Role of Alice
Something that intrigued me about Kindred, was the sort of singular focus on Dana's lineage in position to Rufus. Of course, he was rather more prone to near-death experiences, but ostensibly Alice was close a few times, and it's important to recognize that this is a deliberate choice that the author made: to make her tied to Rufus, and not Alice, exclusively so far as we know. And she leaves the realm as he dies, not Alice, and he takes a part of her with him. Throughout the course of the novel, her allegiances lie with Rufus despite herself. She rues her inability to fully hate him, unlike Alice, who has had the same historic childhood bond with him.
The question at hand is why, and I think the answer must be something more than just merely that he is her ancestor. She has a love for him, one that surpasses reason, and one that is not visible with Alice. The book takes care to emphasize this bond as something sick and distorted, and reflects it in both Rufus and Dana's mind upon Rufus' relationship with Alice, something she protests against, noting Dana's passive acceptance and Rufus' unwillingness to harm her. When Alice dies, however, Rufus turns to Dana, someone he views as her mirror, and attempts to rape her. She then kills him, a final breach of their contract. Here a distinct layer of difference exists. Dana holds just enough power to love Rufus, and little enough that that love rests on towers of shattering glass. She exists on the fine layer between reality and fiction, she drifts in and out and has a sort of magic, a sort of hold, but not one that transcends the racial violence of the time. This final scene likely means to destroy any empathy the reader might have been harboring for Rufus, showing exactly how Rufus, a willing function of the society that he lived in, would leave no boundaries defined, viewing a black woman as an object that was his to take. Still, this does not exactly explain why this story focuses so singularly on Rufus.
Anotber obvious explanation would be that this servers as the easiest way to catalyze the plot while displaying the complex relationship between the ancestor of rape and her forefather, between a slaveowner and his black descendant, but then her relative ignorance of Alice would be wholly unnecessary. Perhaps it is a bit of a subliminal commentary on the phenomenon of the oppressed identifying with their oppressors when given a bit of power. She finds herself being judgemental to and at odds with the other slaves, them considering her a little too close with Rufus and a little too comfortable. I think that is a significant trend and tool for perpetuating systems of oppression, and a powerful message, but I'm not entirely sure what exactly it means. I positited a few ideas, but if anyone has any ideas, feel free to leave them! It could indeed merely be a powerful narrative device.
I feel like its defo more so about the complexity of how she has to process her history, as you mentioned in the last paragraph, more so than the fact that she's his grandx10 daughter or whatnot. Throughout the story she has to struggle with the fact of her family history, the circumstances that they come from, overall contrasting with her relationship with Kevin and how those circumstances apply. So the fact that her family line basically started, to her known knowledge, with systemic rape, is hard for her to process, thus the internal struggle of this book. nice post!
ReplyDeleteI've never really thought much about why the story connects Dana with Rufus rather than with Alice, both of which are equally her ancestors. I don't think I agree though that Dana is judgmental and non-loving towards Alice. I think she feels a deep level of compassion and care for her, while at times questioning some decisions. I definitely don't agree that she is more hostile towards the other slaves than she is towards Rufus. However it is an interesting topic to contemplate. I almost feel like connecting her with Alice feels a bit too obvious, and connected Dana with Rufus, a white slaveholder is a much more complicated relationship. She is in a more messy and hard place with Rufus and it makes for a more interesting narrative.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting take, especially the part about their love resting on a tower of glass. All it took for Dana to kill Rufus was for him to betray her (truly betray her directly by attempting to rape her), which then led to Dana killing him and thus destroying their relationship. As soon as something disrupted the tower of glass, it all shattered. Great post!
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