Is Rufus really just a product of his environment?
When Dana first meets Rufus as a child in Kindred, he appears to be innocent and naive, a victim of his harsh father and the society he was born into. Dana initially sees Rufus as a vulnerable child in need of guidance and protection from the harsh realities of the antebellum South, so she attempts to teach lessons of empathy, morality, and fairness to him, hoping to shape him into a more compassionate and just individual. Initially, Dana's efforts seem to have some positive impact on Rufus. He forms a genuine bond with her, viewing her as a confidante and ally. Dana, in turn, feels a sense of responsibility towards Rufus, recognizing the potential for change and redemption within him.
Unfortunately, as Rufus grows older, Dana's attempts to guide him in the right direction start to backfire. Despite her best efforts to influence him positively, Rufus begins to exhibit more and more selfish, entitled, and morally compromised behavior. Although Dana isn’t necessarily a pushover, she tends to make excuses for his behavior and is relatively quick to forgive him.
From a reader’s perspective, I would sometimes stop and consider: How much of Rufus is really a product of his environment? It is true that he grew up in a society in which racist values and systemic oppression is deeply entrenched, but I find it difficult to see Rufus as a poor victim produced by that society. Instead, as he gets older and smarter, he seems to leverage the system for his own selfish purposes. He threatens and harms the people around Dana to force her to stay. He claims to love Alice and want the best for her, but in the end, it all seems to boil down to what he really wants. In that sense, I don’t think it is just the system working on him, I think that is how he really is: Selfish, childish, and troubled. The society and system simply allowed him to act that way unrestrained. Focusing too much on his environment causes both the reader and Dana to make excuses for his actions and forgive him too easily. In the end, he displayed selfish, violent, and possessive tendencies because he WANTED to, not because he had no choice but to.
So, yes, Rufus is a product of his environment. But he is also a product of himself, his own personality and selfish desires. That’s what I believe, at least.
(I feel like if I go too far, I might accidentally wander into philosophical territory, like determinism and stuff. So I will just leave it off there.)
I like how you point out how us as readers look at Rufus's character development, from innocent child to a monster. I also agree with you that though Rufus is affected by the system he lives in, his actions show us his entitlement and manipulation that is just a part of him. Dana has the same revelation, but I'd argue that we see the changes before Dana does since we are not in her position where there is an obvious power difference between her and Rufus. It makes sense how Dana could forgive Rufus so easily, since she's more emotionally attached to Rufus and bound to him due to the power dynamic. Her forgiveness could be from a place of empathy, self-preservation, hope for Rufus's redemption, or more likely, a mix of all three.
ReplyDeleteI think a big part of the Dana's inability to permanently transform Rufus' outlook on the world has to do with the fact that Dana is only scarcely apart of Rufus life in crucial moments. During the large amount of time she is not there, Rufus is subject to the full extent of the social forces and pressures of the antebellum South and unfortunately, in the end, it seems as though these forces overcome Dana's progressive influence and leads Rufus down a path that is quite similar to his father's legacy.
ReplyDeleteI really like your point about how Rufus is leveraging the white supremacism of his time for his selfish needs and wants, which reveals the innate malignancy in Rufus. I also think he was strongly influenced by his father, who set examples for how to manipulate and control other people for his own good. Throughout the novel, Dana notices how Rufus grows to be more like him--even as a teenager, he surprises Dana by how he treats his own mother in a similar manner that Tom Weylin treats her. Another example is when we learn that Tom Weylin sold all but one child with Sarah so that she wouldn't escape. Therefore, it's also important to consider the domestic influences as well as brother societal influences when we consider Rufus's behavior. (but I still agree with you that we can't blame everything about Rufus on his environment)
ReplyDeleteI meant "broader" (not "brother") in the last sentence
DeleteI definitely agree with your point that Rufus may be a product of his environment, but he is also an individual who chooses to make decisions for his own selfish reasons. Yes, he might have to take over the plantation after his dad died along with those responsibilities, but his relationship with Alice is a clear example of unjustified behavior that he acts on with purely selfish desires. By using Dana to go talk to Alice, by pretending to sell their children, by never promising their freedom, Rufus uses his institutional power and holds it over the heads of Dana and the rest of the slaves. He uses his place in society as a means of exercising control and complacency, since everyone else is not in a position of power to go against him. He emotionally manipulates the characters around him in situations where it's not necessary. While it is true that he has no control over certain factors, he can control his actions towards Dana and the other slaves.
