When Dana first meets Rufus in Maryland, her reaction to the way he interacts with her is typical of her 1970s self - most of us would've responded the way in response to Rufus's language. He calls her the n-word and tells her to refer to him as master, something she understandably feels incredibly uncomfortable with, given that she's a woman in her 20s and he's a child. She tells him not to call her that and that it's not acceptable, something that Rufus accepts somehow. At least when Rufus is a child from that point onward, they seem to have a healthy relationship where Rufus has some love and respect for Dana and in a way, Dana is able to maintain her idealism.
Rufus soon becomes a man however and society around him makes him aware of the sheer amount of power that he has being a white male slaveowner. Rufus starts to emotionally manipulate Dana and treats her more like his slave than anything by making sure the threat of him selling her away always looms over her head. Rufus however still does have some love for Dana - when he threatens her at gunpoint to make sure she doesn't ride off with Kevin on horseback away from the plantation, he is trying to intimidate her because he has been taught that black women are nothing but property for him (similar to why he buys Alice out of freedom) but there is also some affection in his voice. Rufus does have some level of love for both Dana and Alice but he has to mask that because he is not allowed to love them in the world they exist in. He can rape them and abuse them and have children with them but he cannot have any sort of affection for them. Dana's hopes in his childhood that she can change him and make him not another Tom Weylin seem to have backfired and have made Rufus in ways, worse than Tom Weylin himself. While Weylin was direct about his apathy towards his slaves and they always knew what to expect, Rufus's psyche has been complicated by what Dana has introduced to him, that the kind of behavior he sees everywhere is not okay, and the society around him that reinforces the exact opposite. Rufus is a slavemaster that tries to love, even when the two are contradictory. Rufus tries to love the woman who he bought out of freedom and expects her to reciprocate love when he is essentially raping her and every night is hell for her. We can see Dana starting to accept some of this as well. Part of this because she too has some stake in this story - Rufus and Dana's union is the reason why she exists centuries down the line. However, we see her again and again trying to cajole Alice into going to Rufus's room, not giving her many options and at some points, being completely apathetic to Alice's situation. 1970's Dana would've been outraged but after years of being in Maryland, Dana has almost accepted that this is a way of life.
In the last scene of the novel, when Rufus is about to rape Dana, we see her again in her head trying to justify this. He smells good! However, she is finally able to fight this off and stabs Rufus, allowing herself to escape from this nightmare. Can we say Dana has fully succumbed to 19th century values? No. But along with her arm, she lost some of her idealism and naivete in Maryland. The little hope that she had that her family was made out of a loving and consensual relationship is shattered, as does the history of slavery to most who are unfamiliar with its horrors. Except this time, Dana has actually experienced it.
I think that the point of Rufus being worse than Weylin is interesting, and I think that it really doesn't come out until Alice. While his intentions are very different from Weylin's, definitely more humanizing of the slaves, his actions actually end up worse. Weylin raped slaves too just like Rufus, but something that I realized was that the slaves under Weylin still, if nothing else, at least had their families and their own relationships. Rufus took not only Alice's freedom and autonomy, but also perhaps the only thing that other slaves still had at times, which was their partners and love. (of course, Weylin absolutely also separated families, but Rufus taking away one of the only good things Alice could have still have, in the name of love, just feels even more disgusting)
ReplyDeleteThese early negotiations around the N-word are a useful and interesting way to frame this progression you decribe: initially, she imposes her modern sensibilities on Rufus, and he agrees to accommodate her (in their "special" relationship; he makes no promises to discontinue his own use of the word). But later in the novel, she passively accepts (and silently resents) when Tom Weylin uses the word to refer to her, or later Margaret. At this point, the word refers to the "role" she is playing, and the degree to which she gets "used to it" reflects how far the role has become reality.
ReplyDeleteSeeing Rufus as a young child and watching him grow causes Dana to connect with him in ways she wouldn't normally with any other slave master. Additionally, due to most of her own time being spent in Rufus' time, waiting to return again, or healing from the mental and physical traumas of these trips, Dana feels that her home is now Rufus' timeline rather than her own, thereby allowing her to deeply resonate with these people. However, they only see Dana over large periods of time, meaning their relationship with her isn't as well founded. Dana's distortion of time, when combined with her wishful thinking, impacts how she treats Rufus and excuses his harmful behaviors.
ReplyDeleteIn some way, Rufus and Dana are both children at the beginning of the novel. Dana has just been thrust into an unfamiliar world, and she doesn't even realize that she's time travelled until she starts talking with Rufus. She understands some aspects of the past but hasn't fully experienced the reality of slavery. Their first interactions feel somewhat promising--Rufus actually listens when Dana asks him to change his way, though Butler shatters any hope of a healthy relationship by the end of the novel. I think this dynamic reflects the nature of slavery itself. White and Black kids grew up together as near equals. By the time they became adults, these people settled into their roles, which means that people owned, exploited and dehumanized close childhood friends.
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult to categorize Rufus' and Dana's relationship simply because of how complicated their situation is. Like you said, early on, Rufus seems to have quite a lot of respect and love for Dana, but as the book progresses, we see just how much Rufus' surroundings affect him. He becomes more and more like his father and sees the power he holds. I think Dana had quite a ridiculous hope of affecting change in Rufus simply because he spent way more time without her. Good post!
ReplyDeleteHer time in the 19th century has most definitely changed Dana in more ways than one. As you mentioned, she not only lost her arm, but some of her idealism and naivete as well. It makes one wonder what her life will be like in the present, having gone through the experience of slavery. Will the behaviors and way of thinking she learned as a slave stick with her and affect her as she tries to continue her life in modern times? Although we will never know for sure (since the novel ends before that point), the extent to which Dana was affected from spending only a small portion of her life as a slave shows just how effective the slave narrative was in permeating the lives, personalities, and mindset of African Americans.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a really nice job tracing how Dana's time in the past changes her. One thread that emerges in a lot of the scenarios you discuss is that as Dana loses her naivete, she also increasingly understands the extent of her powerlessness to prevent the cruelty inflicted on both her and those around her. In the first scene you discuss, it doesn't even occur to her that she wouldn't have the authority over Rufus, a child, to stop him from using a slur, but as the layers of safety net are stripped away, she realizes that there are no simple choices in slavery.
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