Selfishness and Comment Shows Rufus - 1037 Words

In the book Kindred, there are many characters that are interesting. One reason this is true, is because the book forwards through time very fast and we see many characters go from infantile to grown adult. One character that changed throughout the story was Rufus Weylin. His development was incredibly interesting because the story somewhat revolves around what he does or what is happening to him. We see him as a very young child to a twenty five year old adult. In this story, Rufus is the most interesting because he develops from a young impressionable child, to a selfish man influenced highly by the antebellum South and other things. First off, when we get the first glimpse into Rufus the boy he is burning his drapery to get attention†¦show more content†¦His ultimate step into becoming a plantation owner was with his father passing, and now he was far from the person that said he would never sell a slave. His authority is really noticeable when he says, â€Å"You walk away from me, Dana, you’ll be back in the fields in an hour!...Don’t you ever walk away from me again!† At this point his threats aren’t him whining like when he was a child, he meant it. Rufus’ character develops a lot near the end of the book as we realize his feelings toward Dana all to clearly. In the middle of the night he approaches Alice and Dana and says, â€Å"You really are only one woman. Did you know that?† Rufus had Alice for his physical needs and Dana for his emotional. We start to see that Dana wasn’t just his friend; he needed to have her, no matter what. His jealously became clear when he sold the slave Sam for just speaking to Dana. He said, â€Å"He wanted you†¦he wanted you.† He then says to Dana, â€Å"Your so much like her, I can hardly stand it.† Rufus’ relationship with Dana had gone from friendship and understanding to Rufus wanting more and he aimed to have it. When we see that Rufus was allowing his son to call him daddy finally it was reminder of his humanity. We see that in some ways he was still good, and not racked with intense emotions. However, his humane side diminishes slowly with his i rrational wants, desires and need for affection. Rufus’ character is interesting because of his development