Rufus vs. His Father
When Dana first meets Rufus, she still has hope for him. He's undeniably a product of his time, but could he be different from Tom Weylin? Better, perhaps? But as time wears on, Rufus bears a closer and closer resemblance to Tom. Both are temperamental, cruel, and wield their power mercilessly. They still have some key differences, though. Tom's management is impersonal and calculated, but (partially because of this detachment) he's also as fair as a slave owner can be, by Rufus' own admission. On page 136, Butler writes "'He won't whip you for following my orders. He's a fair man.' I looked at him, startled. 'I said fair,' he repeated. Not likable.'" Rufus, on the other hand, is more impassioned, and he forms close relationships with the slaves... but that only makes him all the more reckless and dangerous.
At first glance, Rufus seems like a more human, less despicable character than his father. Doesn't he love Alice, at the very least? Dana seems to think so. But I disagree. I think that, if anything, Rufus is worse than his father. As disgusting as it is, Tom Weylin acts according to the norms of his time. As Dana sees it, Weylin "wasn't the monster he could have been with the power he held over his slaves. He wasn't a monster at all. Just an ordinary man who sometimes did the monstrous things his society said were ordinary and proper. (Butler 136)" At this point, Dana doesn't yet see the full extent of the monster in Rufus, but she will. Rufus, unlike his father, goes above and beyond to cause suffering at every turn. It doesn't even seem like the time period he's from is responsible for this. I would go so far as to say that he would be just as manipulative and cruel if he didn't own slaves- this hierarchy of power just gives him the means to carry out his will more effectively.
Rufus exhibits the same patterns of behavior with both Alice and Dana. He's sweet and caring... right up until he senses a threat to their relationship. Then he explodes with a kind of terrifying possessiveness (even before he actually owns either of them). Dana calls it a "destructive single-minded love (Butler 180)," but there's no concern, no empathy, nothing there except for pure selfishness and greed. It can't be called love. He just feels like he has to have them, he has to make them love him and only him, and he will stop at nothing to ensure that happens. Alice's husband? Gone. Dana's husband? Whoops, I guess the letter got lost in the mail. The guy who talks to Dana once? Gone. The system of slavery facilitates this control, sure. But I don't think it's the only reason for it. Rufus is simply evil to his core.
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Works Cited:
Butler, Octavia E. Kindred. Beacon Press, 2003.
I completely agree. At the beginning of the novel, I think we wanted to give Rufus the benefit of the doubt and we thought that him being more emotionally attached to the slaves would be a good thing (because he would be more humane with his treatment of them). Yet, Rufus' lack of maturity ended up putting everyone in a situation such that his emotional tantrums left the slaves in fear of any rash decisions that could harm them far more in the long run.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, and this comparison is such an important one to include when considering Rufus's character. He's in a word- Selfish- and I think you captured that perfectly. To make matters worse, he had some sort of instruction and different perspective from his interactions with Dana, and time after time we watch the little hope we had for him rot and twist into something truly disgusting. We have no evidence to suggest Tom had ever seen or been exposed to a different perspective, which makes his actions no less evil, but highlights the sinister quality of Rufus's continued immaturity and destructive tendency. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI think that the fact that other slaves had warned Dana that Rufus was "mean" or whatever it was, is very telling. Over the years, people had experienced his outbursts and emotional instability, and just pure cruelty. As well as that, something I hadn't thought about but completely agree with you on is how he would have still been just this selfish and malicious had he not had the power he does in the book. While he knows that something about Dana is different than other black people of his time, and he does treat her differently from the slaves on the plantation, it shows that it's not the perceived inferiority of the slaves causing his cruelty when he ends up hurting Dana time and again. Weylin can he explained by the time period, but Rufus takes advantage of his power over those who in his mind are equals to him and worthy of love, like Dana.
