Octavia Butler's Kindred

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is a collectively known phrase. That can also correspond with some people’s ideas of right and wrong and how they differ. The wrong thing is in the eye of the beholder. What one may think is terrible, another may think the opposite. What you believe is right and wrong can have a lot to do with your social surrounds. Rufus from the novel Kindred by Octavia Butler has a way different set of ethics than people in the present times. Although Rufus believes he is doing the right thing, I believe his social surrounds alter his definition of right and wrong into him not having the control of turning diabolical in his future. Unfortunately the odds were against Rufus in becoming a better man. Even though Rufus was molded from the start by Dana to become a better man than the ones in his time; he failed her. Dana’s presence made Rufus more reasonable, but that didn’t stop him from changing for the worse: “he’s all grown up now, and part of the system’” (Butler 223). Since Dana was not there all the time to teach him he got accustomed to the lifestyle of a typical, malicious white man: ‘“you don’t know your place better than a …show more content…
Rufus’ ruthlessness shined bright especially at the end of the novel. When Rufus encountered the power that being a slave-owner provided him he made some imprudent decisions: “a [slave] trader led Sam away in chains. Rufus never said a word to me” (Butler 238). He even pretended to sell his own children just to regain control over his children’s mother Alice: “He uses those children just the way you use a bit on a horse. I’m tired of havin’ a bit in my mouth.” (Butler 235). He succumbed to the ways of the other white men in his time and kept making rash decisions based on only his needs. Ultimately power and living in the harsh environment Rufus did corrupted him into turning into something ugly and a simple commodity of his