Dana was the most heroic person of the three. Even though she lived in a different time in life, she was able to manage all the punishments she received and still continued to save the life of Rufus every time he was in danger. She was only the black person who was well educated and knew how to read and write. She was able to teach these skills to some slaves of the plantation who she was allowed teach to. At the end, she was able to overcome her fears and killed Rufus while he was trying to rape her