How is every person a unique individual? While some believe that DNA is the largest contributing factor in how a person will turn out, Rufus in Kindred proves that environment is more influential. Written by Octavia E.Butler, Kindred, takes place in both 1800s and 1970s. A black woman, Dana, travels back and forth through the times when her great-great-grandfather, Rufus, gets in danger. Since Rufus was raised by slave-owning environment, Dana attempts to prevent Rufus from being like his abusive father. Unfortunately, during these travels Dana sees Rufus mature into a brutal person. Rufus is a product of his environment, including his abusive yet overbearing family and the slave-accepting world he lives in, rather than his inborn nature.
Rufus’ abusive actions and his abusive father aren’t coincidence since Rufus was strongly influenced by his family. When Rufus hits Dana for the first time, Dana gets in shock and …show more content…
When Dana warned Rufus for using a word, “ nigger” towards black women, Rufus questioned, “Why not?”(25). Nobody has ever taught Rufus the real meaning of a word, “nigger”. Most of whites used the word because they viewed blacks as a separate and lower species from them. which was very common and accepted at the time. To show-off his want of Alice to Dana, Rufus compares Alice with Kevin by “You want Kevin the way I want Alice. And you had more luck than I did because no matter what happens now, for a while he wanted you too”(163). With a luck to be born in 1970s, Rufus’s life would have been very different. As Rufus admits, the time period when he was brought up had a large influence on his life. Not only in the way he acted but the opportunities he had. Because he lives in a society in which everyone accepts slavery, Rufus naturally does the same, without questioning why society is so cruel to a certain
Rufus’ abusive actions and his abusive father aren’t coincidence since Rufus was strongly influenced by his family. When Rufus hits Dana for the first time, Dana gets in shock and …show more content…
When Dana warned Rufus for using a word, “ nigger” towards black women, Rufus questioned, “Why not?”(25). Nobody has ever taught Rufus the real meaning of a word, “nigger”. Most of whites used the word because they viewed blacks as a separate and lower species from them. which was very common and accepted at the time. To show-off his want of Alice to Dana, Rufus compares Alice with Kevin by “You want Kevin the way I want Alice. And you had more luck than I did because no matter what happens now, for a while he wanted you too”(163). With a luck to be born in 1970s, Rufus’s life would have been very different. As Rufus admits, the time period when he was brought up had a large influence on his life. Not only in the way he acted but the opportunities he had. Because he lives in a society in which everyone accepts slavery, Rufus naturally does the same, without questioning why society is so cruel to a certain