Will Rufus become a redheaded Tom?

            Author’s note: This blog post is based on readings up to the end of The Storm. If more evidence shows up later, I’ll probably update it.

            In what I’ve read of Kindred, Rufus has grown up from being a toddler to a twenty-something who owns a plantation. Dana’s visits, which happen about every five years, give glimpses into his development. At her first substantive visit, when Rufus is eight or nine, a couple things stand out. He talks well, and seems fairly bright. He is well-attuned with what is going on in his world, especially the dangers of crossing Daddy. And he commits crimes but doesn’t seem to realize (or care) that they’re wrong. He burned down the stable, but when he talks about it (at the bottom of page 25), he dismisses it with “Anyway, I got mad and burned down the stable”. He burned the curtains because Daddy whipped him for stealing a dollar (about $15 in today’s money). He’s a little scamp now, but if he could be guided onto the straight and narrow, he could turn out well.

            Unfortunately, he isn’t. On Dana’s next visit, Rufus is pretty much the same. The one after that, he’s about eighteen and pretty much the same, but he can no longer be referred to as a little scamp because he’s just raped Alice. But from his point of view, raping a black woman isn’t any worse than the other things he’s done. The biggest change in his personality is that he is now very manipulative. He’s also gotten attached to Dana, and will do anything to stop her from leaving, including shooting her. At this point, Dana compares him unfavorably to Tom Weylin, who used to be the evil whipping Daddy who was a common enemy to both her and Rufus.

            Dana’s most recent visit, when Tom Weylin dies, provides a bit of hope. While recovering from dengue fever, Rufus is like he was before. But after he inherits the plantation, he settles down. He still regularly rapes Alice (as Tom did with Tess), but he seems to think of the resulting children as more than slaves. He doesn’t seem to lie or manipulate. Now Dana’s main objection is that he is doing what Tom used to do: treat the slaves as property, buying and selling them without regard for who they are. It’s the revulsion at this behavior that causes Dana to try forcing herself to go home for the first time. He’ll certainly keep doing that; it’s what slaveholders at the time do. That’s how the economy works. He’s on track to be just like his father, which makes sense.

But will he not think like his father? Will his relationship with Alice extend at least a little to the other slaves? I’d say no. When his personality changed, it was to become more like Tom Weylin when he took over the plantation. Tom Weylin commit petty crimes, lie, or have slaves as friends, so Rufus won’t either.
Update: In the last chapter, Rufus does free his kids, but then Dana kills him. He probably wouldn't have survived much longer anyway, since Alice's death seems to have taken a lot off from his sanity.