Kindred Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Dana Franklin

A 26-year-old Black writer pulled from 1976 Los Angeles to a Maryland slave plantation, where she must keep her ancestor Rufus alive to guarantee her own existence. Every survival compromise costs her something, and the final trip costs her an arm.

Appears in:: Part 1: The River and the Fire; Part 2: The Fall; Part 3: The Fight and the Storm; Part 4: The Rope
Themes:: Slavery as lived experience, not history; Power, gender, and race entangled; Complicity and survival; The pull of the past on the present

Kevin Franklin

Dana's white husband, a writer twelve years older, estranged from his family for marrying her. Stranded five years in the past, he becomes an abolitionist who helps slaves escape, then struggles to readjust to 1976.

Appears in:: Part 1: The River and the Fire; Part 2: The Fall; Part 3: The Fight and the Storm; Part 4: The Rope
Themes:: Power, gender, and race entangled; The pull of the past on the present

Rufus Weylin

The red-haired boy Dana repeatedly rescues grows into the plantation's master. He claims to love Alice while raping her and forcing her into concubinage, and dies when he tries the same claim on Dana.

Appears in:: Part 1: The River and the Fire; Part 2: The Fall; Part 3: The Fight and the Storm; Part 4: The Rope
Themes:: Power, gender, and race entangled; Complicity and survival; The pull of the past on the present

Alice Greenwood Jackson

A free Black woman enslaved as punishment for helping her husband Isaac escape. Bought and forced into concubinage by Rufus, she hangs herself after he lies that he sold her children.

Appears in:: Part 1: The River and the Fire; Part 3: The Fight and the Storm; Part 4: The Rope
Themes:: Slavery as lived experience, not history; Power, gender, and race entangled; Complicity and survival

Tom Weylin

Rufus's father and the plantation's hard master, who whips Dana more than once and authorizes selling slaves' children. He dies of a heart attack, and Rufus blames Dana for it.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Fall; Part 3: The Fight and the Storm

Nigel

Luke's son, a slave boy Dana teaches to read. He helps carry a drunk Rufus and is likely the one who set the fire covering Rufus's murder.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Fall; Part 3: The Fight and the Storm; Part 4: The Rope
Themes:: Slavery as lived experience, not history

Also in the story

Supporting characters

Sarah

The Weylin cook and de facto manager of the house, who protects the house slaves while working them hard. Weylin sold all her children except her mute daughter, Carrie.

Margaret Weylin

Tom's wife, who indulges Rufus and abuses the house slaves. After her infant twins die she leaves the plantation and returns with an opium addiction.

How they are connected

Key relationships

Dana Franklin Rufus Weylin
A 26-year-old Black writer pulled from 1976 Los Angeles to a Maryland slave plantation, where she must keep her ancestor Rufus alive to guarantee her own existence.
Kevin Franklin Dana Franklin
Dana's white husband, a writer twelve years older, estranged from his family for marrying her.
Rufus Weylin Alice Greenwood Jackson
He claims to love Alice while raping her and forcing her into concubinage, and dies when he tries the same claim on Dana.
Tom Weylin Dana Franklin
Rufus's father and the plantation's hard master, who whips Dana more than once and authorizes selling slaves' children.
Tom Weylin Rufus Weylin
Rufus's father and the plantation's hard master, who whips Dana more than once and authorizes selling slaves' children.
Margaret Weylin Rufus Weylin
Tom's wife, who indulges Rufus and abuses the house slaves.
Margaret Weylin Tom Weylin
Tom's wife, who indulges Rufus and abuses the house slaves.
Nigel Dana Franklin
Luke's son, a slave boy Dana teaches to read.
Nigel Rufus Weylin
He helps carry a drunk Rufus and is likely the one who set the fire covering Rufus's murder.

Go deeper

Kindred themes & symbols

Slavery as lived experience, not history · Power, gender, and race entangled · Complicity and survival · The pull of the past on the present

Themes explained

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The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.

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