Christopher Bunker

English 111 O
In-Class Journals

1.1: Whats Up With Kevin? (Entry

#2)
Kevin seems to have integrated far better into the culture of 1819. As opposed to
Dana, Kevin is very casual about the situation, and although he makes remarks
about the injustices of the time, he really doesnt seem to be bothered by the
structure. He even notes that the structure doesnt seem as bad as it was made out
to be in the future, and that the slaves seem to be treated fairly.
Obviously, Kevin and Dana are going through much different experiences. Kevin, a
white male who can act as a slave-owner, doesnt face any discrimination or
injustice. In fact, he is treated favorably, kindly and is quickly integrated into the
structure of the plantation. Kevin is offered a place to stay and is even given a job,
and spends the majority of his time teaching. He gets along with the others, and is
tended to by slaves. He gets to meet with guests of the Weylin house as well, and
doesnt really face any hardship whatsoever. Isolated, he doesnt really realize
whats happening on the outsidewhat Dana is seeing.
If the roles were reversed, it is certain that Kevin would likely have a different
opinion about what the time period is like, and how people are treated. The fact that
he spends the majority of his time in the house, doesnt speak with the other slaves,
doesnt eat the same food the slaves (and Dana) do, clearly illustrates the different
lifestyles of a white man and a slave. Even as a poor white man, he still has far
more power than Dana will ever have in this 1819 society structure.
Dana criticizes Kevin for his opinion, noting that he hasnt seen the whippings or the
other horrible occurrences. He hasnt spoken with Nigel, Luke, Sarah or Carrie about
what life as a slave is like. He simply passes it off as something normal,
inconsequential and unimportant, something normal and structured. After all, it
seems to him that the slaves arent put through any real difficulty or hardshipat
least not more than they can handle.
All in all, Kevin goes through a tremendously different experience than Dana, which
clearly affects his opinion of how the society functions. As a result, a noticeable
tension arises between Kevin and Danasomething that will clearly cause
difficulties as the novel continues.

1.2: Write about the Chapter titles

In Kindred, the chapter titles generally consist of a singular word. The Fall, The
River, The Fire are all essentially the descriptions of the main deciding event that
leads Dana to come back to Rufus time and save his life. In Chapter 1, The River,
she is sent back in time to the river by the Weylin house, where she finds Rufus
drowning and saves his life. In Chapter 2, she goes back in time to find Rufus
lighting drapes on fire, staring at it without moving. She puts out the fire, saving his
life. In Chapter 3, The Fall, he falls out of a tree, breaking his leg. She is there to
help him and go find aid. Had she not been there, Nigel most likely would not have
been able to find him and Rufus would have been left alone in the woods. Finally, in
Chapter 4, The Fight, a fight between Isaac and Rufus is the reason why Dana is
sent back. She finds Isaac beating up Rufus to a point near death, and claims later
that had she not been there to talk Isaac down, Rufus likely would have been killed.
Ultimately, the chapter titles are a short reflection of how Dana goes back, but also
a stronger representation of the environment and the growth that the characters
undergo. The chapter titles ominous natures seem to invite a more serious, deeper
and darker interpretation of the story and chapter.

1.3: Adaptations Paper

I would like to make a film adaptation of Kindred. I would like to write about how to
shoot the film, probably with an emphasis on the thematic and tonal reflection that
the shooting gives off. Lighting and framing would certainly be important. Id
probably have lighting very bright, very vibrant and colorful. I picture Rufus time as
a more dark time, more sinister, sadder, but also far less dreary. There is life, there
is action, people are moving around and doing things. Id have a very vibrant,
yellowish color for the southern plantation they live on, with the grains and the
plains emphasized in their color, similar to the way Looper was shot.
Id also light Danas time as more grey, darker and more deep tones, with lots of
black, grey, dark blues. This time is a sad time for Dana and Kevin. Its dreary,
boring, un-interesting. This isnt what their life is destined for. They seem to have a
destiny far separate, far different, one that calls them back to the past.
Everything will be hand shot on handheld cameras. The shifting and subtle
movements of the cameras will emphasize the inconstancy, the variability and the
hesitation involved. Theres a lot of tension and shakiness, which I think handheld
shooting would emphasize and bring to life.

How I would illustrate the disappearance of Dana would be much different. I

wouldnt really make the camera shake or show any dizziness or some Star Wars
hypnotist travel to the past. It would be quick, painless, immediate. Shes there,
then shes not, and she goes back to her home. I wouldnt really focus on the fact
that there is a time travel, its almost as if shes stepping through a room, not so
much a full century and a half. A quick transition, with no fade to black, would be
necessary.
Musically, I would try to use a lot of jazz and blues, music from the 1950s and 1960s
that highlighted the sadness and the difficulty of slavery. Jazz and blues artists
would emphasize the struggle but also the musical talents and the ability for
freedom that is available to these very desperate but also very calm and accepting
slaves. There are hardships here, there are difficulties, there are challenges that
they must face.

