While reading Kindred, readers can draw numerous connections between Alice and Dana, even though they are generations apart. The most obvious comparison is the physical similarities between the both of them. A little after Alice is first introduced, the patroller who was going to capture Alice's mother (I think this was the reason he was there, why else would he stick around her house?) and tried to assault Dana remarked "You could be her (Alice's mother's) sister, her twin sister, almost" (Butler 41). Rufus also says something similar the second time he sees Dana, remarking that if she changed her clothes she'd be almost identical to Alice's mother. As Alice grows up, she looks more and more like her mother, and therefore more like Dana. The family resemblance between them is obvious by looking at them, but they also experience things in similar ways.
One thing that is also comparable between Alice and Dana is their connection to Rufus and how the way he manipulates/abuses them is so similar (I read through the book again to find quotes and honestly, I hate Rufus he sucks). He constantly physically and sexually abuses Alice, and begins to try to do the same thing to Dana when Alice was gone. They are both hurt by his temper, irrationalness, and possessiveness (or 'love' as Dana sees it). While Rufus wasn't the cause of Dana originally losing contact with Kevin, his possessiveness of her kept Kevin away for longer (he tried to make sure Kevin never came back, if his father never sent Dana's letters he probably would've succeeded). Alice also loses her husband, this time partially because Rufus's rape of her and full intention to take her away from Isaac whatever chance he got (possessiveness). Rufus does nothing to help keep Isaac around, and brings Alice back to the plantation with him, taking her away from her husband and never letting him come back. Rufus is also the catalyst for both Alice and Dana being forced into slavery, with Alice being bought by him and Dana being forced to save him and become a slave because of the time travel. They both become slaves for reasons outside of their control, and have to come to terms with their roles becoming reality after previously being free.
Of course, there are some key differences between Alice and Dana. Dana got her husband back, and is able to kill Rufus before he can begin his assault of her, while Alice never saw her husband again, and had to live with Rufus's assault for years and have his children. Instead of a perfect parallel, I think comparing them would be more like looking in a warped mirror, similar but some asymmetry. Rufus only sees their similarities, though, when he remarks "He looked from one to the other of us. “You really are only one woman. Did you know that?” (Butler 228). Which is really gross, showing how he sees them as less as people and more as objects that he interacts with. Alice articulates it better, while trying to explain Rufus's logic: "“But still … I know what he means. He likes me in bed, and you out of bed, and you and I look alike if you can believe what people say.” “We look alike if we can believe our own eyes!” “I guess so. Anyway, all that means we’re two halves of the same woman—at least in his crazy head” (Butler 228). I think that Alice and Dana are similar, but are obviously distinct people. They have a lot of trust in each other, with Alice always defending Dana and looking out for her, and Dana doing the same and considering Alice like a sister (though ultimately she is more on Rufus's side throughout the book. I wish that Dana appreciated Alice more, even though she was in a tight spot trying to get her family to exist, did she really have to disregard Alice like that?)
Overall, I think that Dana and Alice's connections throughout Kindred were interesting (and very sad). There's probably more I didn't cover, but these were the signifigant ones I noticed.
We see a version of this parallel very early in the novel, when Dana goes outside Alice and her mother's cabin and she is assaulted by one of the patrollers--who initially mistakes her for Alice's mother and remarks on how similar they look (family resemblance). This is a chilling introduction to what it means to "look like Alice's mother" in 1815 Maryland--remember, Alice's mother is ostensibly as "free" as Dana herself would be at this time, and Dana is getting a harsh early lesson in what it means to be a Black woman ("free" or otherwise) in a time and context where you have no rights the government is required to recognize. She learns how vulnerable she is in this time and place, immediately after learning how vulnerable Alice's mother is.
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