Essay #1

PROMPT 1:

In a 4-5 page essay, please make a case for the value of Kindred as a time travel narrative in particular. What can we learn about the United States' history of slavery and our relationship to that history through this novel, that we might not be able to learn in quite the same way if this were a more traditional, linear narrative (such as a traditional fiction novel or a first-hand account of slavery either by a slave or former slave)? It's important to note that you are not arguing against the value of important first person or linear narratives about slavery; rather, you are articulating the specific gifts that this unique time travel novel offers us as readers.

Your success on this essay will largely hinge on your ability to demonstrate a clear understanding of the central structural mechanism of the novel: in other words, its structure (going back and forth in time, Dana's need to repeatedly choose whether or not to save Rufus, etc) and how that structure effects the reader's understanding of the relationship between past and present. You will need to provide ample, specific evidence and examples from the novel to support your ideas and should not rely on any blanket claims without evidence. It's a safe bet to say you'll need somewhere in the realm of 10 or more fully realized examples from the book in your essay. Always provide clear analysis of your own critical thinking for every example, articulating how that example proves your points. 

Please begin your research with making sure you read carefully and understand these key terms about race in America. Also make sure to do some basic research into structural/institutional racism, as I will expect a clear understanding of this term in your paper.

Here's one example of a thesis statement for this paper is as follows (please do not copy this thesis):

Kindred's time travel structure allows us to see how slavery is just as much a matter of mental conditioning as it is a matter of physical subjugation or power over others. Dana's time jumps between life in 1976 where she is free to think and write and her life in the antebellum south where her thoughts and even her ability to read are policed, make this truth about slavery and mental conditioning very obvious. 

You also need to have at least four outside sources for your paper from the library's databases. These should be on the topic of slavery, or on Butler's writing (particularly Kindred), or on how structural racism impacts Black Americans today in the United States. These need to be scholarly sources; you cannot use random websites. (Please note these are very well-researched topics so there should be a plethora of information out there for you.) You must cite these sources in your paper every time you reference one via paraphrase or direct quote; do not simply include them on the Works Cited page at the end and not use them throughout the essay. 

PROMPT 2:

In the novel Kindred, Octavia Butler demonstrates the ways in which Dana's life in the present is connected to her ancestry and the past, in particular, to the time of slavery in the antebellum south. Analyze a few of the key ways in which Butler demonstrates throughout the novel how the past affects the present, and make a case for how the effects of historical slavery in the US still impact African Americans in the US today. Some topics you may want to research and write on include: racial profiling,  police brutality toward African Americans, housing discrimination, mass incarceration and race, and race and death row,  etc.

An example of a thesis statement for this prompt is (please do not copy this thesis):

In Kindred, we see African Americans being chased and beaten at will by slave patrols any time they try and leave their homes, whereas today statistics show that African American men are more likely to be pulled over in their cars by police (racial profiling) than whites, as well as to suffer from police brutality and not receive due process. Kindred's emphasis on the influence of the past within the present teaches us that these modern problems have their roots in this country's history of slavery and slavery's effect on people's perceptions of black men.

Please begin your research with making sure you read carefully and understand these key terms about race in America. Also make sure to do some basic research into structural/institutional racism, as I will expect a clear understanding of this term in your paper.

Please use proper MLA formatting. You are required to use at least four library-based, critical, scholarly sources (on Kindred, on the antebellum south and slavery, on systemic racism in the world we live in today) in addition to the novel itself in your paper. Make sure these are cited properly. I recommend using articles you've found through the library's databases, although books are also welcome. Again, these must be found through the Wardman library.

You are required to provide plenty of examples from the novel itself in your essay, to demonstrate your points. Make sure to cite these as well. The examples you use may be things like the examples of slave patrols in the book, attitudes toward interracial marriage in the "present day" section of the book, working conditions in both the past and present sections of the book, and more.