Win Everett devises his plot to start a conflict between Cuba and the US by staging a fake assassination attempt on Kennedy, which he will blame on Castro. One thing to note about Win's plan is that it is rather extreme. While an attempted assassination on the president is more certain to provoke anti-Cuban anger than less extreme plots, it is also much more dangerous: if there is any slip-up, it is bound to be noticed by one of the hundreds of investigators who would be working on discovering the culprit. Why would he want to take such a risk? Another point is that, from the very beginning, he planned to cause casualties. Though there was supposed to be no risk to the Kennedy, someone had to be blamed for what investigators would see as a true attempt on his life, and that someone would undoubtedly face severe consequences. That man, in Win's plot, is just some guy who would believably have tried to kill Kennedy and who could be framed cleanly. In other words, Win plans to cause casualties of innocent people (or at least one innocent person) in order to start a war in which there would undoubtedly be deaths of innocent people.
What all this looks like is a war. Not a war against Cuba and America, no, that's just a part of it. Instead it's what Win, Parmenter, and Mackey see as a war between pro-Castro and anti-Castro forces. This is a war which has already started, which resulted in the Bay of Pigs when the anti-Castros were winning, and which made the Bay of Pigs fail to put the pro-Castros ahead. Both of these events caused real fighting and real deaths: the consequences of war. Now that the anti-Castros are trailing, Win devises a plot causing someone to take the blame for an attempted assassination. This sounds an awful lot like an officer ordering suicide mission. Just like the officer would see the casualties as unfortunate but necessary, because they died in the name of something greater [cringe], Win sees the Bay of Pigs, his shooter's arrest, and the fighting that will result as unfortunate casualties of war which are necessary to out Castro, which is somehow more important.
Friday 20 April 2018
Friday 6 April 2018
Returning Home
The section of Kindred, "The Storm" begins with Kevin and Dana returning home together after Kevin had been trapped in the early 19th century for five years. Naturally, after five years, Kevin wasn't quite used to what he knew should have been "home". Even Dana, who had only been away for a few months, remarked to herself that the Weylin house seemed more like home than her real home. The only thing she feels is more "homey" about her house is that it is in her own time period. What this shows is that both Dana and Kevin have become so used to the Weylins' house, that they are beginning to recognize the location as home, but, more importantly, they have also been able to transplant the norms of 1976 in to the time period to a great enough degree to make it feel less alien.
We have talked in class about how the 19th century society has had unwanted effects on Dana and Kevin, and these are obviously present in the scene described above. However, it is also clear that there are aspects of the 1970's that they have brought and maintained in the 1810's, which have allowed them to feel more at home there. This becomes especially clear in Kevin when he mentions that he was helping southern slaves escape to the north. He becomes agitated as he says this, and remarks that he isn't used to having people understand why he would do it. What this shows is that, although Kevin has adapted to living in a new society, he has only changed to a limited degree.
This is how Kevin was able to feel at home at the Weylin house. Although he wasn't living there when he was doing it, he must have associated it with his helping slaves to escape, because, as he was talking about the Weylin house to Dana, it led directly to him talking about helping runaways. He could only feel at home where he had spent considerable time and had demonstrated his 1976 morality most clearly.
This idea also applies to Dana. She felt at home at the Weylin house, where she had tried her best to apply her morality to other slaves, helping them where she could. This appears to be how Butler defines where her characters feel at home, and it shows that as much as Dana and Kevin change as they are in the 19th century, they still remain a product of their own time.
We have talked in class about how the 19th century society has had unwanted effects on Dana and Kevin, and these are obviously present in the scene described above. However, it is also clear that there are aspects of the 1970's that they have brought and maintained in the 1810's, which have allowed them to feel more at home there. This becomes especially clear in Kevin when he mentions that he was helping southern slaves escape to the north. He becomes agitated as he says this, and remarks that he isn't used to having people understand why he would do it. What this shows is that, although Kevin has adapted to living in a new society, he has only changed to a limited degree.
This is how Kevin was able to feel at home at the Weylin house. Although he wasn't living there when he was doing it, he must have associated it with his helping slaves to escape, because, as he was talking about the Weylin house to Dana, it led directly to him talking about helping runaways. He could only feel at home where he had spent considerable time and had demonstrated his 1976 morality most clearly.
This idea also applies to Dana. She felt at home at the Weylin house, where she had tried her best to apply her morality to other slaves, helping them where she could. This appears to be how Butler defines where her characters feel at home, and it shows that as much as Dana and Kevin change as they are in the 19th century, they still remain a product of their own time.
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