posted by admin on Oct 4
The novel tells the story of Dana, an African American woman living in 1976 who is repeatedly thrown back in time to the antebellum South. She is unconsciously summoned (through means that are never explained) by her ancestor, Rufus, from the time he is a child through to adulthood. Rufus is white and from a slave-owning family. She also meets Alice, another ancestor, who is forced to become Rufus’s mistress. Dana is placed in the difficult position of making certain that Rufus and Alice have a child, Hagar, who is Dana’s direct ancestor (thus ensuring Dana’s own survival). Dana is also forced to cope with an environment which forces her into slavery every time she enters it.
Each time she travels back in time, she stays longer (Although time in antebellum south is “shorter� than real time. She only goes back in time when Rufus would have killed himself otherwise. Dana only returns to the present when she is extremely scared.
READ MORE ABOUT OCTAVIA BUTLER AND HER SCIFI NOVELS