User:Lissetlot15/sandbox

About Me
Hi I am a college student at LaGuardia Community College

Summary 1: "Prologue," "The River," and "The Fire."
The Prologue of “Kindred” by Octavia Butler starts off with the protagonist, Dana trying to convince the police officers that her husband, Kevin didn’t have anything to do with the accident that left Dana without her left arm. After convincing the police Kevin didn’t have anything to do with the lost of her arm he is released and while Kevin is with Dana at the hospital they talk about what they told the police happened to her arm. In the first chapter The River starts with Dana’s birthday which is also the day she first met Rufus while trying to save him from drowning. Dana thinks she is hallucinating the whole situation but then after returning back to her home she has notices she did indeed save a kid from drowning. Her reappearance in the living room on the opposite side of where she had been horrified Kevin and left them with no explanation of what just occurred. The second chapter The Fire Dana is in panic of what just happen to her and meanwhile Kevin tries to distract her mind from the earlier events by taking her to dinner Dana refuses. Then while they are eating dinner at home Dana starts feeling the dizziness and nausea that lead to the meeting with Rufus. She is then somehow transported to Rufus room where she then again saves him, while she thinks her deed is done and she will return home she doesn’t. Dana then learns that she is in Maryland and the year is 1815, in the middle of slavery. She also realizes Rufus is her ancestor. Since Dana knows being seen in Rufus room will get her in trouble since she is black, he’s white; she heads off to her slave ancestor, Alice cabin. When she finally finds the cabin she has to hide in the bushes because of the white men on horses heading towards the cabin. She then sees Alice father being whipped then dragged away from Alice and her mother. Dana then goes towards the cabin and tells Alice mother she was sent to her by Rufus to spend the night there. While trying to retrieve an item outside of Alice cabin, Dana is attacked by one of the returning white patroller, she then feels her life is in danger she starts feeling the dizziness and then she’s back home. Upon her return Dana was still panicked and without knowing attacked Kevin while he was trying to soothe her. Dana tells Kevin what she has encountered and when she awakes the next morning he has everything ready for her next departure to 1815

Summary 2 : "The Fall."
The Fall starts with Dana recalling how she and Kevin met. While Kevin then starts getting ready to go to the library he then hugs Dana when she starts feeling the dizziness again. Both Kevin and Dana go back in time. She then looks for Rufus and she sees he’s hurt on the floor holding on to his leg. Rufus is not alone and we are introduced to Nigel, a black little boy. Dana then sends Nigel to get his dad with a wagon because of Rufus serious injury. In comes Tom Weylin, Rufus dad wondering who were the people surrounding his child at that moment, Kevin has then to introduce himself as Dana’s master. Rufus asks his dad if they can accompany him home and Tom accepts. In the Weylin’s home Dana goes in to stay with Rufus, and Kevin heads to talk with Tom. Luke, Nigel’s father takes that time to warn Dana about the Weylin’s including Rufus. Awhile after being with the kid his mother, Margaret enters the room to check her son and as soon as her eyes lay on Dana, Margaret instantly despises her. Margaret sends Dana off to the kitchen to have supper with the other slaves. In the kitchen she meets Sara who is in charge of the meal, Sara has a child name Carrie who is mute and the only child Tom didn’t sell off. Dana eats the meals she is served and after she is called by Kevin so they can talk. Kevin informs her that Tom has offered him a job tutoring Rufus while he heals and that Dana as well will being staying with him at the Weylin’s home. As the days go on Dana and Kevin are playing their part, while waiting for Dana to feel her dizziness signaling her departure but it doesn’t come just yet. Since Margaret isn’t fond of Dana she prevented her from seeing Rufus but he requests to see her so she can read to him. His attachment to Dana is growing and Margaret feels threaten by it. More days go by and the tension between the Weylin’s and Dana grow due to the fact they don’t like the idea of Dana being so literate. Tom prohibits Dana from reading or teaching the slaves to read or write but Dana doesn’t follow the orders. She starts to teach Nigel how to read and then gets caught by Tom. Tom then proceeds to whip Dana and she starts feeling the dizziness that is about to take her home with or without Kevin.

Summary 3:"The Fight"
The Fight started with Dana regaining back consciousness after returning home without Kevin. She then starts to have a flashback of when Kevin decided to ask her to marry him and how their family didn’t take it well at all. It then takes Dana eight days to return back to Rufus, this time he is being beaten by a black slave, Isaac for raping his wife, Alice. Dana comes between both men getting Isaac to back down and runaway with Alice, while they still can. When Rufus regains his consciousness he asks about Alice whereabouts and Dana questions at why would he do such thing to her. She convinces him to keep quiet about who beat him, he agrees and send her off to his home to get help. Dana realizes years have passed while only days have passed in her time. She feels a sense of relief stopping in the front of the Weylin’s home. She then proceeds to get to Tom and get help to Rufus. As soon as they get to Rufus room she starts curing him and they start talking, that’s when Dana realizes Rufus loves Alice, like Kevin loves her. Once she helps him, Dana goes to the kitchen to do work with Sarah who then informs her the reasons that Margaret Weylin no longer lives in the household. The more time Dana spends with Rufus the more she notices that he’s becoming his father. A few days after Rufus fight Alice and Isaac are caught. Rufus brings his new slave, Alice back to his home so that Dana can cure her wounds from the whipping and dog bites. Dana then starts to question is Rufus is trustworthy and if he indeed did send the letters she send telling Kevin she’s back. As the days go by Alice is taken care by Dana, she doesn’t remember much but when she does start to remember everything she decides to take out her anger on Dana aware that it won’t cause her a whipping. Then Dana wants to send another letter to Kevin but Rufus refuses and manipulates her into convincing Alice to be his mistress or he will whip her then rape her if she doesn’t accept. Dana doesn’t have another choice and convinces her Alice is not happy but giving in willing is better than being forced. One day while Dana was in the kitchen Alice comes to show her she has found the letters she wrote for Kevin, Rufus didn’t send them at all. Dana is furious at this and decides to escape that night. She does but doesn’t get far as Rufus and Tom catch her. Dana is then brutally beaten by Tom. Once Dana is able to stand on her own she is called in to Rufus room and he hands a letter that was sent from Kevin addressing Tom who wrote to him to inform him Dana is there. Right then and there she confronts Rufus about lying to her, he proceeds to tell her that he did it because he doesn’t want her to leave him. Dana notices that Rufus has a obsessive way of loving her. Once Dana is back to work she is sent to wash and while she’s washing with the help of Alice she sees Kevin coming from a distance. She tells Kevin that the need to leave before Tom and Rufus get back. Just when they are about to head off Rufus pulls a rifle at them asking them to stay but they both refuse. When he is about to shoot Dana throws herself on the floor and starts feeling the dizziness she screams for Kevin, then everything turns black.

