My
last blog post of the year. I would like to dedicate this last post not
only to my final thoughts on Libra, but also on the course as a whole
and what I’ve learned. After all the novels we’ve read, and the multiple
discussions we’ve had over them, I can honestly say my perception of
historical fiction has changed significantly.
After reading through Lee’s entire life in Libra,
I almost feel sorry for Lee. With higher powers pressuring him to
complete his job, it feels as if Lee is being forced to kill Kennedy.
Throughout the novel, Delillo never clearly explains why Lee does it in
the first place. It certainly isn’t that Lee is seething with anger
towards Kennedy about anything. At one point, as the day of Kennedy’s
assassination approaches, he almost doesn’t seem to want to do it, as
seen when he tries to convince Marina to move. Some people in class even
brought up how Lee might’ve been destined to be the assassin.
Delillo
does a nice job of reminding us of how Lee, despite being accused of
this crime, is still just a human being. He’s been a try-hard and
failure most of his life (even during the assassination, he messes up by
missing one of the shots). Looking at most of the photos of Lee, he
doesn’t even look monstrous at all, but rather looks like an awkward,
scrawny man.
Ragtime, Mumbo Jumbo, Slaughterhouse-Five, Kindred, and Libra.
All of these books have definitely changed my definition of historical
fiction. Prior to the course, I always thought of historical fiction as
creating a fictional character and plot within an actual period of time
and place in history. But there is so much more to it. It can be like Slaughterhouse-Five and Kindred,
in which the author uses time travel or plays with the chronology of
the plot line in order to express some sort of message. It can also be
like Ragtime or Libra, in
which the author used more extreme creative liberties by using actual
historical figures, and writing their own stories around these
characters. There isn’t a definition of what the historical fiction
genre is, which is a good thing because this course definitely opened me
up to those various definitions. Sure, novels like Mumbo Jumbo and Libra were
difficult to comprehend, but when is history ever easy to comprehend.
There is so much that goes on in history behind the scenes that we don’t
know about that we need a historical fiction genre to poke around. We
need to let our imaginations run rampant in order to hypothesize and
learn more about those specific historical periods we’re learning about.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Zapruder film reaction
Reading
my other classmates blogs, I found several people posting their
reactions to the Zapruder film. One blog entry that I found really
interesting was Nikita’s. In hers, she talked about whether there was a
purpose in studying the conspiracies behind the Kennedy assassination.
“Regardless of the what kind of plotting you think led up to the
assassination, doesn't it all add up to the same thing? Won't the
Zapruder film always end in exactly the same way?”.
As cynical of a view of history it is, and this is something Nikita does recognize, I certainly see what she is talking about. As I was reading through Libra, I, like most readers, already knew what was going to happen. Kennedy was going to get shot, and that was that. No matter what the real conspiracy plot is, whether Lee was coordinating the assassination with anyone else or not, won’t it all end up with Kennedy’s death?
Every time I see the Zapruder film, I always notice Kennedy’s head jerking, the blood splattering, Mrs. Kennedy and the Secret Service agent jumping onto the car. I understand with the "Yes, this is what it looks like to get shot" idea, but it’s the mystery, along with the lack of evidence that makes the assassination so intriguing.
I’m glad Nikita brought this up because it is something that comes up in the back of my mind whenever I hear about these conspiracy plots about the Kennedy assassination or any other historical mystery. Yet, it is our own curiosity and imagination that drives us to learn more about the assassination, much like Nicholas Branch. I can see where the obsession comes from. It’s not hard to wonder how many shots were taken? who and why they did it? The Zapruder film just adds another twist to the JFK assassination.
As cynical of a view of history it is, and this is something Nikita does recognize, I certainly see what she is talking about. As I was reading through Libra, I, like most readers, already knew what was going to happen. Kennedy was going to get shot, and that was that. No matter what the real conspiracy plot is, whether Lee was coordinating the assassination with anyone else or not, won’t it all end up with Kennedy’s death?
Every time I see the Zapruder film, I always notice Kennedy’s head jerking, the blood splattering, Mrs. Kennedy and the Secret Service agent jumping onto the car. I understand with the "Yes, this is what it looks like to get shot" idea, but it’s the mystery, along with the lack of evidence that makes the assassination so intriguing.
I’m glad Nikita brought this up because it is something that comes up in the back of my mind whenever I hear about these conspiracy plots about the Kennedy assassination or any other historical mystery. Yet, it is our own curiosity and imagination that drives us to learn more about the assassination, much like Nicholas Branch. I can see where the obsession comes from. It’s not hard to wonder how many shots were taken? who and why they did it? The Zapruder film just adds another twist to the JFK assassination.
