The Logistics of Dana's Time Travel
Before I start the main part of this post, I want to acknowledge that I do know that Octavia Butler makes a deliberate choice to not discuss the logistics of time travel in Kindred and leaves it intentionally vague because it's not the point of the book, but I still have some questions about it and I think it's fun to think about these types of things.
In the second chapter of "The Fall" in page 58, we learn that Dana can bring things from 1976 to the 1800s whenever she is called to save Rufus because she brings brings both Kevin and a bag of simple necessities. But, this doesn't explain what determines which things in contact with her she brings. For example, she brings the bag of necessities, which she is holding, but also brings Kevin, who is holding her. So, how are the things she gets to take with her decided? It's definitely not the things she wants to take with her, since she was pushing Kevin away and telling him to get away from her just before they travelled. It's also not just whatever she's touching, since she was sitting on her bed but didn't take it with her. Maybe the mysterious power that is forcing her through this ordeal has a way of picking and choosing what she's allowed to take with her and uses its own judgement on these things? Whatever the explanation, somewhere between a gym bag (what Dana brought with her during "The Fight") and a chair (what Dana was siting on when she travelled during "The Fire" but didn't take with her) there is a line dividing what Dana can and can't bring back to the past with her.
In the last part of "The Fight", we learn that it's possible for Dana to also bring things back from the 1800s to 1976 because she finally is able to save Kevin from being trapped in the 1800s and bring him back with her when she is almost killed by Rufus. This by itself makes sense since there should be no reason that she should only be able to take things one way during her time travel, but not the other way. But, this rule is broken is a very strange way at the end of "The Rope", where Rufus is holding on to Dana as she travels forward to 1976 like how Kevin held on to Dana when she travelled backwards to the 1800s during "The Fall". This time, instead of Rufus' dying body being brought to 1976, his grip is transformed into the wall of Dana's house which her forearm becomes trapped inside. Obviously this makes sense from a narrative perspective since the symbolism works very well, but for this to make any sense within purely the context of Kindred's world, the force at work brining Dana through time must be capable of breaking its own apparent patterns in order to have deep symbolism, which therefore means that whatever is making Dana go through this is a mysterious, sentient, sadistic being capable of breaking the rules of time.
The whole mechanism of teleportation does leave the reader with a ton of unanswered questions. I particularly don't get how the location aspect works (she ends up safely in her house every time prior, but the last time she isn't fully inside it and is sticking through the wall? Yeah, I mean, I get the point, but you could make it another way, life if Rufus came with (which he kinda should have according to the rules) ). Even if Butler doesn't want us to question it, how can we resist? It's such an interesting plot device that we know so little about.
ReplyDeleteYeah, while I think the book's focus is not as much on the scientific logistics of the time travel and teleportation, the rules of it are definitely confusing, and I can't help but think about it. I'm also still questioning why this happened in the first place. Like, how did this random phenomenon take place? Why could Rufus sometimes see Dana in 1976? And was Dana's arm left in the 18th century when her arm was stuck on a wall. There are so many unanswered questions, but unfortunately, we must accept that those answers are up to our interpretation.
ReplyDeleteI was also confused about how the whole time travel thing works. My understanding of Rufus becoming the wall at the end is that Rufus was dead, so his nonliving body became a nonliving aspect of the 'present day.' I hadn't thought about an outside force controlling the time travel, so that is an intriguing take. But yeah, as we continued to read the book, I put aside the questions of how the time travel worked and took in the story as Butler wanted. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThere might be some "rules" at work whereby Dana can bring people back with her if they *belong* in that time, a kind of restoration of order, but the logic of time travel in this novel won't allow a character to move into the *future*. Much as I'd love to see Rufus try to deal in 1976 Los Angeles, this "rule" does make sense in the context of history, and time travel as a metaphor for historical research and writing: we can only look BACK at the past, try to confront and understand it, and trace its consequences for shaping the world we live in. We can't look at the future in the same way--future time travel would be more of a metaphor for something like speculative fiction or futuristic theory.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about this issue of what objects Dana brings with her, and the curious role that her intention seems to play, when she refers to not wanting to drive a car--because she would vanish and the car would roll down the road with no driver, creating a bizarre and dangerous hazard. But what if the *car* traveled back in time with her? Dana hits the ground rolling as Rufus wakes up face-down in a puddle . . . a 1970s automobile would *really* make Dana stand out in this time period, much more than her "men's jeans."
Yeah, I feel like the time travel aspect was just never properly thought through, but I understand that it's not the focus of the novel. I'm also curious why Dana needs to save Rufus in the first place. In the original past where Rufus supposedly doesn't meet Dana, that would also mean there was no Dana to help him in all those near-death moments. And yet, he still lives on long enough to give birth to Hagar, leading to the birth of the Dana we see today. So, I'm wondering if there was a need for Dana to time travel back and save Rufus in the first place. Or maybe there is no original timeline where Dana did not meet Rufus, in which case it's almost like Dana's actions are predetermined.
ReplyDeleteWith a lot of historical fiction, I think there are some parts of the plot that every author just writes in with a lot of plot holes that the reader is supposed to just take their word for and move on. I'm pretty sure this is what's going on with time travel here in Kindred. Butler just needed to have this mechanic to facilitate her story, and didn't see the need to go that much into it. However I will admit, whenever these facts about Dana's time travel that don't quite match come back to light, I have a hard time pushing it to the back of my head to continue focusing on the story.
ReplyDeleteIf I recall correctly, she teleports a few feet every time, but I don't quite understand how exactly this is determined. Also, in her bag things come with her that she is not directly touching, but that things that are touching touch it. Does this not mean that she should bring literally everything in the world not floating with her? I think at the end of the day, unless she arrives without clothes, there will be inconsistencies, and we need to recognize them as not important to the fundamental plot.
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