Kindred

by

Octavia E. Butler

The cook of the Weylin family, who chooses to stay a slave in order to ensure the safety of her deaf, mute daughter Carrie. Sarah and Dana become friends and Dana learns to respect Sarah’s endurance and self-sacrifice. Butler uses Sarah to undermine the “mammy” stereotype of a slave who becomes too close to the white family they serve. Sarah’s subservient attitude to the Weylin family masks a deep rage at the abuse that the Weylins have put Sarah through by selling her children.

Sarah Quotes in Kindred

The Kindred quotes below are all either spoken by Sarah or refer to Sarah. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Family and Home Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3: The Fall Quotes

The expression in her eyes had gone from sadness—she seemed almost ready to cry—to anger. Quiet, almost frightening anger. Her husband dead, three children sold, the fourth defective, and her having to thank God for the defect. She had reason for more than anger. How amazing that Weylin had sold her children and still kept her to cook his meals. How amazing that he was still alive.

Related Characters: Dana (Edana) Franklin (speaker), Sarah, Tom Weylin, Carrie
Page Number: 76
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4: The Fight Quotes

She had done the safe thing—had accepted a life of slavery because she was afraid. She was the kind of woman who might have been called "mammy" in some other household. She was the kind of woman who would be held in contempt during the militant nineteen sixties. The house-nigger, the handkerchief-head, the female Uncle Tom—the frightened powerless woman who had already lost all she could stand to lose, and who knew as little about the freedom of the North as she knew about the hereafter.

Related Characters: Dana (Edana) Franklin (speaker), Sarah
Page Number: 145
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5: The Storm Quotes

Sarah had cornered me once and said, "What you let her talk to you like that for? She can't get away with it with nobody else."
I didn't know. Guilt, maybe. In spite of everything, my life was easier than hers. Maybe I tried to make up for that by taking her abuse…
"If you go on talking to me the way you do, I won't care what he does to you."
She looked at me for a long time without saying anything. Finally, she smiled. "You'll care. And you'll help me. Else, you'd have to see yourself for the white nigger you are, and you couldn't stand that."

Related Characters: Dana (Edana) Franklin (speaker), Alice Jackson (Greenwood) (speaker), Sarah (speaker), Rufus Weylin
Page Number: 235
Explanation and Analysis:
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Sarah Quotes in Kindred

The Kindred quotes below are all either spoken by Sarah or refer to Sarah. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Family and Home Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3: The Fall Quotes

The expression in her eyes had gone from sadness—she seemed almost ready to cry—to anger. Quiet, almost frightening anger. Her husband dead, three children sold, the fourth defective, and her having to thank God for the defect. She had reason for more than anger. How amazing that Weylin had sold her children and still kept her to cook his meals. How amazing that he was still alive.

Related Characters: Dana (Edana) Franklin (speaker), Sarah, Tom Weylin, Carrie
Page Number: 76
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4: The Fight Quotes

She had done the safe thing—had accepted a life of slavery because she was afraid. She was the kind of woman who might have been called "mammy" in some other household. She was the kind of woman who would be held in contempt during the militant nineteen sixties. The house-nigger, the handkerchief-head, the female Uncle Tom—the frightened powerless woman who had already lost all she could stand to lose, and who knew as little about the freedom of the North as she knew about the hereafter.

Related Characters: Dana (Edana) Franklin (speaker), Sarah
Page Number: 145
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5: The Storm Quotes

Sarah had cornered me once and said, "What you let her talk to you like that for? She can't get away with it with nobody else."
I didn't know. Guilt, maybe. In spite of everything, my life was easier than hers. Maybe I tried to make up for that by taking her abuse…
"If you go on talking to me the way you do, I won't care what he does to you."
She looked at me for a long time without saying anything. Finally, she smiled. "You'll care. And you'll help me. Else, you'd have to see yourself for the white nigger you are, and you couldn't stand that."

Related Characters: Dana (Edana) Franklin (speaker), Alice Jackson (Greenwood) (speaker), Sarah (speaker), Rufus Weylin
Page Number: 235
Explanation and Analysis: