The comparison of Kindred by Butler and Beloved by Toni Morrison - Essay Example

Similar themes in Kindered and Beloved Kindered by Butler and Beloved by Toni Morrison highlight some similar themes. These include: slavery and freedom, home and family as a binding force and violence as an instrument of brutal power. In Kindered, theme of slavery and violence go side by side where masters treat their slaves brutally as they think it their right to have sway over their black slaves. The slaves, on the other hand, seem to have accepted their fate and bear the violence without any resistance.

Another pervasive theme is that of family. Slave families are more close to each other as all the members sustain violence and are each other’s source of sympathy against the cruelty of their masters. Theme of Slavery and FreedomBeloved is the story of former slave, Sethe, who lives with her daughter, Denever and mother in law. She has been excommunicated by her community as she killed her child named Beloved 15 years ago in order to save her from being a slave. Here slavery is so cruel that death has been preferred over it.

Parents of would be slaves kill their own offspring instead of giving them to slave-catchers. But the choice made by Sethe is criticized and rejected by her own community. To them Sethe’s choice of freedom for her child is unacceptable. They think that a slave should submit to his fate. In Toni Morrison’s Beloved “ the ghost is the reminder of how the phallus of slavery disrupted all bonds when it came down to the black family” ( Bloom 100) Butler’s Kindered also portrays a world where slavery and violence are the common practices.

The racial divide has already determined the roles where white are slave-owners and blacks are the slaves. The White have power over the existence of their slaves and they use violence as their instrument. The slavery seems to be an inevitable institution in this society and violence of masters is a common happening. Commenting on this acceptance of reality by the salves Dana says, ““The ease. Us, the children . . . I never realized how easily people could be trained to accept slavery” (101).

The world seems to deterministic where slavery is accepted as fate. Rufus is a ruthless master who has learned to use his authority since his childhood and treats his slaves cruelly. Sam and Nigel are mistreated. The slaves are victim of all forms of violence: lashing, rapes and other physical and mental brutalities. Theme of home and familySlaves’ only refuge and solace against these brutalities is their family and home. Home is the binding force which is a symbol of safety and freedom for the slaves and their family is a binding force which brings them together as they share the same treatment from their masters and the forces that try to victimize them.

Dana switches between two homes in Kindered. Even the violence of past home is acceptable to her as she feels herself more comfortable there. Dana expresses her reaction amidst the violence at plantation, “Pain had never been a friend to me before, but now it…forced reality on me and kept me sane” ( Butler 113).Home is the cherished and prized place for the slave as 124 is meaningful for Sethe and her family. This home symbolizes ownership and safety. It is the symbolizes salves’ desire to win their freedom and be the master of their own fate.

Sethe and Denever seem to have achieved their destination at 124. The feeling of home is not associated with the building of 124 rather feeling of home is associated with being together with your loved ones and having a life full of love and companionship. The home completes when Sethe is successful in bringing her family close together. Works CitedBloom, Harold. Toni Morrisons Beloved. New York: Blooms Literary Criticism, 2009. Print.Butler, Octavia E. Kindred. Boston: Beacon Press, 2003. Print.Morrison, Toni. Beloved. London: Vintage Classic, 2007. Print.