In Octavia Butler's Kindred, we see the development of Rufus from a friendly and more open-minded child to a selfish slave master who does horrendous things to hurt others when he isn't getting what he wants. We've talked in class about how Rufus is harder to deal with because he's a three-dimensional character we've seen develop into a monster rather than just a one-dimensional monster who is evil for the sake of being evil. How much of this development has to do with the environment he grows up in and how much has to do with some exceptional qualities of Rufus himself?
Examining Rufus as a kid can give us insight into some of his natural instincts. As a kid Rufus has real friendships with Nigel and Alice and when he talks down to black people, it's because it's what his society has told him to do (on page 30 Rufus implores Dana to call him "Master" so that she won't get into trouble when his father hears her; he doesn't say anything about racial superiority and inferiority). His racial views as an adult are thus a product of his society, especially being around his father Tom, who Butler keeps depicting as more of a one-dimensional monster who makes sure to keep his slaves down at every turn through inhumane tactics. His development of these racial views leads Rufus to believe he is better than Dana, Nigel, and Alice which gives him some sort of moral justification to mistreat them and it certainly contributes to his development into the monster we see by the end of the book.
However, we also see characteristics of kid Rufus that probably exacerbate this development. These characteristics come out in his relationship with his mother. Margaret Weylin spoils Rufus to the best of her ability, which exacerbates his sense of entitlement and reinforces the belief that he is better than everyone else, but especially the slaves on the plantation. In the scene where Dana is reading to Rufus with Margaret in the room, Rufus shows how much he has control over his mother, and when things don't go his way, he hurts and manipulates her to get what he wants. It seems that Rufus is exceptional in his often irrational desire to make someone pay when things aren't going his way (as an adult he makes Dana work in the field after Tom's death). In addition, the most vividly destructive relationship in the book, Rufus' relationship with Alice, is definitely driven by Rufus' crazily exceptional and unrequited "love." These exceptional qualities of Rufus definitely exacerbate his development into a monster.
Rufus was pretty much inevitably destined to adopt his society's racial views, and his mother raised him to always get what he wants and to lash out at others when that doesn't happen. Things like his love for Alice are more in his control and make Rufus complicit in his development into a monster. I think that while Butler makes the point that the antebellum South had horribly twisted views, she also has to make Rufus exceptionally hatable so that it feels alright for Dana to kill him at the end of the novel. Therefore Rufus is supposed to draw some additional amount of our ire than what we would normally reserve for his society.
How much do you guys think we should blame Rufus?
Although we can clearly see Rufus as a product of his environment, the fact that he had a liberal black woman from the 20th century mentor him for several months, and repeatedly tried to explain to him what he was doing was wrong, means that we have to put a massive chunk of the blame squarely on Rufus’s shoulders.
ReplyDeleteI think that the antebellum South society is definitely set up to give Rufus the kind of destructive power that he uses throughout Kindred, however I am still not sympathetic to him because having power doesn't mean that you should abuse it as he does.
ReplyDeleteRufus' actions throughout the book are directly enabled by the environment he grows up in. He lashes out at his mother when he is a kid and this behavior is reinforced by society in general, for example his father's treatment of slaves. While he is the product of his environment, I agree with Jack's point. Having Dana there should have given him a different perspective on his society and actions.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Dana's presence gives him a different perspective, that I don't think that means his moral compass should guide him to see the wrongs in himself and in his society. If we grew up in the antebellum south and based our moral compass off of that, would it be so easy to change our views based on a stranger from a society we didn't necessarily respect?
DeleteI agree that the historical context definitely sets Rufus up to become the stereotypical slave owner of the era and I hadn't thought about his mother's influence on his sense of entitlement, but I still think that Rufus could've tried harder. He was so close when it came to Alice, but he still forced himself on her one way or another despite knowing what he was doing was wrong.
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