When Morgan traveled to Camelot, he took with him his intelligence,
when the Traveller came back he had flowers,
and Van got to bring a whole person!
Dana is able to bring Kevin with her for one of her trips through time--however this occurred relatively early in the novel. Furthermore, Kevin makes the journey both there and back (well, after being stranded). Many times Dana seems to rely on Kevin as an anchor; does his experience moving through time effect this? How does he operate in comparison to the Traveller and Van's 'momentos'?
Anchors by definition are assumed to be stationary, but Kevin is inevitably changed by his environment. After that separation, he is not the man Dana remembers--does this mean his ability to anchor her emotionally is compromised? After no longer feeling at home in her 1970s house, what else is there for her in the future when the Weylin house starts feeling like home? Dana is increasingly assimilating into the southern culture just to stay alive, but is her home in the future having an equal and neutralizing effect to balance this out or will she be irrevocably changed on a fundamental level? It would seem that the text gives more evidence for the latter.
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I definitely think her experience in slavery will change her, yet I do think that she will be able to acclimate to the present after a period of time. Butler appears to prove this by having Dana end without an arm, which acts as a literal reminder of her experience amidst slavery. I think her time in the past became to feel like a home because of the duration that she would stay there for each of her visits. Having stayed in the past for longer periods of time, I do think she had to assimilate in order to survive.
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