Symbolism and Meaning Behind Dana’s Arm
In a rather gruesome scene, when Dana makes her final trip home to the 20th century after killing Rufus, she loses her arm. While this scene is shocking and makes the ending much darker, it begs the question of what the deeper meaning and symbolism is with the loss of her arm.
The most compelling explanation I’ve come to is that after the whole experience and trauma in the 1800s, Dana can not possibly come home whole (just for the record the seed of this idea was not mine, it was from class). A part of her is forever stuck in the 19th century, and her experience will never leave her even as she grows beyond the experience into her future. The physical, visible, and unignorable destruction of her arm is a representation of what has been taken from her by the 1800s south, and what she has given to the people and structures there.
More specifically, Rufus also inevitably comes to mind. Constantly throughout Kindred as Dana is pulled into Rufus’ world, the young boy/man from the past repeats the same desperate demand of Dana: “don’t leave me.” While he might not always want to admit it, Rufus needs and depends on Dana, and whenever there is a threat of her leaving, he becomes panic and begs her to stay. The fact that Dana’s arm was stuck there with Rufus as he gripped her shows that even in his death, Rufus got what he always wanted, a permanent piece of Dana that will never leave him.
Besides the more niche example of Rufus and his need for Dana’s
presence, just the experience of living through any amount of time in slavery
can’t possibly leave a person whole, something that Octavia Butler is quoted
saying in the commentary essay at the end of Kindred. The cruelty
exercised by slaveholders and the white system breaks a person and is
deliberately created to inhumanize people and crush them, physically and
emotionally. Dana’s time in this society affects her as well, by literally
ripping part of her body away from her.
What do you think about the whole arm thing?
Great post! I think this is a really intriguing topic in Kindred because it does not seem that any explanation to this event is clearly the right interpretation. I think that the point you raise makes a lot of sense though, and I think that your argument is supported well throughout your post.
ReplyDeleteNice post Anya! The explanations you presented for why Dana's arm was separated from her are very compelling. I think that these explanations can coexist, it still makes sense for the loss of her arm to mean separate things for Dana and Rufus. For Dana of course its a reminder of her time in the past, and for Rufus I guess it could almost be seen as a gruesome "parting gift", that he forcefully takes from Dana as she leaves the past to never return.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of the points you made, especially the stuff from Rufus’ perspective of wanting to “keep” Dana, and finally getting a permanent piece of her (albeit in death). I also thought it was notable that at the very beginning of the book, Dana is surprised to find that her arm is amputated above the elbow, when Rufus had been gripping her forearm. Kevin tells her that it’s because of how messy it was - they had no choice but to cut above the elbow. I think this is interesting in how it can kind of represent how her loss isn’t finished just when she gets back to the modern day and rips her arm out for good - re-adjusting and getting to a place where she can function might scrape even more away from her, just for the sake of trying to smooth over a jagged, gaping wound.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the details you brought up, and I find both of your hypotheses compelling and in-tune with my own. The whole concept of the loss arm is so... weird? Shocking? Disconcerting? It's hard to find the right word to describe the range of emotions that Butler induces by this scene of Dana ripping her arm out of the wall. I find it particularly interesting how Butler chooses to introduce this at the beginning with "I loss my arm." Not only does this moment tie the whole story back to the original premise, it also begs a discussion regarding why Butler chooses to set up the story in this manner at the beginning instead of just letting this chapter fall towards the end in-sequence.
ReplyDeleteThe whole deal with Dana's arm is very confusing because of the many different ways you can interpret it. My thoughts always go to how Dana goes from being wholly stuck in the past to finally thinking she's escaped, to realizing that part of her will always be stuck in the past and that her experiences there changed her forever. But, that's only my interpretation and I think the ones you talked about in your post are also great. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteHi great post! I totally agree with the idea that the 1800's south took a part of Dana with it. But I hadn't thought of the idea of Rufus getting what he wanted (a piece of Dana to never leave him). The way her arm being stuck in the past happens is all very confusing. There is also the idea that by killing Rufus who was her connection to the past, she is losing her arm as a result of "messing with the timeline."
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with the notion that Dana couldn't come back to the present as the person she was before, so we might say she wasn't "whole" anymore both emotionally and physically. I like the idea that even in his death Rufus got what he wanted, a common theme throughout the book, as it depicts his ultimate dependance on Dana. Great post!
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