Examples Of Corruption In Kindred

According to Forbes magazine, North Korea was ranked second on the list of the World’s most Corrupt Countries in 2011. Leader Kim Jong-un abuses his power by doing things such as using counterfeit money and illegal weapon sales to make money off of other countries. Number one on the list of most corrupt is Somalia. The amount of corruption that happens in Somalia is so much term ‘corruption’ does not explain all that happens. These two countries are ranked high in the most corrupt, but corruption takes place all over the world. Corruption by definition is dishonest or illegal behavior especially by powerful people; this means that people in power are usually the ones causing the corruption. People are given power and in turn feel the superior

Power and fear cause corrupt decisions and use of power; corruption is caused through the poor use of power, poor decision making, and fear of what may happen. When one is given power, the poor use of it may cause corruption. The novel “Kindred” by Octavia E. Butler is about an african american woman named Dana. Dana goes back in time to the 1800’s and she meets her ancestor named Rufus Weylin. She goes back in time when ever Rufus finds himself in the face of death and Dana has to save him. This happened multiple time and one time Dana’s husband went back with her, but when Dana went back to 1976, Kevin wasn't with her. She later went back but if was many years later for when she was last there. She had written letters and asked Rufus to mail them to Kevin for her, but she found out that he didn’t. Dana states, “‘He wrote to Kevin about me?’ ‘He did after...after…’ ‘After he learned you hadn't sent my letters?’ His eyes widened with surprise then slowly took on a look of understanding (Butler p.179).” Considering this, Dana had put all her trust into Rufus and that trust was betrayed. Rufus had used his power to manipulate Dana into trusting him, but then betraying her in the end. Rufus caused corruption by being dishonest with his power due to

In Kindred, Dana had a map of maryland in which Rufus didn’t like the idea of. Dana had gone back in time while Kevin was still there without her and she wanted the map just in case she needed it; Rufus did not like the idea of that map at all and had pretty much blackmailed her to get rid of it. Dana states, “ He waited watching me. I wanted to ask him what he would do with my letter if I didn’t burn the map. I wanted to ask, but I didn’t want to hear an answer that might send me out to face another patrol or earn another whipping. I wanted to do things the easy way if i could. I wanted to stay here and let the letter go to Boston and bring Kevin back to me (Butler p.143).” With this in mind, Rufus’s fear of Dana leaving him caused him to make Dana burn her map. Rufus was scared that if he had let her keep the map that she would leave him. Rufus knew that if Dana had a map then she would be able to leave him whenever she wanted and he didn’t like not being in control. The fear of what Dana might do caused distrust and corruption. Fear of what one may do also occurred in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag is a fireman, but not the one we know today. He, along with others, would go to people’s houses and burn their books because books had been banned. Montag had started questioning why books were banned and the chief and explained to him why. The Chief state's “Once people appealed to a few people