Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.

Recommended Texts for Pairing

Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

• Mark Twain’s seminal time-travel novel is the text that Kindred is most explicitly in dialogue with. Dana’s journey in Kindred shows the limits of Black power in the past compared to Twain’s character, who is able to move through the past with relative ease.
• Butler’s Postmodern Blending of History and Science Fiction has antecedents, but rarely has the past been treated so soberly.
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court on SuperSummary

Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

• Education is an important element of Kindred, and Frederick Douglass can serve as a key figure in discussing why education was so vital to free and enslaved Black people.
• In particular, focusing on the chapters in which Douglass becomes determined to learn to read will demonstrate The Complicated Power Dynamics of Slavery.
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass on SuperSummary

Other Student Resources

Octavia Butler: Visionary Fiction

• This one-hour NPR podcast (part of a series) takes a look at Butler’s legacy and point of view on her place as an author of science fiction.

Octavia Butler: The Brutalities of the Past Are All Around Us by Gabrielle Bellot

• Bellot looks at Butler’s intentions for writing Kindred and lays out an argument for many of its themes, including elements of race, gender, and The Complicated Power Dynamics of Slavery.

Octavia Butler Wanted to Write a “Yes” Book by Stephanie Burt

• This article from The New Republic looks at Kindred in the context of Butler’s overall body of work and her repeated theme of power, touching on The Postmodern Blending of History and Science Fiction and The Complicated Power Dynamics of Slavery.

Teacher Resources

Saying “Yes”: Textual Traumas in Octavia Butler’s Kindred by Marisa Parham

• This free article at Humanities Commons is a comprehensive resource for teachers who are having trouble navigating discussions about The Complicated Power Dynamics of Slavery with their students.
• The article articulates several key concepts about how readers empathize with characters and the difficulty of doing so with characters who are enslaved.