Summary 4: "The Storm" and "The Rope"
In the Storm Dana is regaining consciousness from her last visit to Rufus, she looks up at Kevin and is glad to see he has made it home with her this time. Once settled at home Dana notices Kevin’s frustration as he try to reintegrate himself in 1976. Kevin shuts Dana out of his office and is there until dinner which is when Dana starts to feel the dizziness again, this time Kevin doesn’t go with her. She then wakes up in mud and looks around for Rufus who is face down in a puddle of mud. She runs to prevent him from drowning in the mud but doesn’t make it far because he’s too heavy for her. As she runs for the Weylin’s home she sees Nigel and tell him to go with her to get Rufus. When making their way to Rufus bedroom Tom tells Dana he wants to talk to her once she has settled in. In the library the conversation with Tom leads Dana to threaten that if he beats her again she will not save Rufus again. Once back in Rufus room she sees that he is not doing good and has pain all over his body. Dana does her best as the days go by to help Rufus get better and is succeeding. One day while doing kitchen work she is called frantically by Rufus to help Tom who is having heart attack, she explains to him she doesn’t know how to help but she starts doing CPR on him which in all efforts doesn’t help him and he dies. Rufus blames Dana for the death of his father so he sends her to do field work and while she’s there she gets whipped because she doesn’t know how to do the work. Not being able to take anymore Dana collapses. Waking up once more thinking she is home she hears Rufus voice, she gives him the cold shoulder as the ride up to his home. Once in his bedroom she ignores him making him angrier and he threatens her. So she stays in his room listening to him telling her that she will be taking care of his mother who is returning but is very ill. Although she’s not happy about caring for his mom she does and it is not as bad a she thought it would. As the day goes by Dana regrets ever helping Rufus and his adoration for her becomes needier, he likes having her around him even if she isn’t needed to do anything for him. Days pass by and all Dana is anxiously waiting for is the birth Alice fourth child which she hopes is Hagar, her ancestor. Alice then days later gives birth to Hagar and informs Dana that as soon as she is well enough she will attempt to run away with Joe and Hagar, Rufus kids. At a Christmas party for the slaves a guy approaches Dana and Rufus doesn’t seem to like that so she tells Sarah to tell that slave, Sam to stay away from her. Sam stays away but not for long and when Rufus finds out he sells him. When Dana sees this happening she begs him not to do it but all he does is hit her and that’s when Dana has had enough. She goes up to the attic, cut her wrists with the knife she packed and passes out. The Rope starts with Dana awaking in her bed with bandages on her wrists and she is glad to see Kevin again. He questions what led her to commit such an act and she tells him all she went through with Rufus. Dana is home for 15 days before Rufus calls her back on the day Kevin wanted her to finally go out with his friends. She appears on the ground where she sees Rufus but he is in no danger this time. He questions why is Dana back and he leads her to the barn where she sees Alice body hanging. Dana runs to the kitchen and tells Sarah what she has just encounter which Sarah responds that Alice did it because once she was caught by Rufus after running away he took her children away. She then goes to confront Rufus and he tells her that he didn’t sell them he was just trying to scare her so she wouldn’t leave him again. He tells Dana that while she’s there everything seems to be in order but once she leaves it falls apart and that for Alice to rest in peace he will free his children. After Alice funeral Rufus goes to get his kids to his aunt’s home and when he comes back he tells Dana that she should just accept him as her master/lover. He insists Dana to stay because she belongs in that time period with him by saying all that Rufus just agitates Dana to the point where she stabs him to death. As Dana returns home from just committing the crime she notices that half of her arm is plastered to the wall, that is the same hand that Rufus was holding when she stabbed him. She pulls her arm free and feels pain then everything blurs.

Butler's Biography Assignment
The lead section is understandable but I suggest that at least two or three more sentences introducing Octavia E. Butler. The first two sentences don't really do it for me. Overall the other sections provide clear and understandable information about the author. However they do lack information readers would be interested in knowing such as her every day struggles on getting someone to publish her books, where did her inspiration primarily come from in each novel, did she ever married or have a family to help her while she was busy writing.The sections are pretty short but I like the order that the are written in.Some of the external links need to be fixed because some redirect you to different pages.