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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 4 page paper which examines the way the relationship between the main characters changes throughout the novel. No additional sources are used.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGdanruf.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
past and present. The novel opens in 1976 Los Angeles and offers a glimpse into the lives of Edana (Dana) Franklin, a black woman who recently married the Caucasian
Kevin. Their lives are completely disrupted when Dana must travel back in time to the nineteenth century in order to save the life of her ancestor, Rufus Weylin, the
son of a slaveholder, in order to preserve her family line. The novel is described through Danas first-person narrative, and when she first crosses paths with this boy, she
is unaware of their connection to each other. She recalled, "Before me was a wide tranquil river, and near the middle of that river was a child splashing, screaming...
Drowning!... He was unconscious by the time I reached him - a small, red-haired boy floating, face down... Rufus. Ugly name to inflict on a reasonably nice-looking little kid"
(Butler 13-14). Dana revives Rufus, which begins their co-dependent relationship. Suddenly, Dana comes to realize that she must serve as his protector not only for his sake but also
for her own. She remarked, "Was that why I was here? Not only to insure the survival of one accident-prone small boy, but to insure my familys survival,
my own birth" (29). Through the next several years, Dana returns to the Weylin plantation several times and does what she can for Rufus. But she realizes she
is faced with a formidable task - to exert a positive influence on the child so he will not inflict the same abuse upon her race as his forefathers had.
She perceptively notes, "I thought of Rufus and his father, of Rufus becoming his father... Someday Rufus would own the plantation. Someday he would be the slaveholder... I
...