In the novel Kindred, by Octavia Butler, Dana, a modern black woman, time travels between her present and the time of slavery in the South. In between her various travels, Dana and her husband Kevin experience a series of cruel and eye-opening events. Their experiences force them to question essentially everything they knew about their lives and what they considered home. Through the use of two different historical periods and the idea of ​​time travel, Butler is able to tap into the concept of home and its meaning, and touches on the idea that for Dana, home may be more than just a place physicist. . Through insights into the minds of Dana and Kevin, Butler suggests that home is the place where one can feel most safe, secure, and at ease; also highlighting the idea that, over time, any place can feel like an individual's home, even though hatred and unfortunate circumstances may permeate it. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Each individual's idea of ​​what a home means varies greatly. Very often, home for an individual is the place where they feel safest, most comfortable and where they feel like they belong. As the story begins, Dana's home is her California home that she shares with her husband Kevin. Dana mentions the time she moved to live in the same house with Kevin, stating that “the day before we had moved from our apartment in Los Angeles to a house of our own a few miles away in Altadena. The move was celebration enough for me” (Butler, 12). Dana refers to moving into an individual home as a celebration: The use of the word celebration implies that having a place to call home is something worth getting excited about, something to truly celebrate. This was a major milestone for her and an important moment in her life. This raises the concept that in addition to being a physical building, the house is made up of the people you love most, which for Dana is Kevin. While home can be a physical location such as a home state or a person's home, home can also be a person. Throughout the story, Dana appears conflicted about where her home truly is and whether she can consider her current home her home with everything that has happened. The only person who was consistent during the time travel turmoil was Kevin. She is deeply attached to him as his wife, and Kevin is able to provide her with a constant sense of home. She mentions an instance where “we sat together on the floor, me wrapped in the towel and Kevin with his arm around me calming me down just by being there” (Butler, 15). Kevin didn't even speak to Dana, yet his presence alone was enough to comfort her and make her feel safe just by being there. Comfort and safety are two of the traditional characteristics of a home; two things that Kevin is able to provide for Dana as well. Through this scene, Butler further suggests and emphasizes the idea that a person can be a form of home for someone, and presents the idea that home may not just be a physical place, but someone or something that evokes that same place. feelings of safety, comfort and belonging. Kevin as a home for Dana is seen again, when Dana is severely beaten by Tom Weylin for essentially allowing Nigel to teach Carrie several spelling words. Dana's fear for her life causes her to return home to the present day, although this time Kevin fails to reach her in time to travel back. Upon returning to California without Kevin, Dana walks around the house in the fog. Performs only the minimum tasks necessary to survive;things like eating, drinking, washing and cleaning his wounds. He's simply going through the motions. This lack of involvement within one's home further emphasizes the idea that home is not truly home unless Kevin is with it. She is shocked and states that: “I didn't want to be awake. I barely wanted to be alive” (Butler, 113). Her separation from Kevin completely prevents her from feeling at home, whether or not she truly is at home in today's California. Additionally, her separation from him completely removes her will to live, highlighting how important Kevin is to her and the level of comfort and security he is able to provide Dana while also serving as a form of home for her. Kevin and Dana's physical home in California, however, is not the only home featured throughout the novel. As time passes, Butler suggests that Dana has another home: the Weylin Plantation in Maryland, in the 1800s. During her first trips to the plantation, Dana was scared and confused and desperately wanted to return to her true home in the present. Dana comes to the conclusion and realization that her fear is what will drive her home, and in one case she was "desperately willing for the dizziness to intensify, for the move to come", allowing her to go home (Butler, 35) . The language used by Dana emphasizes how she is so desperate to return home in her early trips to the plantation that she begs herself to reach the point of fear or danger where she can go back. None of her experiences there made her feel like she was in a typical home, and as a result, she wants to leave. However, as the novel progresses, we see Dana become more and more accustomed to this different time period. His feelings towards the plantation begin to change and he begins to see things in a different light. Dana has a revelation about the plantation one day when she meets a young Alice during one of her time travel episodes. He begins to realize that “these people were my relatives, my ancestors. And this place could be my refuge,” regarding the Weylin plantation (Butler, 37). Once she realizes that the people in this new time period are distantly related to her, Dana's feelings towards the plantation begin to change, even though she may not notice it. The idea of ​​family is closely linked to the home, as family is usually the one with whom one shares the home. Now that Dana has discovered a deeper connection with the people on the plantation, she is able to slowly begin to see the plantation function as a form of home. Dana makes a statement about her definition of home, stating that “Home. It had nothing to do with where I had been. It was real. It was where I belonged” (Butler, 115). While this statement refers to his home in California, it closely parallels his new home on the plantation. He refers to the house as the place where he belonged, and when he visits the plantation numerous times he begins to feel as if he belongs there with his ancestors as well. Another reason Dana begins to see the plantation as home stems from the unique temporal dynamic present. in Wonderland in this novel. By including this concept of time in two different historical periods, Butler suggests that over time, almost any place in the world can begin to feel like home to an individual. This statement is especially true for both Dana and Kevin. They move back and forth between the present and the past quite frequently, paralleling something the couple had done in the past. Before they moved in together, Dana says she and Kevin “just went back and forth between our two apartments, and I.