Kindred: Chapter 3: The Fall Summary & Analysis

1. When Dana first met Kevin, she was working for a casual labor agency – which the regulars called the “slave market,” even though it was the opposite of slavery. She goes into the office every day at 6 am to see if she has a job that day, accepting jobs that require menial labor for minimum wage where the more mindless the worker is, the better. Dana works here so that she can shuffle through the day and write her novel at night. She is half asleep at work, prompting Kevin to introduce himself by asking why Dana always looks like a zombie.

Kevin tries to talk to Dana, though Dana doesn’t want to get in trouble for slacking off on the job. Another employee, Buz, told Kevin that Dana was a writer, and Kevin reveals that he is also a writer who works at a warehouse for rent money while his books aren’t yet profitable. Dana truly looks at Kevin for the first time, noting his strangely pale face, hair, and eyes. Dana is jealous that Kevin even has a book published.

Buz teases Dana for meeting up with Kevin to talk about writing, but Dana looks forward to having lunch with Kevin. Kevin animatedly talks about his book before noticing that Dana has nothing to eat. Dana says she’s on a diet, but Kevin goes out to a food truck and buys Dana a hamburger, saying that he has been on that kind of diet. As Dana eats, she tells Kevin about her short stories and the two laugh about the lack of family support for their dreams of becoming authors. They also find out that they are both orphans.

Dana tells Kevin that her aunt and uncle want her to take sensible classes and write on the side, but Dana can’t pretend to be interested enough in any other subjects to keep up with the work. Buz comes into the break room and hisses “chocolate and vanilla porn” at Dana. Dana tries to laugh it off and Kevin grins at her.

Kevin and Dana eat lunch together the next week and talk about their novels, their families, and their lives of barely scraping by. Soon, the warehouse is calling them the “weirdest-looking couple” and Dana is pleasantly surprised to find that she likes thinking of them as a couple. Kevin surprises her the next day with play tickets. Soon enough, Kevin and Dana sleep over at each other’s places regularly and Dana realizes that she is no longer lonely.

2. Back in the present, Dana is too worried to go to the library with Kevin so she stays home while Kevin leaves to look for records of certificates of freedom. As Kevin checks in on her before walking out the door, Dana feels dizzy again. Kevin rushes to her side and holds her tightly. Both Dana and Kevin then find themselves in a forest, the emergency bag still tied to Dana’s wrist. Dana grabs Kevin’s hand, grateful for his protection but wishing that he weren’t here.

Dana looks around for Rufus, finally noticing him lying on the ground clutching his leg while a young black boy crouches beside him. Dana goes over to Rufus, noting that he looks about 12, and Rufus explains that he fell from a tree and hurt his leg. The black boy, Nigel, is afraid of Dana until Rufus says that Dana is here to help. Dana sends Nigel to get Tom Weylin to bring a wagon for Rufus, and Nigel is distracted by Dana’s “funny” accent and men’s clothing. Rufus tells Nigel to go.

As they wait for Nigel to return, Dana asks Rufus if Nigel will get in trouble for leaving Rufus behind. Rufus responds that it depends what mood Tom Weylin is in. Kevin then introduces himself, explaining that Dana is his wife. Rufus is aghast at the thought of “niggers” marrying white people, and Kevin is upset at Rufus’ language. Dana cuts Kevin off before he says something rash, and gently reminds Rufus not to use that word in her presence.

Rufus is confused that Kevin and Dana can marry, as blacks and whites are not allowed to marry in his time. Dana and Kevin decide to tell Rufus the truth about where they come from: California of 1976. Rufus has trouble wrapping his head around the possibility of time travel, insisting that Dana is making it up. Rufus demands real proof that Dana is from the future, so Dana tells him that the next president with be John Quincy Adams. Kevin gets out some coins from his pocket, showing Rufus the dates from the 1960s and 70s. Rufus still doesn’t understand, but says he believes their story.

3. Tom arrives with a wagon, Nigel, and an older black man. Tom is suspicious of Kevin and Dana, but lets Kevin explain that he and Dana simply came across Rufus and Nigel after Rufus fell out of the tree and broke his leg. Tom examines Rufus’s leg and grumbles about how much the doctor will cost. The large black man lifts Rufus into the wagon gently, but Rufus still cries out in pain. Rufus asks Dana not to go, and Dana realizes she wants to stay to help Rufus through the pain of nineteenth-century “medicine.”

Tom has a quiet conversation with Kevin, then turns to go without offering hospitality to Kevin and Dana. Rufus pleads with his father and earns Kevin and Dana a begrudging invitation, as Tom stares at Dana. Dana stares back before remembering that slaves were supposed to lower their eyes in respect. Tom demands to know Dana’s name and where she comes from. Dana answers New York, after looking to Kevin to make sure she won’t contradict anything he has previously said. Tom glares at Dana, then turns and drives the wagon back home.

