rufus-a lost cause?
I thought Kindred was by far one of the more captivating books we got to read this semester. The time travel element worked incredibly well with the heavy topic of slavery.
when I first understood who Rufus was and became accustomed to what was happening, I was really interested in his character. I knew the book would follow his life and we would watch him turn into someone, but I didn't know who. Generally speaking, the theme of your environment shaping who you are is pretty prevalent throughout life, however, there are always the stories of people becoming the opposite of the environment and becoming "rebels". The part of me that wants a happy ending in every book was hoping Rufus would be the same way, but I knew there was no way he could completely transform. I even wondered for a second if Rufus' connection to Alice would be a love story and somehow Kindred would have a cheesy aspect to it. However, the biggest question I wondered was how impactful would one person be on his life?
As we watched him grow up Dana would pop up at random points in his life and stay for a while, then disappear. It became pretty clear that she couldn't completely change him but I wondered if she would have any impact at all. The younger he was, the easier it seemed Dana could get through to him and teach him some better morals. Realistically, Dana wouldn't have much of an impact at all as we saw from the end of the novel, but I began to wonder what it would take for him to have changed. Though every person is different and there's no formula to say x number of influential people in your life can change you, I thought about my childhood and how as kids our experiences stay with us for a while. Especially since Dana was always saving Rufus in some way or another, I wondered what it would have taken for her words to truly sink into him. Though the obvious answer to that would make Dana's character white, It still made me think. From our incredibly racist American history, the pattern of time is obvious, and clearly, no racist little kid is going to change his mind immediately just because someone saved his life. But that begs the question, is Rufus, clearly racist as he is, an inherently bad person? or can we forgive his actions due to the time period he lived?
Part of me wants to say he wasn't a terrible person because he didn't start out that way. When dana saves him initially he remembers that moment, and wants to protect her when she comes back during "the fire". Moreover, the bond between Dana and Rufus leads him to treat her, especially in the beginning, completely different from all the other slaves and black people he interacts with. However, as the book progresses we see Rufus cross over more and more of the lines previously established within their relationship. The interesting thing to me though is the reasoning for this. What changes between Rufus as a kid and Rufus as an adult that leads him to betray Dana so often? is it his surroundings that have hardened him? Is it his fear of her leaving? or is it simply because Rufus was never meant to be good? I think we're meant to sympathize with Rufus because he's deprived of love, but I can't see past the pattern of his actions. Rufus isn't stupid, he understands Dana can leave, he knows she can refuse to help him with her new medicines and he knows she's a "friend" (whatever he thinks that is) and yet he betrays her, with the final blow at the end when he tries to rape her. Why would Rufus do that? Sure for the time rape is common, but Dana makes it clear it's not ok; if we can excuse Rufus' actions with his lack of IQ, where's the excuse?
Is there one?
when I first understood who Rufus was and became accustomed to what was happening, I was really interested in his character. I knew the book would follow his life and we would watch him turn into someone, but I didn't know who. Generally speaking, the theme of your environment shaping who you are is pretty prevalent throughout life, however, there are always the stories of people becoming the opposite of the environment and becoming "rebels". The part of me that wants a happy ending in every book was hoping Rufus would be the same way, but I knew there was no way he could completely transform. I even wondered for a second if Rufus' connection to Alice would be a love story and somehow Kindred would have a cheesy aspect to it. However, the biggest question I wondered was how impactful would one person be on his life?
As we watched him grow up Dana would pop up at random points in his life and stay for a while, then disappear. It became pretty clear that she couldn't completely change him but I wondered if she would have any impact at all. The younger he was, the easier it seemed Dana could get through to him and teach him some better morals. Realistically, Dana wouldn't have much of an impact at all as we saw from the end of the novel, but I began to wonder what it would take for him to have changed. Though every person is different and there's no formula to say x number of influential people in your life can change you, I thought about my childhood and how as kids our experiences stay with us for a while. Especially since Dana was always saving Rufus in some way or another, I wondered what it would have taken for her words to truly sink into him. Though the obvious answer to that would make Dana's character white, It still made me think. From our incredibly racist American history, the pattern of time is obvious, and clearly, no racist little kid is going to change his mind immediately just because someone saved his life. But that begs the question, is Rufus, clearly racist as he is, an inherently bad person? or can we forgive his actions due to the time period he lived?