Russia and Communism
In
one of our prompts we wrote the for class, the question was about Lee’s
stay in Soviet Russia. I wrote about how it was almost out of this
world during the 1950s. He enjoys being out in the town as this exotic
American and has interesting American ways that women find exotic. This
is one example of his naivety and bloated sense of himself, which is
something I want to further delve into.
Let’s start from Lee’s childhood. Growing up poor, Lee wasn’t the sharpest student in school. In fact he was dyslexic. He had a hard time reading simple English sentences, and he had an even harder time writing. Yet, when he first started spending more time at the library, he wanted to read books “that put him at a distance from his classmates, closed the world around him” (p. 33) .This spurred him into reading up on Marx’s The Communist Manifesto or Das Kapital. As Dellilo describes Lee,
These readings seemed to be the start of Lee being a Communist idealist. Lee wants to use the Defector Program to his advantage in order to serve as a spy defect. He gives up his American identity and secrets in order to defect to the Soviet Union and provide them any information to help them against the United States. For the Soviets, it is just too good to be true. While he wants to gain the attention of the Soviets, many of them, who seem to like Lee, are also skeptical of who he really is. Alek, the official who interrogates Lee about how passionate he is towards Communism, and about any details to the U-2 spy plane, begins to like Lee. At the end of the “In Moscow” chapter, Alek even gives him Soviet citizenship and work in Minsk so that he can become the Marxist he wants to be. While Alek does like him, at the end of the “In Moscow” chapter, “he [Alek] would recommend that surveillance be maintained, indefinitely, wherever the boy was sent” (p. 167). While Lee is driven by his fanaticism as a Communist, in reality, his life begins to go down the drain, even to the point where he cuts himself. After marrying Marina and having a child, he is forced to return to the US with her.
During his stay in Russia, Lee also kept journal entries of his time in Russia in what he calls “the Historic Diary”. Even as his words are jumbled, and his writing is nothing more than childish, Lee imagined that people would read his works, and would be moved by his struggles, much like he was when he read Marx’s works in the library. He wanted people to be “moved by his loneliness and disappointment” (p. 211).
Throughout much of Lee’s early adult years, it is fairly clear how his passions muddle his sense of reality and make him into such an irrational person. As seen in Russia, it takes him years for him to see how the Soviets really thought of him. It is this sort of unstable and impulsive behavior that will cause him to President Kennedy. Delillo does an excellent job in providing the backstory to this sort of behavior.
Let’s start from Lee’s childhood. Growing up poor, Lee wasn’t the sharpest student in school. In fact he was dyslexic. He had a hard time reading simple English sentences, and he had an even harder time writing. Yet, when he first started spending more time at the library, he wanted to read books “that put him at a distance from his classmates, closed the world around him” (p. 33) .This spurred him into reading up on Marx’s The Communist Manifesto or Das Kapital. As Dellilo describes Lee,
“The
books were struggles. He had to fight to make some elementary sense of
what he read. But the books had come out of struggle. They had been
struggles to write, struggles to live. It seems fitting to Lee that the
texts were masses of dense theory, unyielding. The tougher the books,
the more firmly he fixed a distance between himself and others” (p. 34)
These readings seemed to be the start of Lee being a Communist idealist. Lee wants to use the Defector Program to his advantage in order to serve as a spy defect. He gives up his American identity and secrets in order to defect to the Soviet Union and provide them any information to help them against the United States. For the Soviets, it is just too good to be true. While he wants to gain the attention of the Soviets, many of them, who seem to like Lee, are also skeptical of who he really is. Alek, the official who interrogates Lee about how passionate he is towards Communism, and about any details to the U-2 spy plane, begins to like Lee. At the end of the “In Moscow” chapter, Alek even gives him Soviet citizenship and work in Minsk so that he can become the Marxist he wants to be. While Alek does like him, at the end of the “In Moscow” chapter, “he [Alek] would recommend that surveillance be maintained, indefinitely, wherever the boy was sent” (p. 167). While Lee is driven by his fanaticism as a Communist, in reality, his life begins to go down the drain, even to the point where he cuts himself. After marrying Marina and having a child, he is forced to return to the US with her.
During his stay in Russia, Lee also kept journal entries of his time in Russia in what he calls “the Historic Diary”. Even as his words are jumbled, and his writing is nothing more than childish, Lee imagined that people would read his works, and would be moved by his struggles, much like he was when he read Marx’s works in the library. He wanted people to be “moved by his loneliness and disappointment” (p. 211).