Dana and Kevin ride in the back of the wagon, watching slaves in the fields as the wagon jostles along the road back to the Weylin house. The building itself is smaller than Dana expects, affordable even for her and Kevin in 1976. At the house, Tom tells the large black man, Luke, to take Dana to the back for some food, but Dana looks at Rufus’s pained face and asks to stay with him. Tom agrees and carelessly lifts his son out of the wagon and brings him into the house. Luke whispers a warning to Dana that Master Tom can turn mean quickly.

Nigel comes out and stands next to Luke, allowing Dana to see that Nigel is probably Luke’s son. Their familial resemblance is much stronger than the similarity between Tom and Rufus. Dana worries that she will not be able to keep Rufus safe in this world, and that Rufus will grow up to be like his father in personality when Rufus inherits the plantation.

Tom puts Rufus on the bed, neither trying to hurt him nor taking care of the boy’s injured leg. A red-haired woman hustles in and begins to become hysterical about Rufus. Tom catches the woman, Margaret, before she can lash out at Dana, and explains that Dana “belongs” to Kevin Franklin, the man who found Rufus when he got hurt. Tom leaves the room and Kevin reluctantly follows.

Alone in the room with Rufus, Margaret glares at Dana and says that she has seen Dana before. Rufus interrupts with a soft “mama,” and Margaret rushes to Rufus’s side to fuss over him. She demands that Dana go get water, then leaves in disgust to get it herself when Dana asks where to go to get water. Margaret sweeps back in and nastily sends Dana out to the cookhouse. Dana leaves, wondering why everyone in this time period seems to hate her in particular when they are obviously used to seeing black people.

Dana sees a young girl in the hallway and asks for directions to the cookhouse, but the girl doesn’t answer. The girl stares for a minute and then goes down the stairs. At a loss for other options, Dana follows. The girl looks back and covers her mouth, making Dana realize that the girl can’t talk. The girl then points to Dana’s clothing and Dana wonders if her “men’s” pants are the reason she has been met with so much hostility. Dana makes up an excuse, blaming Kevin for not giving her proper women’s clothing.

The girl leads Dana to the cookhouse, a small white cottage outside the Weylin house. Luke and Nigel are inside eating, with younger children sitting on the floor eating with their fingers. Dana is relieved to see that children on this plantation are not fed from troughs. The cook, busy at a huge fireplace, turns and asks the young girl, Carrie, who Dana is. Dana notes that the cook and Carrie have the same light brown skin and pretty features. Dana introduces herself and says that Rufus’s mother sent her out here for food. The cook calls Margaret a “bitch” and Luke cautions the cook, whose name is Sarah, against saying that too loudly.

Sarah dishes Dana some sad-looking corn meal mush while Dana wistfully smells the stew Sarah is making for the Weylins. Luke explains that the slaves get to eat the leftovers when the Weylins are done, but that just makes Dana worry about the possibility of disease from sharing food. Luke questions Dana about her background in New York, and Dana lies as best she can. She can sense that the other slaves are treating her coldly, but can’t figure out the reason until Nigel asks why Dana talks like a white person. Dana lies that her mother was a free black who taught school, and Nigel cautions Dana about acting educated around Master Tom.

4. Dana finishes her corn meal mush but stays in the cookhouse because she is worried about being too far from Kevin in the main house if she starts to feel dizzy enough to go back to 1976. Carrie slips Dana some bread and ham, which Dana eats gratefully while trying to ignore concerns of food safety and hygiene. The cookhouse is a whirl of activity as other black people come in to get food or talk to Sarah.

All the way in the cookhouse, Dana can hear Rufus scream as the doctor sets his broken leg. Carrie runs into the cookhouse with her hands over her ears, and Sarah explains that Carrie likes Rufus because Rufus kept the other children from teasing her when she was little. Carrie is Sarah’s fourth child, but the only one that Master Tom hasn’t sold away. Dana can see the anger in Sarah’s eyes as she explains that Carrie only isn’t sold because her speech defect makes her worth less money. Dana thinks that Master Tom could easily find his food poisoned if he were ever stupid enough to sell Carrie too.

After a couple hours, Kevin calls to Dana from the yard. Dana forces herself not to show how eager she is to get back to him. Kevin tries to take Dana’s hand in the yard, but she resists. Kevin then leads Dana behind the protective branches of an oak tree, where they can talk without being seen. Kevin wistfully thinks of all the more interesting times they could have traveled back to, but Dana snorts that very few times in the past would have been safe for her.

