We are what we pretend to be

Kurt Vonnegut — 'We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.'

Once again, Vonnegut says it best. This has been a theme that we've talked about a lot in class with regards to Kindred. Dana and Kevin come into the antebellum slavery world expecting to only stay a little bit and still be themselves, but in playing their respective roles, they are obviously changed. We talked about the effects of pretending to be a slave on Dana in class, but the book hints at the effects on Kevin after he has spent five years by himself (presumably fully immersed in a part after he leaves the Weylin plantation, as there would be no one with him who knows who he truly is), and the scenes after he comes back really illustrate both actually effects and feared ones of spending long periods of time in that world.

When Kevin finally comes back to the Weylin plantation to pick Dana up, she doesn't recognize him at first, thinking that he might be a minister or something. It's only after she gets a good look at his face that she realizes who he is.

Kevin recognizes her too. "'Dana?' he said softly. The question mark in his voice scared me. Didn't he know me? Had I changed so much? He hadn't, beard or no beard." According to Dana, there's no immediate real difference in Kevin despite cosmetic changes, even after five years. Kevin, on the other hand, isn't sure about Dana -- she's already spent months there, and Kevin doesn't know exactly when she came back, since her letters didn't immediately reach him. He definitely has a lot of reasons to be concerned.

However, Dana begins to have doubts about Kevin, when he starts asking her who whipped her. "His face was lined and grim where it wasn't hidden by the beard. He looked more than ten years older than when I had last seen him. There was a jagged scar across his forehead -- the remnant of what must have been a bad wound. This place, this time, hadn't been any kinder to him than it had been to me. But what had it made of him? What might he be willing to do now that he would not have done before?"

Later, Dana does notice a few differences: "He had a slight accent, I realized. Nothing really noticeable, but he did sound a little like Rufus and Tom Weylin. Just a little."
"The expression on his face was like something I'd seen, something I was used to seeing on Tom Weylin."
Despite the fact that we learn Kevin has spent most of his five years helping slaves escape, the time has still left its mark on him through little mannerisms. Later, however, Kevin seems to resolve his earlier question mark about Dana, despite all the little ways she, too, has changed: "He looked at me. 'Well. I got half of what I wanted. You're still you.'"