1.4: Write About a Line From the

Epilogue
I doubt it, considering what you took from him. I dont think you were really
capable of killing him until he attacked you Kevin, pg. 263.
I chose this particular quote because I found it interesting to consider the idea that
Dana was truly incapable of killing Rufus unless he had attacked her first. The idea
seems a little dubious to me. Was Dana that attached to him that she couldnt take
his life unless completely from self-defense? I feel like although she shared a deep
spiritual and strangely emotional connection, it would not have been out of her
power to kill Rufus.
Maybe the consideration that who knows what would happen if she took Rufus life
was the big deal. There was that underlying possibility that she and Kevin remain
stuck in the past, unable to come all the way back to their present day. Rufus, while
being the bond that linked them (or more accurately put, chained them) to his time,
might not have allowed them to end the time loop and return to the future.
Was this ever a consideration for Dana? Did she worry about this? Maybe she
wished that she had done it earlier, or before. But there really is no way for us to
know whether she could have killed Rufus without literally trying to save her life.
Was it meant to happen? Shouldnt she have returned to the future when he
attacked her? Maybe it was fate and destiny.

1.5: Write about your initial impressions of

Slaughterhouse Five

Where to begin? Slaughterhouse Five felt like a mess to me. A big, jumbled,
overwhelming mess of a novel, where nothing seemed to stream together and
everything seemed distant, far-off and preposterous. Vonnegut lays down layer
upon layer of confusion and delusion, and the reader really only is left to try and
figure out the diseased rantings of an old war veteran.
Although I felt so perplexed and almost cluttered by the introductory chapters of the
novel, I felt like I appreciated what Vonnegut was aiming for and how he portrayed
his own fragmented musings. I truly did feel like I was reading a war book, and
venturing into the mind of a crazed person, one conflicted and flighty. The book felt
light in the hand, just as light as Billy likely felt as he hopped from time period to
time period, lightless as a speck of light being glued and unglued to the fibers of
reality.
Vonneguts portrayal of the characters really does create this strange sentiment.
Every character seems distant, almost unapproachable and unreal. The only
character you feel as if you can really resonate with is Barbara, Billys daughter. Her
feelings reflect your own, that none of this is real, and obviously this man is
mentally ill.
Overall, Vonneguts Slaughterhouse Five struck me as incredibly unique and difficult
to comprehend in its simplicity and at the same time its striking complexity. This is
what it is like to be insane.

1.6: Write about one of your

annotations
In this reading, I chose to annotate the passage regarding Billys watching (both
backwards and forwards) of the WWII bomber film. I found it curious that he
watched the film backwards, saw the film in a way it wasnt designed to be seen
or perceived. I noted that he was viewing the world almost from a Tralfamadorian
point of viewone where he looks at the world not as a continuum but a moment in
the present, a moment bereft of any meaning or sentiment. Now just is is what I
wrote in the margin.
Watching the film backwards, he sees the world from its point of conception. He is
able to see the positives of a war that was devastating. The bombers are actually
benevolent, using mysterious powers to save humans, encapsulate fires and
bombs. Theyre the good guys. And everyone goes home in the end, returns to their
point of origin, and ultimately everything sinks back into the drain of humanity until
all that is left are Adam and Eve.

I found it curious that this passage seemed to correlate with what was said about
Billy earlier, that he has no impact on past, present or future. This is clearly a
Tralfamadorian perception, one where the world is not impacted by his actions,
where everything is devoid of free will or any meaningful action. The moment is the
moment, and everything exists for no seeming reason.

1.7: ParticipationWhere I Fall

I feel like I participate greatly in the discussion, providing information and
perspectives that arent always seen obviously by everyone in class. I like to speak
up, especially at the beginning of class to give my perspective immediately, and
contribute to the discussions initiation. I feel like I do a good job of presenting my
ideas intelligently and somewhat concisely (although admittedly I do often ramble).
When it comes to opening discourse and continuing it, I also feel that I have done a
solid job. Many of my classmates will present an idea or ask a question, and I
usually tend to pipe up with my own interpretation. Often times I will relate back to
what other students have said and look into what has been said in a somewhat
metacognitive manner. In all seriousness, I do feel like I perceive the book in a far
different way than most others and do contribute ideas and insight that no one else
has really come up with. Additionally, any time I hear an idea that I really like or
hadnt thought about before, I like to expound and provide my own insight.
Ultimately, I think that I am doing a very solid job of participating, I am certain that I
am one of the students who participates the most in class (Sam and I contribute
fairly equally I feel). Although sometimes I do tend to space out for some of the
conversation, it is mostly because I am reading things online that relate to the
current topic of discussion, and I am gathering information or looking at events in
the novel from a historical perspective. For example, today I was thinking about the
Immaculate Conception and Mary, so I spent about 10 minutes reading about it. I
still havent used the information in discussion but it helped me to better
understand the novel and my thought process.

1.8: Everything was beautiful, and

nothing hurt
First off, clearly there seems to be some irony at work here. Inscribed on a
tombstone, the epitaph calls upon a positive feeling, one where everything is indeed
beautiful and there seems to be no pain. Yet we always seem to associate death
with pain and suffering, or at least a certain amount of it. How could it be that there

is nothing hurting, when there seems to be a death here that looms? And what does
it mean when Vonnegut says that it would make a good epitaph for him and Billy
Pilgrim?
A natural question that arises, too, then, is what life signifies for every individual.
Can this vision of life really dictate that life faces no consequences? This
Tralfamadorian concept that life is beautiful and is to be taken as a whole, a clump
of happy, beautiful moments is one that is obviously endearing and appealing. But
is it really possible? In war, this grave appears, and the epitaph for mankind seems
to be the same. What will we do, what action will we take, how will we move
forward, or not at all?