Alice's Husband Isaac example essay topic
There was no shame in raping a black woman, but there could be shame in loving one. Dana is brought back for the fourth time and this time five years has passed. The Rufus she sets eyes on is now 19 and was beaten badly by Alice's husband Isaac. Rufus tells Dana, with anger in his voice, that Isaac and Alice will be apprehended eventually and when the time comes he " ll buy Alice and let them sell Isaac.
Dana is shocked and bewildered by his comments. She sees that her past attempts to make him a better man has had no affect on who he has become today. He has turned out exactly like his father or possibly even worse. This quotation reveals a lot about who Rufus has become and what is acceptable in his time period.
Rufus has three of the most powerful qualities. He is white, a male, and a slave owner. Anyone that has these qualities is allowed to believe that they are powerful enough to demand anything. Because he feels this powerful he disregards Alice's sacred bond to her husband and attempts to rape her. In the back of his mind he knows that even if the rape is unsuccessful and it doesn't go his way he " ll still have her later.
Everything is to his advantage. His social standing is high, the law is on his side, and the woman he wants is black, so she is not even considered a person. She is not a person but seen more as an object that can be attainable at any moment, an object that Rufus can attain at any moment. Rufus loves her and to her ill luck she will be the one punished. Not only will she be violated body and mind but she will be stripped of the one person she loves, her husband Isaac.
Rufus's only concern is not able to have Alice and I also think because of that fear of not getting what he wants it motivates him to want her even more. Dana observes that raping a black woman is not seen as a crime. It has become an act that has generally been accepted in their society. What I hope will happen is for Rufus to evolve into the man Dana knows he is capable to be.
A good man, a man that can see pass the color black and see the person for who they are. He is capable of being a man that can treat his slaves not so much as equals, because it is unacceptable in society, but with some respect and acknowledgement as a human being. What I hope will happen is that after Rufus becomes that good man and his good intentions will shine through when interacting with Alice. She ends up seeing him as a changed man, falls in love with him, and bears his children. What I think will actually happen is that Rufus does not change. He will stay the way society has molded him to become.
Unable to woe Alice and make her reciprocate the "love" he has for her. He will then force her to bear his children. One way or another he will get Alice. He might not get her to love him like he "loves" her but he will impregnate her thus starting Dana's family line. I'm not so much appalled by Rufus's tate ment because things like that occur all the time in the present.
The rich and powerful want something done they get it done. It has and always will be how society is run. Knowing the things that I have known from history I understand why it is acceptable for a slave to conceive a child from a white man but why a white woman cannot conceive a child from a slave. It is because, in a patriarchal society, the status of the child goes with the mother's side.
If the mother is free so is the child. It was more profitable to have the child obtain the status of the mother because it was usually the a female slave who bore an illegitimate child and so the white male would not be responsible for that child and will actually be adding to the number of slaves they own.