The Importance of Rufus’s Aging in Kindred
In Kindred Dana and Rufus are both stuck in a time-travel paradox, in which Dana repeatedly gets sent back in time to safe Rufus, her ancestor. Due to their unique circumstances, Rufus and Dana seem to share a mutual relationship of trust. On her second trip to the past, when Dana saves Rufus from the fire, she feels a maternal instinct towards this young boy and wants to fix his horrific beliefs caused by the 1800s environment. However, throughout the book, Rufus’s personality declines significantly, exhibiting the effects of 1800 society. Every time that Dana is called back to the past to save Rufus, she is appalled at how much he has changed and how terrible of a person he has become. Dana quite literally went from being a maternal figure for Rufus to somebody that he attempted to rape when they became around the same age. Similar unbalanced relationships can additionally be seen through Rufus’s relationships with other slaves on the plantation. He was originally close friends with ...