The Difficulty of Rufus

By the time I got to the end of Kindred, I was expecting the confusion surrounding the novel and the characters to be cleared up. Although the story itself ends somewhat resolved, my feelings towards the character of Rufus are very up in the air. While reading about Rufus as a child, I had such hope for his character and believed that there was a capacity for him to learn and grow from Dana’s influence. As the novel progresses and Rufus begins to show the same racism and cruelty as his father, I lost some of this hope, yet there was always something slightly endearing about his character, especially in his relationship with Dana. There were times reading the novel where I even felt guilty that I still clung to such hope for his character when he was acting in such evil ways. Although he repeatedly whips slaves, rapes Alice, and disrespects Dana, there is something in his behavior that makes you wish for him. Rufus is forever childlike, always needing attention, never fully able to understand his feelings. He is internally conflicted about Dana, not sure whether to love her or hate her for her ability to challenge him. On the most basic level, Rufus’s character is weak. Not only is he is incapable of staying alive without Dana’s help, Rufus cannot be true to himself when it comes to who he loves. There are many instances when Rufus understands what is the right thing to do and even wishes to do it, yet he is too weak to ever execute the right plan of action. The fact that there’s always a part of him wishing to do well makes me cling to my hope for him even after countless disappointments. By the end when he is attempting to rape Dana, I know that I hate Rufus, yet when he actually dies, I don’t find myself rejoicing. I had such hope for him, a hope that is difficult to simply discard.