Text: Kindred, by Octavia Butler.
"I was reading to him. I had been reading to him regularly since his father caught me that first time. Tom Weylin didn't want me reading on my own, but he ordered me to read to his son. Once he had told Rufus in my presence, "You ought to be ashamed of yourself! A nigger can read better than you!'
"She can read better than you too," Rufus had answered. His father had stared at him coldly, then ordered me out of the room. For a second I was afraid for Rufus, but Tom Weylin left the room with me. "Don't go to him again until I say you can," he told me. (Butler 102)
Critical Questions: How does Dana's educated and liberal background affect her relationships with the people she have encountered in the days of slavery in the 1800's?
Analysis: The fact that Dana had the ability to read and write, intimidates Weylin. Dana proved to be quite different in the eyes of the whites, due to being 20th century oriented where the norm is that blacks are seen as an equal. To be literate is a luxury even to whites during that time period, and for a black woman who is supposed to be a slave, knowing how to read, ultimately gives herself a type of unspeakable power. Tom Weylin beats his slaves for minor insubordination and when crossed he can be impudent and violent. He suspects that there is not much that he knows about the world, however he deeply fears the unknown. Thus, after questioning Dana's "odd" behaviour, and how Rufus essentially embarrassed him, he realised that his son was speaking the awful truth and that sparked the violent flame inside him and further encouraged him to take advantage of the status of being "white", as his only defense mechanisms to protect his authority.
"I was reading to him. I had been reading to him regularly since his father caught me that first time. Tom Weylin didn't want me reading on my own, but he ordered me to read to his son. Once he had told Rufus in my presence, "You ought to be ashamed of yourself! A nigger can read better than you!'
"She can read better than you too," Rufus had answered. His father had stared at him coldly, then ordered me out of the room. For a second I was afraid for Rufus, but Tom Weylin left the room with me. "Don't go to him again until I say you can," he told me. (Butler 102)
Critical Questions: How does Dana's educated and liberal background affect her relationships with the people she have encountered in the days of slavery in the 1800's?
Analysis: The fact that Dana had the ability to read and write, intimidates Weylin. Dana proved to be quite different in the eyes of the whites, due to being 20th century oriented where the norm is that blacks are seen as an equal. To be literate is a luxury even to whites during that time period, and for a black woman who is supposed to be a slave, knowing how to read, ultimately gives herself a type of unspeakable power. Tom Weylin beats his slaves for minor insubordination and when crossed he can be impudent and violent. He suspects that there is not much that he knows about the world, however he deeply fears the unknown. Thus, after questioning Dana's "odd" behaviour, and how Rufus essentially embarrassed him, he realised that his son was speaking the awful truth and that sparked the violent flame inside him and further encouraged him to take advantage of the status of being "white", as his only defense mechanisms to protect his authority.
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