Is a person more a product of his own environment or his genetics? It is really hard to answer this question until you trace the behavior and actions of a person in society during a certain period of time. Author, Octavia Butler, explores this idea in her novel Kindred. The novel’s protagonist Dana narrates her experiences as a black woman who travels back in time from 1976, California to Antebellum South in Maryland. She does so in order to save her white male ancestor Rufus Weylin. She becomes a witness to how a vulnerable little boy turns into a selfish, malevolent and cruel slave master. In every chapter of the novel, Dana has been transported to a certain period of time and observes significant changes in the behavior of Rufus, due to the influence of the environment. Therefore, Rufus is more of a product of Nurture, rather than Nature. His father, Tom Weylin, is influential in how Rufus …show more content…
It’s significant that he is influenced by his abusive family and the world where slave owners treat people like personal property. Dana, the protagonist of the novel, travels back in time to save him when he is in life threatening danger since he is a little boy. It becomes clear for her that he is her ancestor and she really is trying to influence him to become a different man, unlike his father. Rufus doesn’t live up to her expectations and becomes even worse than him. He becomes a crueler, filthier and more selfish person as the years go by. Instead of being grateful to Dana for saving his life, he continually causes harm, and then he just feels sorry after the damage is done, as he uses to do with his mother. Despite all Dana’s efforts and struggles to influence him, she fails and he becomes what he becomes. Rufus is unable to overcome the influence of the slave holding society of the Antebellum South. He obviously becomes the product of this culture and
Butler chose to use direct over indirect characterization for this aspect of Dana’s identity because of its importance to the plot of the novel. If Butler had done this directly, the readers would take longer to realize,
Analyzing Character Development: Dana Octavia Butler’s novel, Kindred, provides a unique look into slavery in the antebellum South through the eyes of Edana Franklin, a black woman living in the late 20th century, who is suddenly sent through time to the early 19th century where she is suddenly faced with the task of protecting her ancestor, Rufus, from many dangers in order to ensure her existence in the present. Dana begins her adventure with no knowledge of how or why she has been given this responsibility and, as a result, must adapt to her new and unfamiliar surroundings. As the novel progresses, the reader sees Dana’s internal battle with herself as she decides whether or not Rufus is worth saving, or if she should let Rufus die
He is constantly being pressured by gang members to join their group, and he is exposed to the harsh reality of drugs and violence. Despite the challenges he faces, Rufus remains hopeful and determined to make a better life for himself.
Rufus starts as a boy who wishes revenge against his father who beats him, however, he is not as racist as Weylin, even being friends with many other slave children, which continues as he grows older. The first time we get to see the true Rufus is after he rapes Alice for the first time, leading her husband Isaac to attempt to kill Rufus. This shows that no matter how much he cares about Alice, he still sees her as a slave that must do what he wants. This continues after Alice is captured and bought by Rufus, and Rufus continues to force her into sexual acts against her will. Rufus also begins to use both Alice and Dana as an outlet for his anger, beating Alice when Dana leaves and sending Dana to work in the fields after his father dies.
I believe that Rufus is an alternation of his father he still sees slaves as more than a piece of property with only a couple of exceptions. For example when Dana told him that Alice doesn 't love him, but he refused to take no as an answer which showed that he didn 't really care about the way she felt or thought of him. Furthermore, he also received some of his father 's temper or anger problems. Throughout the book there been moments where Rufus would suddenly get angry and become demanding, for instance when Rufus demanded Dana to get up form her chair but lucky he claimed down before he could do anything irrational. He also sold slaves like his father and punished them when he had too.
His possessive affection transfers from Alice to Dana, but Dana rejects these affections, “I could accept him as my ancestor, my younger brother, my friend, but not as my master, and not as my lover. He had understood that once.” (Butler 260). Rufus was left alone and abandoned after Alice passed away. He wanted someone to show him warmth and affection.
The novel Kindred explores Yearning in people that were slaves in forms of love, freedom, and family. On page 36 of kindred a man that is Alice's dad is a slave that left without a pass and got beat for it while he just wanted
The novel shows how even those born in the modern era are not safe from a time when racism was the norm and where they must confront the consequences of a system that dehumanizes people of colour. It can be seen how race shapes not just individual experiences but also societal structures and how the consequences of its history can reverberate through generations. By examining these challenges, Kindred highlights the inescapable nature of inequality, speculating that actions within the past can have permanent effects, creating struggles for generations to come. This novel forces the recognition that, well, humankind is not inherently evil; they will participate in "monstrous things [that their] society [says are] legal and proper"
Although Rufus is initially presented as an innocent, unknowing child, he quickly becomes the focal point of Dana’s narrative. He is a symbol of nurture and change, actively showing how one’s environment and the people they meet shape their future. From being treated as a son to facing cruelty and abuse, Rufus’s life is characterized by the many roads he takes that lead him further away from his original nature. With every negative force he faces, Rufus grows more corrupted and cynical. The second time Rufus is presented in the past he and Dana had time to talk in his home.
(25-26) ” It’s clear that Rufus’s parents’ two opposite approaches to raising him are conflicting and damaging, resulting in Rufus getting the wrong message as to how he is allowed to behave. While Rufus’s mother gives him all he wants regardless of his poor behavior, his father on the other hand neglects him and resorts to violence to discipline him. The use of violence and sense of entitlement build up in him and worsen as he ages.
Along the way, she develops mechanisms to cope with the controlling threats and abuse from the Weylin family, and even reminds Rufus of what she is capable of doing. Throughout the novel, Kindred, Octavia Butler expresses the idea
At this point, Rufus has not shown any romantic affection towards Dana, though once Alice dies, he does. He had the power to completely rid his plantation of Sam, and he did just so. White people living in the Antebellum South believed black people were to be treated as animals. Black people were tortured, whipped, worked to the bone, and unjustly harassed for just surviving. Rufus used the norms of the time to justify his patriarchal actions.
Playing the Part No matter the century or the centuries to come there has and there always will be stereotypes. A stereotype is a fixed notion or image of a certain group of people. Stereotypes put certain characteristics on people or objects. Most stereotypes are racist and sexist; over time stereotypes may change to fit with the evolving society.
And Rufus was Rufus-erratic alternately generous and vicious. I could accept him as my ancestor, my younger brother, my friend, but not as my master, and not as my lover. He had understood that once” (260). Dana is distancing herself from being a slave doesn’t feel that she could ever be subjected to it like Alice was. She uses pronouns like “her” to describe a slave to show that she will be associated with one.
Rufus has had such a confusing life and it has affected him in both a negative and positive way. He was the son of a horrible slave owner and a friend of a great slave. Rufus’s environment had a negative effect because he grew up in one of the worst times. He grew up in the Antebellum south where there were many slave owners, including his own father. He grew up in a time when slaves were beaten, sold or killed.