Rufus' Struggle to Become Better

In Octavia Butler's Kindred, Rufus strives to become a better man, but the quality of becoming power hungry evolves in him. Rufus as a little boy is brainwashed by his father and proves this by stating, "You could go outside and hide until morning. Then you could come out and ask daddy if you could work here. He hires free niggers sometimes" (Butler 31). Rufus is brought up through Tom Weylin's principal and is constantly exposed to the way the plantation is run. These methods are persistently uncivil, harsh, and cruel. Furthermore, as Rufus becomes a teenage boy and falls in love with a free African American girl named Alice, he "[got] possession of [Alice] without having to bother with her husband" and "cut off [her husband's] ears" (Butler 149). Despite distinguishing the pain he inflicts, he rapes Alice, the woman he loves, and if denied, he uses force and coercion. As he grows older, Rufus comes to be a harmful and brutal man and continues to get what he desires. Finally, as Dana attempts to get away from Rufus "his hold went from caressing to imprisoning" (Butler 259). As their relationship progresses he becomes more and more dependent on her and longs for her love. When Dana doesn't return it he attempts to rape and enslave her, because of his self-aggrandizing manner. Throughout the novel, Rufus Weylin develops into a selfish and controlling man who resorts to aggression and brutality when circumstances do not work out as per his objective.