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1-Page Summary of Kindred
Overview
Dana is a twenty-six year old African American woman who lives in Altadena, CA. The novel begins with her telling the story of how she lost her arm. She was convinced that it wasn’t Kevin’s fault, and she tells us why. She also starts to tell us about what happened before the accident took place.
Dana and Kevin recently moved to a new home. They both write, met at a temp agency, and are now married. They both support themselves with their writing careers while they work on their novels. Kevin sold his first novel not long ago and is about to quit the temp agency because he’s no longer needed there. Dana was born in America but has parents from Africa, while Kevin’s family is all white Americans who disapprove of their relationship because she’s black and he’s white.
Dana and her husband move to a new home. While unpacking their things, she feels dizzy and falls unconscious. She wakes up by the river where she sees Rufus drowning in it. Dana jumps into the water and saves him from drowning. As she gives him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, his mother screams that Dana is killing him because he’s not breathing anymore. However, Dana ignores her as well as the boy’s father who arrives on the scene with a rifle pointed at her face. The man then realizes that Rufus has been revived and takes off running with his son in tow after thanking Dana for saving his life.
Dana and Kevin are both startled. Kevin saw her vanish and reappear on the other side of the room, while she clearly traveled elsewhere. However, it seemed like at least a few minutes had passed for him, but only a few seconds for her.
Dana is transported to a room with old-fashioned furniture. A boy, whom she realizes is Rufus but a few years older, sets fire to the drapes. Dana rushes to put it out and learns that he had seen her in his mind’s eye before drowning. They are on Tom Weylin’s plantation in 1815 where slaves work there. Dana also learns that Rufus is an ancestor of hers—Rufus was married to Alice and they had a daughter named Hagar who was Dana’s grandmother.
Dana has no idea what to do. So Rufus tells her to seek out Alice and her mother, who live in a cabin in the woods. Dana goes toward the cabin but hides when she sees white men beating up a man visiting Alice’s mother. After they leave with him, Dana helps Alice’s mother by tending to her injuries.
Dana goes outside to get a blanket and sees a white man who tries to rape her. She fights back, causing the man to disappear again.
Dana tells Kevin about what happened to her in the past. She describes how she and Rufus were transported to a different time and place, where they met Nigel (the same age as Rufus). He went off to find Weylin. In the present, Dana pretends that Kevin owns her, which is why he’s able to control when she travels through time.
Weylin is stern and annoyed when he arrives home. He invites Kevin and Dana back to the house, where they meet Sarah, the cookhouse slave woman, as well as Carrie, a mute young slave girl. Weylin offers Kevin a job teaching Rufus how to read; his son accepts.
Kevin and Dana adjust to life on the plantation. Margaret Weylin, Rufus’ mother, is both scared of and jealous of Dana. She also hates her for being so different from everyone else. Dana learns how to cook from Sarah and spends time with Rufus, who clearly likes her because he knows that she’s not like anyone else there. He sees that she comes from another era in history. Eventually, Margaret decides that Kevin can’t teach Rufus anything anymore so she gives the responsibility over to Dana instead.