ReplyDeleteHey Hannah! This was a great post. I enjoyed how you pointed out that by us, the readers, brushing off Rufus' actions as just a product of his environment, then really we're not too much better than Dana. It definitely does hurt to see someone we first met as an innocent little boy become an absolute monster, but we can't blame that all on his surroundings because he himself has actively chosen to do some abhorrent stuff, particularly with him leveraging his white supremacism and emotionally manipulating everyone around him into doing his bidding.
ReplyDeleteI think a great example that demonstrates your point is when Tom Weylin sends Dana's letter while Rufus lies and withholds them. Despite being raised in the same environment, Tom Weylin values going through with promises more than Rufus. I don't think Tom wanted the letters to be sent in the first place, but because Rufus promised he would send them, which can be interpreted as selfless (in a twisted way). I think Dana introducing the idea that a black and white person could be married also heavily contributed into the way Rufus pursued and treated Alice, which is not really a part of the environment of the early 1800s. He seemed to have gotten obsessed with the idea of a relationship with Alice, which maybe wouldn't have happened if Dana didn't time travel.
ReplyDeleteHello Hannah, I believe your contribution to be insightful, so much so that I agree with you now. Given the comparisons shown in the book between people from the past and more modern people, we can examine the differences and how they possibly arose. There seem to be similar themes that are shown (racism has and likely will always exist), but the differences in how these themes play out is drastic. Given the extreme ancient power dynamics, people were raised to exploit their power differential for their own benefit at the expense of others. This raised others to mimic them, as humans always seem interested in raising their power levels. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteHey Hannah! I really liked your post, and the ideas and trends it explores regarding Rufus. His relationships throughout the novel are incredibly interesting ones, so I appreciate your delving into those more. I also really wonder what would happen if the characters in this novel switched times. LIke, everyone from the 1800s are actually from the 1970s and Dana and Kevin are from the 1800s and they go to the future (or something like that). Would Dana and Kevin still have a relationship? If so, it would certainly be different. And, more on theme with your post, would Rufus and Alice be together when it wasn't taboo? If Tom was still Rufus's father, but they were both in a later time, would Rufus turn out the same? I obviously don't have the answers to these questions, but I do think that they're really cool to dive into.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned, the shaping of Rufus' character can be attributed to more than just his environment, and think it's important to acknowledge that since it holds Rufus accountable for his actions and prevents the us from excusing his behavior solely due to the society he lives in. Furthermore, all of Rufus' misconceptions about Dana's teachings led him to develop these twisted morals that may seem progressive, but instead end up giving him this false sense of enlightenment and thus hurting the people around him. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteWhile discussing this in class it's hard not to question if Rufus is as innocent as people seem to think. He knows he could be different, yet he still behaves like a plantation owner. There are times when his privilege shows, but it seems like he's still trying to change. However, instances of him abusing his power are overwhelmingly obvious. He uses his power over and over again to rape and abuse people he pretends to care about. He knows that he could be different, but he chose not to.
ReplyDeleteTo complicate this already impossibly complicated picture even further, I will remind us all that, in a weird way, Dana is ALSO part of Rufus's "environment"--she can't exert the same degree of influence as literally *every other aspect of his society* that underwrites, justifies, enables, and defends his right to own, exploit, and abuse human beings, but she DOES have an influence on him, he is NOT an exact replica of his father. But in an unexpected and ironic twist, Dana starts to realize that in many ways Rufus may be WORSE than his father, and that SHE has had something to do with it. We don't have an alternate timeline to examine, where Rufus and Alice's relationship plays out without the influence of Dana, but whenever we see evidence that Rufus's twisted idea that he "loves" Alice derives directly from the example of Dana and Kevin, we see evidence of how Dana's influence on him has combined with the rights and privileges guaranteed to him by his society has made him an especially diabolical, emotionally manipulative, impulsive and unpredictable slave-owner.
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