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Life In The Antebellum South Analysis

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Life In The Antebellum South Analysis
Dana thinks that being in the antebellum South feels more like home to her then her real home does. I think this is because she is becoming increasing disconnected to her life in 1976. Whenever Dana is home she is always staying inside because she is afraid she will be sent back to Rufus at any given moment. She sends her time waiting by reading about slavery and studying. Therefore, even when she is “home” she is totally and completely consumed by her life in 1815.
When Kevin returns to 1976 after five years in the antebellum South he states, “I wonder how people just out of prison manage to readjust.” Kevin, 197
It’s true that 1815 Maryland is difficult for everyone, including white men. However, if he, a white male, felt like he had been in a prison-like environment than he had no idea what Dana must have felt like, because she had to readjust after being a slave. In addition, it’s almost as though he is supposing or even just accounting for the fact that owning slaves should have been a crime punishable by prison time… Even just being a man in that society and contributing at all by being aggressive towards women or slaves was horrible… so existing in that time as someone with as much power as he had had could make him a criminal by association. This makes sense because in order to fit in there he had to change the way he …show more content…
At that point, Alice is dead, and he doesn’t see a lot of reason to live anyway. He is overcome by his need to control her and make her feel his love. In addition, this happens right before he and Dana have a big conversation in which it becomes obvious to him that Dana doesn’t want to come back to him, she wants to abandon him and will do so whenever she has the option to. This is why Rufus attacks her, he knows this could be his last chance to have her and his greatest fear, that of abandonment, is now unavoidable whether he rapes her or
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