Rufus sucks. I liked him better when
he was an innocent child because the older he gets, the more he just
manipulates people in order to get what he wants. This is what bothers me the
most about him- the fact that he refuses to make compromises and actually gets everything that he desires.
Dana
is sent back to save Rufus' life when Isaac is beating him up for trying to
rape Alice. Rufus likes Dana, so this is already like giving a treat to a dog
that peed on a rug: he misbehaves and then Dana comes back to him. Then, Isaac
and Alice are caught and Rufus gets the satisfaction of seeing Isaac beaten and
sent to the South. Next he takes advantage of the opportunity and buys away
Alice's freedom: he owns the woman he loves whether she likes it or not now.
How many treats is that now? Three!
Some
time goes by where Rufus has Dana help bring Alice back to health and he does
not harm anyone. But as soon as Alice is better, he blackmails Dana into
forcing Alice to spend the night with him. He brought Dana back to this time
and Dana cannot escape, in fact she is becoming more a part of it, and she
feels the need to protect the people she loves here. So, Dana does what he asks
and Rufus gets Alice whenever he wants. Two more treats right there.
To
make sure Dana is always there, Rufus doesn't send her letters to Kevin, though
he tells her that he does. One more bad action and he is rewarded with having
Dana for longer. When she discovers this, she tries to run away and is caught
and whipped. Rufus gets another treat because she is punished and he knows she
won't try to run again.
Rufus
tries to rape a woman and is given five treats for it. He lies to Dana and is
given two treats. Just because he is born as a white man, he is given anything
he wants without even trying and he knows it. I hope as the novel continues
Dana is able to change him before he acts so badly to her that she decides not
to come to his rescue.
P.S. The title was my sad attempt to create a title that could be ironically related to Halloween.
I think Rufus sucks too. Yesterday in class, Michael asked why we were reading Kindred and how it related to Truth, Lies, and Literature. I think it might relate because of what you said, "[Rufus] manipulates [Dana] in order to get what he wants." Dana, on the other hand, manipulates Rufus to get what she wants as well. Throughout the class, we have discussed how the author manipulates the reader to get their message across. However, this novel focuses on how the characters manipulate each other to achieve their goals, and I think this alternate form of manipulation is how Kindred fits into our class.
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