Kindred on Interracial Relationships. Do We Support Kevin?
Let's say you have a scale, like typical 1 to 10. On the bottom is that big red frowny face and at the top it gets better, and the game is place the white man. Rufus is somewhat ambiguous, but as the book goes on it just gets worse and worse. He acts out of “love”, but those actions include abuse and sexual assault, yet some are inclined to sympathise with him and his conditions. It feels like we are watching him slowly turn into his father, yet it pulled at my heart meeting the kid who faces abuse from his father “He turned and pulled up his shirt so that I could see the crisscross of long red welts… ‘He said I took money from his desk, and I said I didn’t.’ Rufus shrugged” (20). He’s not a one because that would be somebody evil to their core, but, he might be a three or a two. I think Kindred draws a really interesting contrast with Kevin. He has his moments, good and bad, and on the scale would be the inverse of Rufus, not perfect but maybe around a seven. No, a ten isn’t som...