Part of me wants to say he wasn't a terrible person because he didn't start out that way. When dana saves him initially he remembers that moment, and wants to protect her when she comes back during "the fire". Moreover, the bond between Dana and Rufus leads him to treat her, especially in the beginning, completely different from all the other slaves and black people he interacts with. However, as the book progresses we see Rufus cross over more and more of the lines previously established within their relationship. The interesting thing to me though is the reasoning for this. What changes between Rufus as a kid and Rufus as an adult that leads him to betray Dana so often? is it his surroundings that have hardened him? Is it his fear of her leaving? or is it simply because Rufus was never meant to be good? I think we're meant to sympathize with Rufus because he's deprived of love, but I can't see past the pattern of his actions. Rufus isn't stupid, he understands Dana can leave, he knows she can refuse to help him with her new medicines and he knows she's a "friend" (whatever he thinks that is) and yet he betrays her, with the final blow at the end when he tries to rape her. Why would Rufus do that? Sure for the time rape is common, but Dana makes it clear it's not ok; if we can excuse Rufus' actions with his lack of IQ, where's the excuse?
Is there one?
Accountability is a tricky thing. I think it's absolutely important to acknowledge the effects of Rufus' upbringing - abused by his father, given only unhealthy examples of love, taught that rape and slavery and abuse is ok but that loving somebody who is black isn't - because the nurture and experiences Rufus received as a child created the adult Rufus we know. However, it does not excuse the terrible things he did to other people - he raped Alice and tried to rape Dana, separated families, and he ruined people's lives. It kind of is a question of nature vs nurture. Personally, I don't think anybody's born inherently evil or anything, and I think nurture plays a much larger part. Still, I don't think that can be used as an excuse for actions, though I do think it's necessary to acknowledge, as it always is, to understand how people can become the way they are, and how no child should have to go through that.
ReplyDeleteI feel like Butler puts us in a tricky spot where we, like Dana, want to see the best in the little boy from the beginning but Rufus just becomes more and more distant as he gets older. It is not the outcome we wanted but it makes sense. As you mentioned, Dana was there only every so often and, from Rufus's perspective, she was a black woman who gave information to him that contradicted what he was taught and she expected him to listen to her. He learned that he was supposed be telling people like her what to do, not the other way around. This grows into a bigger problem as he gets older and is actually in charge of the plantation. However, we can't excuse Rufus's actions. We can see what caused him to do so, but he still did not have to take action in the way that he did.
ReplyDeleteYou're digging right into the core nature/nurture questions that this novel explores: essentially, how "good" can a white slave owner actually *be*? Even if he's "not as bad" as his father (debatable), or as others in the area (a case could be made), he's still participating in and profiting by an unthinkable human crime. He can pretend he's not coercing or raping Alice, but we see that as a fiction that she helps perpetuate, in order to spare herself more pain (while plotting to escape all the while). Would Rufus have the capacity to be a good person in 1976? The novel seems to say Yes, with some qualifications. But there is this strong sense that *he* is deeply messed up by slavery too--his environment has shaped him, and there's only so much Dana can do to counteract it. But if the "same" person were raised in a situation where he didn't have all this power over Alice, and where they had met under more egalitarian circumstances, of course she could (hypothetically) love him in return--and he sees Dana and Kevin as an illustration of that fact. We sort of like Rufus at least for *wanting* what Dana and Kevin have, but when it comes to trying to make it happen, of course he resorts to his power and privilege. He's never *not* a product of his time.
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting, and kinda twisted thing, that I think about is: what if Rufus had grown up in 2020 Champaign-Urbana and had his formulative years in as diverse a place as Uni instead of the slavery-era Deep South. And my guess is he would have been a pretty decent dude, to me he doesn't seem like someone who is inherently bad (and I don't believe people are inherently good or bad at all). People are shaped by their environment and that's a fact.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, he's not a good dude. Plenty of people are strong enough to break out of bad views they were taught by those around them as a child, and Rufus isn't one of them. He just follows the norms, he doesn't fight back at all.