What is the value of this shared perspective that might have been lost had Butler written a more traditional narrative that followed the experiences of a woman born into slavery?

In the early portions of the novel, we see Dana as a black person from contemporary America who now must experience a place and time period that is alien to her. Similarly, we as the reader must experience this unfamiliar terrain. Like Dana, we have experienced living in a country plagued by the legacy of slavery but not by the system of slavery itself. What is the value of this shared perspective that might have been lost had Butler written a more traditional narrative that followed the experiences of a woman born into slavery?

Book: Octavia E. Butler, Kindred (Prologue-The Fire)

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