Submitting to the South

Dana’s perspective on the south has changed rapidly throughout the novel, from one of complete disgust to a remarkable acceptance of it. This change can be seen from when she goes back in time to the south for a second time, to save Rufus from burning down the house. Here, she is rendered completely distraught by Rufus’s racist language and refuses to act as a slave, even for her own safety. However this refusal will not last and the next time she goes back she finds herself working as a slave. Still she does display resistance to this, primarily through her reading. As she reads to Rufus and Nigel, even though slave literacy is illegal at the time. She continues to do this even when Mr. Weylin orders her to stop, indicating her refusal to let the south break her.

Sadly, the south does manage to break this part of her resolve even if it was the result of a beating rather than her acceptance. The next time she comes back she slides right back into the role of slave, this time without the support of Kevin. She even goes beyond just accepting her role, to effectively promoting, when she convinces Alice to accept Rufus. Even though she was doing this for more personal reasons rather than Rufus’s order, it still shows how she has had given up on fighting the south. Intriguingly, in The Storm we see that she starts to fight back and argue with Rufus over how he treats Alice. This makes me question what will happen in the end, will Dana still be fighting or will she submit to the South?

[Edit]

Woops forgot to post this Monday. And I guess she doesn’t submit, considering that she kills Rufus.