Dana warns Kevin to come quick if he ever hears her calling, fearing that Kevin would be stuck here for good if Dana transports back to 1976 without him. Kevin agrees, but points out that he would have an easier time surviving here than Dana does. Dana doesn’t say that Kevin would be in danger of letting the twisted worldview of the Antebellum South rub off on him.

Dana asks after Rufus, and Kevin assures her that the doctor thinks Rufus will be all right. Kevin himself has scratches on his arm from trying to hold Margaret back while the doctor set Rufus’s leg. Tom has also asked Kevin to stay on to tutor Rufus, as Rufus can’t go to school as long as his leg is healing. Dana wonders what work Tom will give her while they are here, a thought that Kevin doesn’t like. Yet Dana knows that she has to fit in as a slave for her own safety, and that slaves have to work.

Kevin and Dana get their story straight, deciding that Kevin is a writer from New York who taught Dana to read and write so that she could help with the work. Kevin is in the South researching for a book, but got robbed a couple days ago. Kevin warns Dana that Tom was angry to hear how educated Dana is, and tells her to stay out of his way. Furthermore, Kevin had to tell Tom that he was planning to sell Dana in Louisiana, and also said that keeps Dana docile with the promise of freedom in return for sexual favors—just to keep Tom happy about the “threat” of an educated slave on his plantation. Kevin and Dana decide that they will do everything they can to keep Rufus from turning into his parents, so that Dana might be safe here if she ever has to come again by herself.

5. Sarah takes Dana into the cookhouse and begins teaching her to cook, while Margaret follows Dana around in the house and complains about the way that Dana does every chore. Dana hides in Kevin’s room when she can, but she has to sleep on a mat in the attic. Kevin wants to leave and get Dana out of this poisonous atmosphere, possibly going to Philadelphia, but Dana would rather face the relatively small threat of the Weylins and build up credit for herself with Rufus in case she travels back here during a time when Rufus has control of the plantation.

Kevin wants to test his theory that Dana goes home when she is scared for her life, but Dana asks him to wait six more weeks until Rufus’s leg heals. Kevin backs down, but insists that Dana come sleep in his room at night. Dana agrees, especially when she hears that Margaret has been pursuing Kevin. They hope that the Weylins will ignore the “immorality” of them sleeping together, the way that Margaret ignores the slave children that Tom bears.

Later that day, Dana is making biscuits with Sarah when Carrie comes in and signs that a white person wants to see Dana. Dana follows Carrie to Rufus’s room, where Rufus is lying in bed with his leg in traction. Rufus asks if Dana is happy with “Aunt Sarah,” explaining that Sarah beat the last girl she had as help when she was angry after her boys were sold.

Rufus then asks Dana to read to him, if she really knows how, and produces a copy of Robinson Crusoe that Kevin had brought in for him. Dana begins to read, getting involved in the story even though it is not her favorite book, and Rufus seems to enjoy the tale. Dana puts the book down when she thinks Rufus has gone to sleep, but Rufus tells her that he likes her reading. Rufus and Margaret do not like to read for themselves, unlike Tom’s first wife, Miss Hannah.

Dana convinces Rufus not to give up on reading, playing to his pride and promising that there are more books like Robinson Crusoe that he can enjoy. Rufus wants Dana to stay and read more, but Dana doesn’t want to get in trouble with Margaret. Dana convinces Rufus to try reading a couple of lines himself, but his progress is achingly slow.

Dana asks what happened to Alice. Rufus, surprised at the question, says nothing happened, and he has to be reminded that Alice’s father was beaten before remembering that Tom sold Alice’s father to Georgia. As far as Dana can tell, the white patroller she hit didn’t spread any stories about her. Rufus reveals that he told his mother that Dana was the woman from the river, hoping that it would make his mom like Dana more. Rufus doesn’t understand why his parents don’t like Dana, and he too warns her to be careful.

As Dana leaves Rufus’s room, she meets Tom on the stairs. Tom is angry at overhearing Dana read to Rufus. Dana forces herself to face Tom calmly, noticing that Tom’s eyes look similar to Kevin’s. Tom asks Dana how old she is and what year she was born, answers that Dana has practiced for just such an occasion. Tom asks about children, and assumes that Dana is barren when she says she has none. As Tom inquires further about whether she likes Rufus and if she can teach reading and math, Dana realizes that Tom means to buy her. She answers as diplomatically as possible that she would rather stay with Kevin.

6. Dana is as careful as possible, especially after witnessing Tom whip a field hand for talking back. The harsh punishment serves as a warning to all the slaves what Tom Weylin will do to enforce obedience. Dana worries that sleeping in Kevin’s room – even if Kevin were to say that it was his orders – would be enough to earn her a beating. Dana does as many chores as possible in Kevin’s room to give her a reason to be in there alone with Kevin.

