When you look in the mirror, the reflections you see may vary. For Dana Franklin in Octavia Butler's Kindred (1979), she sees her long-lost ancestor Alice Greenwood. The story tells the story of Dana, a young black woman in the 1970s, and her husband Kevin, a young white author, as they travel to and from the antebellum South of the 1800s. The book begins with Dana and Kevin unpacking their bags in a new house on Dana's 26th birthday, until Dana passes out and wakes up to find herself near Weylin's plantation. It becomes clear to Dana and Kevin that the goal of his time travel is to keep Rufus Weylin, who Dana discovers is his ancestor, safe to carry on their lineage. Dana has traveled to Weylin Plantation about six times in the past, each time becoming more tiring and dangerous for Dana. Soon after meeting Rufus, Dana meets Alice and discovers that she is the other half of her ancestors. Knowing this information, Dana does everything to keep Rufus and Alice alive whenever she travels to the past. Because of her role as Dana's ancestor, Alice becomes an extremely important character in Kindred because she represents a version of who Dana would be if she were born in the past, a reflection of Dana herself, and an obstacle for Dana within the story. Octavia Butler carefully creates Alice Greenwood to be an incredibly vital character and mirror of Dana Franklin, and therefore deserves careful analysis. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay While Dana may not have been born in the early 1800s, she quickly adapts to the time and the customs that accompany it. The antebellum South creates a sense of alternate reality for Dana, and Alice, Dana's distant relative, slowly begins to represent what Dana would have been like if she had been born during this time. Aside from the obvious similarities, such as ethnicity and cultural heritage, Dana and Alice are often compared. This can be seen when Rufus gets drunk and stumbles into Alice's cabin: “'There's the woman,' he said. And he looked from one to the other of us. «You are truly a lonely woman. Did you know?'” (Butler 228). Alice explains after he leaves that Rufus meant that "'[he] likes me in bed, and you like me out of bed, and you and I are alike if you can believe what people say...". However, all this means is that we are two halves of the same woman…” (Butler 228). This scene shows that Rufus sees the two of them the same way, and that if Dana had been born around the same time and been less educated she might have been in the same situation Alice was currently in. In this same sense, Dana and Alice can be considered and compared to the same person. Alice represents a mirror image of Dana, one who is less educated and more open-minded, and in turn draws on Dana's character to make several important points about issues of gender and race within Kindred. The scene where Dana considers Alice's future with Rufus and how she would come to conceive Dana's ancestor shows this concept immensely as Dana says, “Alice Greenwood. How would she marry this guy? Or would it be marriage? And why didn't someone in my family say that Rufus Weylin was white?” (butler 28). By questioning her heritage and how she came to be, focusing solely on the mixed relationship between Alice and Rufus, she demonstrates Dana's slight obsession with the fact that someone in her family is white, as her uncle had done when he introduced the idea that Dana married Kevin, another white man. man: “[n]ow… it's like I rejected him. Or at least that's what it feels like... He wants me to marry someone like him,.