PWA Essay about Kindred

                                                                                                                        Angela Swenson
                                                                                6-2-2011
                                                                                Period 4 English
                Women and their Oppressors
    Have you ever wanted to go back  in time? What if you were transported to a time and place that was unfamiliar to you? Kindred is like this. Dana, an African American woman living in the year 1976. She lives with her husband Kevin who is white. She is one day transported back in time to help a boy named Rufus, who in fact is her ancestor. The point of this essay is to explain to you, the reader, about oppression, rape, hegemony and economic exploitation in the book Kindred.

    Economic exploitation is one of the big issues in Kindred. It states on page 178, “She got up after you and went straight to mister Tom. She knew better than to go to mister Rufe. He might have let you go. Mister Tom would never let a n***** go in his life.” This quote explains that Tom (the plantation owner) , never wants his slaves to escape because he needs them to make his money. Clearly, he is just using them for economic exploitation.

    During slavery, masters used to rape their slave women. According to this quote on page 117, “Off to my opposite side was a woman, black young- just a girl, really- with her dress torn down the front. She was holding it together as she watched a black man and a white man fighting.” This explains that Rufus tried, or did rape Alice (who was the girl with her dress torn). Even if Alice wasn’t his slave, he could still rape her because he had more power over her in the situation.

    Hegemony is also a big issue in the book Kindred. Just like in the early 1800’s, hegemony still exists today. I can be anywhere like an office. A woman and a man work at the same job, pace and time. When payday comes, the woman is paid less than the man even though they did the same amount of work. This is hegemony because men are thought of better and unequal to women. Her boss probably thinks that since she’s a woman, her work is less than that of a man’s. She can do everything she can but just can’t earn as much as her male co-worker. Hegemony also leads to abuse against women. Men feel that they are better then women so they can abuse them if they do something wrong. Seems like these men treat women as animals; less than humans.

    As you can see, world experiences can be linked to the same issues in Kindred. Hegemony, oppression, rape and economic exploitation are still major issues in the world to this day. I think if people helped out, there would be less hegemony and oppression against women. The book Kindred taught me that some men in the world are messed up in the head and treat many women like animals.