There's still one question that lingers in my mind after reading Kindred. If Rufus and Alice lived in a different time, say 1976 like Dana and Kevin, would they have been able to have a real relationship? I completely believe that time and environment have a major effect on society. Can a white man and a black woman have a relationship, be in love with one another, marry? Yes, absolutely! But it hasn't always been seen that way. That's not to say that interracial couples didn't exist at certain points in history, it's just that they were looked down upon on society, seen as immoral or wrong. So, because of that, to an extent I feel like Rufus and Alice could've had a fine relationship in a different time. Perhaps Rufus wouldn't treat her as badly because he wouldn't have been brought up in a racist household. Perhaps the relationship would've been less abusive. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps...but some people would disagree with all of my "perhaps." They would argue that to see if the relationship could work in a different time, you have to examine it outside of time.
By looking at Rufus and Alice's relationship outside of time, we see them as people, and only that. They're not products of nature or products of nurture. We simply see who they are and how they interact. Theoretically, by looking at purely their relationship and love interests, we could set them down in any time and expect the same results.
So. Rufus and Alice outside of time. What do we see?
Well, for starters, it is clear that Alice's heart lies elsewhere. She chose a man other than Rufus: Isaac. Alice and Isaac were in love, and had even gotten married. Alice chose and went to Isaac completely on her own free will, and when she was with him, it never seemed like anything was wrong between the two of them. That relationship seemed to be an equal and loving one. Rufus and Alice on the other hand..the love is forced. Rufus obviously cares for Alice, but doesn't know how to show it, and indeed he never truly learns how to express his affection for her. Alice, in turn, feels out of place in the relationship. There is definite tension between the two, and whether that comes from unresolved feelings or forced romance is anyone's guess. Though Rufus and Alice may have been close friends when they were younger, it is clear that their feelings changed as they grew older.
And yet, I still can't help but think that even if we look at Rufus and Alice outside of time, we're still seeing the effects of their society. For instance, does Rufus not know how to show Alice that he loves her simply because he's never seen a white man express love for a black woman? The entire idea is so unthinkable and socially repugnant to him that it ends up being a very confusing experience for him? And maybe that divide in childhood stemmed from their racial, and thus social, differences. Who's to say that in another time, they would've remained just as close as adults as they had been as children?
Trying to get thoughts like these out makes my head hurt. It's so difficult to separate people from their society, culture, and time period, that I am quite clear of. Whether or not Rufus and Alice could have a successful relationship in another time? That question remains unanswered.
To complicate the conundrum further, yes, Alice chose Isaac--but, since she and Rufus have known each other since childhood, if a relationship with him (on equal terms) were "thinkable" for her, she might have chosen differently, too. The idea of "marriage" even to a white man as familiar and generally friendly to her as Rufus would be unthinkable to her for similar reasons that it would be unthinkable for Rufus's father to accept his son's "love" for Alice. This is one of those hypothetical questions that is interesting to spin around, but it ultimately has no answer.
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