Throughout much of Lee’s early adult years, it is fairly clear how his passions muddle his sense of reality and make him into such an irrational person. As seen in Russia, it takes him years for him to see how the Soviets really thought of him. It is this sort of unstable and impulsive behavior that will cause him to President Kennedy. Delillo does an excellent job in providing the backstory to this sort of behavior.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Initial reactions to Libra
Libra reminded me a lot about Ragtime when
first reading it. Both authors, while using actual historical
characters, create their own worlds around these characters as they see
fit. While Doctorow plays around with the characters of J.P. Morgan and
Harry Houdini, Delillo plays around solely with Lee Harvey Oswald. Each
author uses actual events within these character’s lives, but fills in
the dialogue and emotions as they feel necessary. While what these
characters say may not be entirely true, who can actually prove that Lee
said such and such to someone at a certain time?
One thing I found particularly interesting when reading was how Delillo points out America’s obsession over Cuba. While many Americans think of it as an “idea”, deep down, it is simply their own economic investment in order to “free the country” from Communism (exploiting their labor and resources to make a profit). Cuba can also be seen as America’s need to control everything because once the Cuban Missile Crisis explodes, we not only have to worry for our economic interests, but also our security. It’s not that I haven’t learned about America’s economic interests in Cuba, but I always forget just how significant a factor it is in American relations with Cuba in 1960s.
I’ve been digressing a bit. The whole novel revolves around Lee Harvey Oswald, who Delillo portrays in an interesting light. According to the Warren Commission, Lee acted alone in the assassination of President Kennedy, but with new evidence coming up about the assassination, it is all possible that Lee was part of a larger conspiracy. Delillo uses this idea in order to tell his own version of the story: how the assassination attempt is plotted by former CIA operatives, and is intentionally going to fail in order to force the government to start a war against Cuba. As mentioned before, considering the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis, even if there isn’t solid evidence to prove that this kind of conspiracy didn’t happen, Delillo portrays it as a real one.
I would be lying to myself if I said that this novel is a brisk read. The prose and dialogue is quite dense, and there are so many plot lines and characters in the novel, mapping them out is quite the challenge (As mentioned in class, it’s almost like the scene in Slaughterhouse-Five where the anti-war novel’s plot is mapped out on the back of a huge sheet of paper with crayons. It’s all jumbled, and colors are flying everywhere, but it fits together in the end). That certainly doesn’t mean that the novel doesn’t capture my attention. I know that my points have been all over the place, so I’ll try to summarize everything up nicely. Delillo, from my initial reactions, does a nice job of portraying a potential conspiracy in the Kennedy assassination. While he does add in his own ideas, he still sticks within the boundaries of historical fact. Describing Lee’s childhood and upbringing, it certainly does remind us that Lee, even if he was the assassin, was still a human being.
One thing I found particularly interesting when reading was how Delillo points out America’s obsession over Cuba. While many Americans think of it as an “idea”, deep down, it is simply their own economic investment in order to “free the country” from Communism (exploiting their labor and resources to make a profit). Cuba can also be seen as America’s need to control everything because once the Cuban Missile Crisis explodes, we not only have to worry for our economic interests, but also our security. It’s not that I haven’t learned about America’s economic interests in Cuba, but I always forget just how significant a factor it is in American relations with Cuba in 1960s.
I’ve been digressing a bit. The whole novel revolves around Lee Harvey Oswald, who Delillo portrays in an interesting light. According to the Warren Commission, Lee acted alone in the assassination of President Kennedy, but with new evidence coming up about the assassination, it is all possible that Lee was part of a larger conspiracy. Delillo uses this idea in order to tell his own version of the story: how the assassination attempt is plotted by former CIA operatives, and is intentionally going to fail in order to force the government to start a war against Cuba. As mentioned before, considering the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis, even if there isn’t solid evidence to prove that this kind of conspiracy didn’t happen, Delillo portrays it as a real one.
