Role of Alice
Something that intrigued me about Kindred, was the sort of singular focus on Dana's lineage in position to Rufus. Of course, he was rather more prone to near-death experiences, but ostensibly Alice was close a few times, and it's important to recognize that this is a deliberate choice that the author made: to make her tied to Rufus, and not Alice, exclusively so far as we know. And she leaves the realm as he dies, not Alice, and he takes a part of her with him. Throughout the course of the novel, her allegiances lie with Rufus despite herself. She rues her inability to fully hate him, unlike Alice, who has had the same historic childhood bond with him. The question at hand is why, and I think the answer must be something more than just merely that he is her ancestor. She has a love for him, one that surpasses reason, and one that is not visible with Alice. The book takes care to emphasize this bond as something sick and distorted, and reflects it in both Rufus and Dana's...