"'He won't whip you for following my orders. He's a fair man..... I said fair, not likable'" (Butler, 134).
From the very first time Dana time travels to the 1800s, Tom Weylin seems like the "head honcho" of evil, the base from which all the rest of the evil on the plantation stems. He seems to be not a complex, realistic character but in stead just plain bad. However, the further in Kindred I read, the more I see that Tom Weylin is actually, in my opinion, one of the most well-developed, believable characters in the novel. To me, it is not what he does but how Dana reacts to what he does that seems crafted. He is a weak person, and the power society has randomly granted him due to the color of his skin is the only secure thing he has to go on. Therefore Dana's education scares him. He, although seemingly unconsciously, realizes that while his power depends on the viewpoints of society, Dana's power in knowledge is innate; no one can take that from her. As much as he abuses Rufus, Tom Weylin does not only allow but also encourage his son to become more educated than him. By letting Dana teach Rufus, Tom Weylin gives him the chance that he himself never had, and therefore actually allows him to progress more towards the 1900s world where Dana was born. Although in many ways he hates and looks down on Dana, he sees how crucial a part of Rufus' life she is, and in a weird way, even respects her.
Therefore what seems more unlikely to me is how Dana responds to him. When talking with Rufus she says, "He wasn't a monster at all. Just an ordinary man who sometimes did the monstrous things his society said were legal and proper." (Butler, pg. 134) It is hard for me to believe that Dana could see him as anything other than a monster. I think that is one of Butler's flaws in creating Dana as a character: she forgives too easily. She accepts the time travel; she accepts her place in the past; but how easily she accepts being abused and seeing others abused in such horrendous ways makes her a creepy person. She may realize that Tom Weylin is not a monster in retrospect, but for her to claim this whilst on the plantation seems almost eerie.
Rufus' assessment of his father being "fair, not likable" is, ironically a fair one. I think in this passage his insight in fact overrides Danas': he realizes someone can be a fair monster, or make fair yet harmful decisions. Because of this I am curious to see how Tom Weylin and Rufus' relationship plays out in the rest of the novel.
I agree with the "fairness" of Tom Weylin, although it is still somewhat difficult to call such a brutal man fair. Tom Weylin's reliability and fairness as a character seems to be more fully exposed once Rufus grows up to be such an unreliable and irrational character. The contrast between father and son gives Tom more credibility as a character. While we as reader are often puzzled by Rufus's erratic behavior, Tom is a much more practical man. He is threatened by Dana because of her education and confidence, while Rufus is constantly confused, never sure why he is abusing Dana both mentally and physically.
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