Was Dana responsible for Alice's death?
One of the more dramatic and perhaps even shocking moments of Kindred was the scene where Dana is called back to the past only to find out that Alice had committed suicide. She later learns that Rufus lied to Alice about selling her children, causing Alice to spiral into depression and commit suicide rather than go on living in a world where her only light had been extinguished by the man who forced her. In a way, Dana’s actions caused or helped to cause the events that led up to Alice’s suicide. Rufus is afraid of being abandoned, which drives him to use extreme tactics to try and get Alice to stay. On page 255, Rufus claims in a conversation with Dana that he is afraid she will leave him and never come back. He states, “But in my nightmares, you leave without helping me. You walk away and leave me in trouble, hurting, maybe dying…they started way back at the fire -- as soon as I realized you could help me or not, just as you chose…when Alice had been here a while, they went away...