ReplyDeleteThank you for citing that key passage about whether or not Tom Weylin is a "monster" (apart from the larger question of whether anyone who profits from a monstrous system is monstrous by default). This is a very useful way to break down the distinction: Tom is a company man who simply occupies his role fully, never questions it, and never questions the system that put that role in place. He's a "fair" boss, which means he's consistent in his application of a horrific system. To call Rufus "monstrous" implies something more "evil" as you say, but also a particular *kind* of evil. Monstrousness implies a horrific distortion of the "normal"--and we see Rufus at "peak monster" when he has lied to Alice about selling their children in order to manipulate her to do what he wants. He is also at his lowest at this point, contemplating suicide--he sees himself (to some small extent, perhaps) as the monster he has become. Tom wouldn't have cared enough to manipulate Alice in this way. The head-games aspect takes Rufus over the line into "monster."
ReplyDeleteAs much as the reader wants to like Rufus (we meet him when he's just a kid), he lacks the emotional maturity to be in any sort of relationship. He is toxic, both to Dana and Alice, and as you mentioned, is prone to hurting others whenever he feels hurt. I agree with you and Stefania – he realizes that slaves are not inferior, but he refuses to make any change because having them enslaved benefits him. To me, that makes him a worse person than his father, because at least Tom doesn't decide to keep slaves with the same mindset Rufus does.
ReplyDeleteFor sure. I'd also add that Tom Weylin is also pretty problematic in some other ways. He physically abuses and berates his son practically every time the two interact. Tom doesn't care about his wife and he treats Rufus as an annoying burden on his life. In his childhood Rufus develops an inferiority complex and a hatred towards his father. Besides Dana and Kevin's marriage, he is never exposed to what a healthy relationship can look like. Even taking all of this into consideration, in no way are Rufus's actions justified. Rufus is also a complete narcissist - the only time he ever feels any sense of remorse for his actions is if it stops people from liking him.
ReplyDeleteAs you analyzed, Dana's influence on Rufus has a very interesting impact on his behavior, especially in comparison to his father. But for the sake of discussion, I wonder if Rufus would have been easier to deal with if he was just like his father. With this added influence of Dana, Rufus becomes a lot more volatile, emotional, and unpredictable than his father, which leads to multiple tragedies. Although he would be less "human" and more cruel and calculating like his father, could he be more predictable?
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think although Rufus may seem more human to us, that doesn't make him better than his father by any means. I think that Rufus might be given the illusion that he is better than his father because the story is told through the point of view of Dana. Dana has a very biased view of Rufus, so he may be conveyed as a better person than he actually is and I think you do a good job of exposing that in this post.
ReplyDeleteRufus' treatment of his mother is a great example of how his selfish, manipulative and greedy nature isn't just a "product of his time", because there's no societal backing saying he has to be an uncaring asshole towards his own mother, and yet, that's exactly what he does.
ReplyDeleteIt was also mentioned that Rufus burned down a stable as a child because his father sold away a horse he wanted down. That seemed notable to me to as well, because that was some very concerning behavior being exhibited when Rufus was still very young (and it wasn't even race-related, just Rufus deciding to commit some casual arson because he didn't get what he wanted). The racial norms and culture of the time definitely played a part in forming the person Rufus turned into, but I don't think it was the only thing - there was already a baseline there. Maybe if Rufus had been raised by kinder parents in the modern day, carefully guided away from his more manipulative and selfish tendencies, he would've come out a kinder person.
I think the reason Rufus is like this is because he constantly has a conflict of ideals going on inside of him, between Dana's modern views and his current time periods' values. Regardless of why he is like this though, I do think that Rufus was undeniably worse for the slaves. Tom Weylin was definitely more "fair." On a related note, I always found this to be a bit strange, referring to Tom as a "fair" man. What does being fair even mean in the context of slavery?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I agree that Rufus is completely evil, but I certainly agree that he is much more volatile than his father. Tom was cold, calculated, and evil but Rufus seems more difficult to diagnose for me. He seems to care, he seems to want to make connections, but his father's influence is undeniable. To me, he seems more like a messed up, idiotic teenagers who hasn't learned how to deal with his emotions. That being said, I absolutely don't expect that Rufus would be taught all of this. In a different environment, I would like to give Rufus the benefit of the doubt and say he might have become a better person.
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