Painfully Nurtured In Octavia Butler's Kindred

Painfully Nurtured
What makes a person mature is something that can be easily defined, even though it’s an abstract concept. For instance a person is not considered mature from the moment they’re born until they’re past the age of around twenty-one, and there’s all this scientific research showing why this is the case and so on and so forth. One could argue, however, that what makes a person mature isn’t how old they are, but how they were raised. So is the case with Rufus Weylin from Octavia Butler’s book Kindred. Due to traumatizing and recurring events in his childhood as well as a prominently misogynistic, racist, and unforgiving society, the hedonism that Rufus carries limits him to his Id, the instinctual part of him that prevents him

from becoming a mature adult.
Poor Rufus. He really had too many issues in his childhood to cope with and to function properly as an adult. One of his first traumatic incidents that stayed with him in his subconscious was when he almost drowned as a little kid. “I ran down to the river, waded into the water fully clothed, and swam quickly to the child. He was unconscious by the time I reached him—a small red-haired boy floating, face down.” (Butler, 13) For Rufus to have experienced such a near-death ordeal at such a young age, it’s unsurprising that it had an impact on his psyche in the long run. Another even that must have scarred him was when his father had whipped him for being disobedient. “‘Why did you set this fire?’ I asked. ‘To get even with your for something?’ ‘For hitting me. See?’ He turned and pulled up his shirt so that I could see the crisscross of long red welts. And I could see old marks, ugly scars of at least one much worse beating.” (Butler, 25) As much as there have been studies about the maturity of mankind, there have been many a study about the psychological damage beating a child does, and while I won’t go into too much detail lest I go off on a tangent, I will say that it causes a great deal of damage to the child. In Rufus’s case, he was beaten sometimes for the simplest excuses. “‘He said I took money from his desk, and I said I didn’t.’ Rufus shrugged. ‘He said I was calling him a liar, and he hit me.’” (Butler, 26) These kinds of treatments on Rufus’s psyche as a kid made an incredible impact on him as an adult. This allowed him to remain in his Id when he grew up, for that was the only form of problem solving he knew how to do based on his upbringing, as well as what he’d seen society do around him.
Anyone who denies that the 1800’s was a racist, misogynistic, and prejudiced time either doesn’t know all the facts or is simply a racist person. Slavery was the biggest issue in the 1800’s, and it’s led to many problems in today’s society that can’t be fixed with something as simple as a speech. Rufus grew up in the 1800’s, meaning he was subject to all of the ugly truths it presented, such as beating, raping, and killing black people just because they were black. A person can spew their mouth all they’d like about how they’re their own person and how they don’t let society affect them, but that’s simply not true. Society affects a person whether they want it to or not. It’s a subconscious thing, something that the mind does on its own without them having to tell it what to do. In Rufus’s case, he grew up in a time where all of the racism was legal, causing him not to bat an eyelash at the slightest bit of inequality. “I said nothing. I was beginning to realize that he loved the woman—to her misfortune. There was no shame in raping a black woman, but there could be shame in loving one.” (Butler, 124) Rufus’s actions towards Alice at the current time as well as later on in the book are a great example of how his society had affected him without his knowledge. If he couldn’t have Alice in her own time, he knew that nobody would breathe a word in protest if he took her without her consent, for that was the type of society they lived in.
Many times throughout the book, Rufus displays a great range of actions that allow a person to diagnose him with the character trait of hedonism: the pursuit of pleasure or sensual self-indulgence.

His upbringing caused him to be the type of person who would do whatever it took to get what they wanted, including threaten other people. His earliest example is of him talking to his mother, Margaret Weylin, when he was stuck in bed with a broken leg. “‘I don’t want no cake, Mama.’ ‘You sure? You ought to see the fine white icing Sarah put on it.’ ‘I want to hear Dana read, that’s all.’ ‘Well, there she is, reading. If you can call it that.’ I let my voice grow progressively softer as they talked. ‘I can’t hear her with you talking,’ Rufus said. ‘Baby, all I said was . . .’ ‘Don’t say nothing!’ Rufus took his head off her lap. ‘Go away and stop bothering me!’ . . . ‘You’d better be careful,’ I said. ‘What if your mother told your father you talked to her that way?’ ‘She never tells.’ He grinned. ‘She’ll be back after while to bring me a piece of cake with fine white icing.’ ‘She was crying.’ ‘She always cries. Read, Dana.’ ‘Do you talk to her that way often?’ ‘I have to, or she won’t leave me alone. Daddy does it too.’” (Butler, 103, 104) In this situation, Rufus knows exactly what to say and how to say it to manipulate his mother into getting what he wants. He wanted to hear Dana read, and he only got it after hurting his mother by yelling at her. Another one of the most memorable moments is when he persuades Dana to help him get Alice in bed. “‘Dana, listen to me!’ I turned to face him. ‘I heard you.’ ‘Well?’ ‘I can’t stop you from raping the woman, Rufe, but I’m not going to help you do it either.’ ‘You want her to get hurt?’ ‘Of course not. But you’ve already decided to hurt her, haven’t you?’ He didn’t answer.” (Butler, 163) By threatening to hurt Alice if Dana didn’t help him, Rufus is manipulating her to get what he wants. Dana knows what he’s doing as well, and

understands that if she doesn’t help Rufus get what he wants, Alice will be hurt instead of her.
All of these characteristics Rufus has speak to the fact that he’s hedonistic and stuck in his Id, the part of him that makes him act based on impulses and feelings rather than rational and logical decisions. The sad part is that Rufus could have grown to be a much better person had he not been raised in the wrong circumstances. The way he was raised as well as where he was raised played a part in his hedonism developing, causing him to be forever encased in the part of his mind that is his Id.