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April 09, 2007
Thinking Out Loud (paper 3)
This blog entry is basically an attempt at putting thoughts on paper because I am confused about the question for Paper 3. How do these novels use time travel as a means of reflecting on, revising, or develop a way of understanding the past? Well I know I want to start out using Kindred because my understanding of that novel is much greater. Kevin and Dana are the only two characters who literally time travel. You could argue that Rufus time travels, but only from the view point of the reader and Dana. Without Dana's character, we really cannot understand the past of the obvious (she is the narrator) and the non-obvious (Rufus). Dana also tries to steer or guide the past. This could be thought of as a similar mechanism to revising. Here lies my brick wall. I cannot get past the initial question. The only thing I can think about is how Dana is used as a tool of portraying Rufus in the past. However, this idea seems too obvious because she is the narrator. Dana's character seems to be too "covered" and it is extremely hard to focus. How about Kevin? Kevin's character has many problems time traveling. He is a white man, who must protect his wife in slave times. Most importantly, he is left behind for years. His return to present day is met with great hardship. This begs the question of, which time was more difficult? Are difficult and simple mutually exclusive? Before all of that, Kevin was very ignorant. He searched out present day maps of Maryland, and ignored many aspects of slave America in his trip to the past. Kevin's character reflects on the past by showing his difficulty with the present upon his return to the 1976.
Posted by dlalonde at April 9, 2007 08:24 PM