The history of slavery in America is one reminiscent of the institution and its oppressive state of African Americans in modern times. Slave owners and slaves were intertwined in a cruel system of oppression that yielded to neither side. White slave owners along with their black slaves became codependent with each other due to the social pressures and consequences that would follow if the slaves were emancipated with high-danger race relations. This codependency between oppressed and oppressor has survived over time and is prevalent in many race relations. The relationship between oppressed and oppressor can be clearly seen in the novel Kindred by Octavia Butler. In this novel, the protagonist Dana Franklin, a black woman, time travels between her present, 1977, and antebellum era 19th-century Maryland. During her travels into the past, Dana comes into contact with her white ancestor, Rufus Weylin, a white slave owner and Dana ultimately saves his life and mixes with the people of the time. Butler's story about Dana and her relationship with Rufus and other whites as she travels between the past and present reveals how slaveholders and slaves depended on and influenced each other during slave slavery. Ultimately, the institution of slavery reveals how the oppressed and the oppressor are co-dependent; they need each other to survive. The lives of the oppressed and the oppressor are intertwined through their need to protect and maintain their well-being. As seen in the novel, Dana is only summoned to the past when the life of Rufus, her distant ancestor, is in danger. Rufus continues to evoke her from his childhood to his adulthood. ... middle of paper ... their codependent relationship had a one-sided communication pattern where whatever Rufus wanted, Rufus got. Communication between the two of them flowed from the oppressor to the oppressed. Dana had to hide her true feelings towards Rufus and what he might do with her for fear of being sent to the camps at the beginning of their meetings and being forced to do hard labor. Dana's needs as a friend to Rufus were consistently placed at the lowest level of importance. Throughout the novel, Dana was expected to put her needs, which were mainly to find Kevin, return home, and educate other black slaves, on the back burner to fully serve him and perform tasks, which led to her punishment. The fear that the oppressed and their oppressor have for each other is one that they must maintain if they are to survive in their respective societies..