Today we have to analyze "The Fight", which is the next chapter from Kindred by Octavia E. Butler. what am suppose to do is explain whether Rufus Weylin is different or just an alteration of his father Tom Weylin.
I personally think that Rufus is just an alteration of his father for the following reasons: First of all, Tom Weylin is a cruel a man who has no mercy for the slaves of the hold house. He sees them as objects for profit and he would never change his mind about what he feels toward black people, he believes that they are inferior and also that they must not be educated. This is because he is very uneducated himself and he doesn't want black people feeling superior or better than him. He also treats his son as another slave, he beats him to endorse his character which has caused that Rufus sees this actions as normal.
Even though Dana has a lot of influence on Rufus we can see that his actions toward slaves still being the same of any other slave owner in the 1800. One clear example, is when Rufus rapes Alice, which is the same reaction that his father would have toward an slave woman. Rufus seems not to care so much about what Dana is trying to teach him. The influence of his father and the environment around him, hasn't allowed Dana to change Rufus attitudes and actions toward slaves completely. he starts to act more demanding with Dana which is another expect of his father's behavior.
I chose this picture related to the scene where Rufus and Isaac have a fight. here is the link of the picture:
http://thesixteenthminute.wordpress.com/2007/12/09/the-sweet-science-%E2%80%93-analyzing-the-data-for-the-mayweather-v-hatton-fight/
As you will see in later chapters, Rufus is a bit more complex than this, but perhaps up we could consider him a version of his dad.
ReplyDelete