As Dana sweeps the library one day, Margaret corners her and slaps her across the face for shaming the Weylins’ Christian morals by sleeping in Kevin’s room. Unsure how to react, Dana stays silent and goes on sweeping while watching Margaret for signs of worse violence. Margaret leaves the library in a huff, presumably to go “supervise” and criticize the work of the other house slaves. Dana can tell that Margaret micromanages the house out of boredom and a desire to prove she is a real lady.

Dana goes about her work that day wondering if Tom will punish her for sleeping with Kevin. She finishes her tasks and goes to find Sarah in the cookhouse. Sarah greets Dana by saying that she spoke up for Dana today. Dana assumes that Sarah spoke to Margaret, but Sarah says she has as little to do with Margaret as possible because Margaret’s fancy taste forced Tom to sell Sarah’s children for money. Sarah says that she spoke for Dana’s ability as a hard worker to Tom. Dana explains that Kevin won’t sell her, and Sarah agrees that that’s for the best.

Sarah warns Dana not to cross Margaret anymore, suggesting that Dana should make Kevin let her sleep in the attic again. Sarah hints that she knows that Dana can make Kevin do anything she wants, and that she should take advantage of this while she is young and pretty. Dana realizes that Sarah was probably in a similar situation with a white master when Sarah herself was young, but Sarah refuses to say anything more.

7. Instead of moving back to the attic, Dana decides to follow some of Luke’s advice and tell white people what they want to hear while doing what she wants to do. Tom often threatens to whip Luke, but rarely does so. Dana even sees Tom in the hall one morning as she stumbles out of Kevin’s room, but Tom just winks. As time passes, Dana and Kevin become more integrated into the Weylin household and Dana adjusts to the drudgery of life as a slave. Kevin dislikes having to put up with the Weylins’ boring guests and wishes that he and Dana could go explore the old West. Dana is resistant, not wishing to see Native Americans mistreated there the way that blacks are in the South.

Tom catches Dana in the library reading one day, and tells her not to go in the library any more. But that night, Nigel asks Dana to teach him how to read. Aware of the risks if they are found out, Dana agrees. After thinking over Nigel’s request, Dana realizes that she and Kevin are still just play-acting at being part of this time period, while people like Nigel truly have to live here.

On a miserably hot day, Kevin and Dana walk to the woods to have a private moment together. On the way, they see some slave children playing at buying and selling one another. As the children argue about how much they are worth, Dana walks away disgusted. Kevin is less upset, rationalizing that the children are only doing what they have seen adults do. When Dana glares at him, Kevin admits that he can’t know how she feels about this. He and Dana have to focus on surviving, not saving these children from their likely futures.

Kevin goes further to say that the plantation is better than he expected, though he doesn’t know about the whipping that Dana witnessed. Dana is angry, responding that the Weylins don’t have to beat their slaves to be cruel to them. Dana explains that Kevin has more shielding than she does, though both of them are often able to act as observers. Dana reveals that she has started to teach Nigel to read in order to relieve some of her guilt at her inability to change the slaves’ lives. Kevin is happy to hear that Nigel is gaining this skill, but warns Dana to be careful.

8. Dana goes to read to Rufus again, though Tom doesn’t like the thought of a black person reading to his son. Margaret often comes in, annoying Dana by interrupting frequently to offer Rufus food and drink. Snappish after two months of bed rest, Rufus sends Margaret out this time. Dana is surprised at how harshly Rufus speaks to Margaret, but Margaret does not fight back. Rufus laughs that his mother will be back soon with a piece of cake for him, and Dana continues reading.

Later, Dana goes to the cookhouse to give Nigel a reading lesson. She finds Nigel and Carrie hunched over books and the two children are frozen with fear until they realize it is just Dana at the door. Dana is sad to realize that though writing would give Carrie a much-needed way to communicate, it would also most likely get her beaten by the Weylins. Dana offers to teach Carrie as well, though she knows that Sarah doesn’t want Carrie to take the risk of learning. Carrie runs out of the cookhouse to return to her chores.

Dana warns Nigel to be more careful than ever about letting someone find out about their reading, and then gives Nigel a spelling test. Though the Weylins usually never come into the cookhouse, Tom bursts into the room while Dana still has the spelling book in her hand. Knowing she is in for a harsh beating, Dana wonders where Kevin is. Tom knocks Dana to the floor and drags her to the door as Dana manages to mouth “Get Kevin” to Nigel.

Once in the yard, Tom begins to whip Dana. The leather sears through her light shirt, feeling like hot iron. Dana screams and twists, but can’t escape the blows. After several harsh lashes, Dana feels as though Tom is trying to kill her, and even welcomes the thought of death if it means ending the pain. Through blurred vision, Dana sees Kevin racing over from across the yard. As the dizziness takes over, Dana reaches towards Kevin, but passes out before Kevin gets to her.