Initially, Rufus felt affection towards Alice and sought advice and learning from Dana, but in a way, we could predict his shift of affection to Dana after Alice's suicide since he felt no grief or sense of guilt after her death, and wanting a partner, saw Dana as his only option. Rufus' power affects both Dana and Alice in the same way, and although they see themselves as being extremely different in their influences and existence, they lack control of their bodies and are under direct and absolute control of Rufus. Alice initially attempts to leave alongside Isaac, therefore resisting Rufus, just as Dana kills him in the end as the only option of resisting his sexual assaults on her. Kevin and Dana's relationship is looked upon favorably by Rufus at first, and he claims that he wishes to live in a different time period so that he could marry Alice, yet in their "relationship", it becomes apparent that Rufus prefers to have complete control in a vastly different way from the small power imbalance in Kevin and Dana's relationship.
Monday, April 14, 2014
A Comparison of Rufus' relationships to Dana and Alice
Throughout the novel, we have seen how Rufus, who has become a product of his environment and has been given power and control over Alice such that he can rape and beat her with no consequences, has stressed that he feels true love towards Alice, yet, even though society is somewhat to blame for his actions, at a certain point the reader fully realizes that Rufus has a personality flaw and has never matured from a child. After Alice's suicide, he therefore feels that he can shift his "love" to Dana, who in a similar way to Alice, has been allowing him to act in vicious ways with little consequences (as allowed by the society, which permits Rufus to sexually assault Dana at the end of the novel).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I don't know--Rufus's sudden turn of attention toward Dana could be read as *evidence* of his grief over Alice, as he doesn't seem quite in his right mind. Remember that we see him contemplating suicide when Dana first reappears, and he is stricken with a profound guilt over how badly he's botched the situation. He attempts to make amends by signing for his children's freedom (a BIG deal, which is what he'd promised Alice he'd do). He's got this idea that Dana and Alice are interchangeable ("two sides of the same woman"), and in his grief, he "forgets himself" and turns toward Dana. It's far from a rational or sober decision.
ReplyDeleteOr is this too charitable toward Rufus? The overall tone is still tragic, as he HAS been made into a monster by his times.