I can definitely say that this book held a surprise inside for me. Before I read the cover of the book I anticipated that this would be a novel about slavery. However, I expected it to be written in third person and written as a reflection of past experiences. What I found was an interesting use of time travel to deal with the subject matter with a first person narrator. One of the main benefits I found from the format that Butler used is it allowed the speaker of the story to not only tell the story but to feel the experiences. It made the experiences seem that much more real as if I was traveling back in time with Dana. The time travel also allowed history to suddenly become present time. In addition, it added more suspense to the story because you never knew when Dana was going to head back home and when Rufus would once again summon her to the 1800s.
At first I wasn't sure what to think of the ending with Dana's arm becoming part of the wall. But my copy of the book included a Reader's Guide by Robert Crossly and his explanation of the ending and how the arm represented that Dana could not have gone through all she did in the past era without it having a lasting affect on her definitely made sense.
The novel did leave with with a question regarding the California home that Dana and Kevin were living in when the time travel took place. Since the story had the couple moving into the home, I am left to think that the house had to have some significance with the story. If not, the author would not have mentioned they just moved into the house. So as a result I wondered, had the couple not moved into the house would the time travel still taken place or would it have taken place at a different time and originated from a different location? It also raised those questions regarding time travel in regards to Dana's actions and could they have affected the future? For example, had she not traveled back in time is it possible she would have ceased to exist? If she had not traveled back I was curious which incident would have caused Rufus' death and the fact that she was the one that killed him lead to some of that confusion. Since I have not read many books involving time travel I wondered if these unanswered questions takes away value of the novel. I do know that despite the questions that still linger, I really enjoyed the book and found the style in which is was written refreshing.
I hadn't even thought about the significance of the house. It would seem that it held some significance if Butler chose to include it. I don't know exactly what that would be, but it also makes me wonder if the time travel would have happened had they not moved in to the house. I also found myself asking a lot of questions about Dana's involvement in the past. Would she have really ceased to exist if she herself hadn't killed Rufus? A lot of questions were unanswered at the end of the novel but I think that is one of the great things about Butler. She allows for an open interpretation by the reader. You can choose to take away from it what you will, and you have a hand in deciding what Dana's fate would have been had she not done what she had.
ReplyDeleteI, too, had questioned the ramification of time traveling on the future. I kept thinking of the story, "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury. The butterfly effect where one incident changes the course of history. After reading your analysis, I believe that the house itself had no significance to the story because as the novel plays out, time travel was inevitable. With that being said, I have created a paradox.
ReplyDeleteButler really didn't address many of the five w's in regard to time travel; most science fiction/fantasy is so focused on the technical side of the story, explaining how fantastical events and occurrences were possible. Yet, the "WHY?" isn't even addressed here. Butler's negligence here is purposeful, I think; the book is driven by the characters, and if it were bogged down with sci-fi details and facts, the reader wouldn't be able to have the same connection with the characters.
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