I would be lying to myself if I said that this novel is a brisk read. The prose and dialogue is quite dense, and there are so many plot lines and characters in the novel, mapping them out is quite the challenge (As mentioned in class, it’s almost like the scene in Slaughterhouse-Five where the anti-war novel’s plot is mapped out on the back of a huge sheet of paper with crayons. It’s all jumbled, and colors are flying everywhere, but it fits together in the end). That certainly doesn’t mean that the novel doesn’t capture my attention. I know that my points have been all over the place, so I’ll try to summarize everything up nicely. Delillo, from my initial reactions, does a nice job of portraying a potential conspiracy in the Kennedy assassination. While he does add in his own ideas, he still sticks within the boundaries of historical fact. Describing Lee’s childhood and upbringing, it certainly does remind us that Lee, even if he was the assassin, was still a human being.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Final thoughts to Kindred
After finishing Kindred, initially
I was fairly disappointed in the ending. Most people would’ve probably
predicted that Dana would lose her arm since we start off with that
scene in the novel. As for me, there were still many questions, mostly
about Dana’s time traveling, that were left unanswered. After the many
class discussions we’ve had, I realized that maybe the disappointing
ending was intentional, that Butler wanted us to leave unsatisfied in
order to remind us about something even more serious.
When we were discussing in class about the interpretation of Dana’s loss of her arm, many of them centered around the idea that this loss of her arm represents the scarring effects of time. History has shaped who we are individually. While Dana was physically shaped by history, Butler wants the reader to know that something as bad as slavery has had lasting ramifications, and affects all of us.
As I mentioned before, after reading Kindred, I still had many questions left unanswered. Throughout most of this novel, Dana simply accepts the fact that she is constantly time traveling back to 1800s Maryland. We know that she travels back in time whenever Rufus’ life is in danger, and that a few minutes in Dana’s present time can mean a days or years in Rufus’ time. But, there are so many other things I wanted to know. What explains the varying lengths of time that passes as she is away? Why does Dana return to the present only when her life is in danger? Butler may have wanted to use time travel simply as a device. Since she leaves so many of these details out of her novel, she may have felt that explaining the concept of Dana’s time travel would distract readers from the bigger picture.
One thing that will stuck in my mind, and is something I will never forget, is about how important family ties are for slaves. Take Carrie, the mute child of Sarah’s. A long time ago, Sarah’s two other sons were sold by Weylin, and in fear of losing Carrie, Sarah willingly complies to the hard labor given to her by her masters. As Carrie grows older on the plantation, she marries Nigel, and has children with him. Prior to Nigel’s marriage, he already had thoughts of running away and finding freedom in the North. He even gets taught how to read by Dana in preparation of this. When he has children with Carrie though, in fear of having Carrie and their children sold off, Nigel is forced to control his urges of running away, and work silently on the plantation. For a long time, I knew that families were often separated by the auction. I never realized that breaking these family ties could have such a large impact on someone, and even keep them in line from running away or revolting. In a world of a slave, family is the only thing that many had for hope and support. Taking that away would’ve left slaves with nothing.
For me, while Butler doesn’t necessarily leave behind a solid novel, the picture she describes about slavery is simply unforgettable. The descriptions she puts into the whippings, the hard labor of the fields, and the strong family ties many of the slaves have portray just how bad slavery really was. As readers, we should focus more on her message of slavery, and see that slavery has impacted our society.
When we were discussing in class about the interpretation of Dana’s loss of her arm, many of them centered around the idea that this loss of her arm represents the scarring effects of time. History has shaped who we are individually. While Dana was physically shaped by history, Butler wants the reader to know that something as bad as slavery has had lasting ramifications, and affects all of us.
As I mentioned before, after reading Kindred, I still had many questions left unanswered. Throughout most of this novel, Dana simply accepts the fact that she is constantly time traveling back to 1800s Maryland. We know that she travels back in time whenever Rufus’ life is in danger, and that a few minutes in Dana’s present time can mean a days or years in Rufus’ time. But, there are so many other things I wanted to know. What explains the varying lengths of time that passes as she is away? Why does Dana return to the present only when her life is in danger? Butler may have wanted to use time travel simply as a device. Since she leaves so many of these details out of her novel, she may have felt that explaining the concept of Dana’s time travel would distract readers from the bigger picture.
One thing that will stuck in my mind, and is something I will never forget, is about how important family ties are for slaves. Take Carrie, the mute child of Sarah’s. A long time ago, Sarah’s two other sons were sold by Weylin, and in fear of losing Carrie, Sarah willingly complies to the hard labor given to her by her masters. As Carrie grows older on the plantation, she marries Nigel, and has children with him. Prior to Nigel’s marriage, he already had thoughts of running away and finding freedom in the North. He even gets taught how to read by Dana in preparation of this. When he has children with Carrie though, in fear of having Carrie and their children sold off, Nigel is forced to control his urges of running away, and work silently on the plantation. For a long time, I knew that families were often separated by the auction. I never realized that breaking these family ties could have such a large impact on someone, and even keep them in line from running away or revolting. In a world of a slave, family is the only thing that many had for hope and support. Taking that away would’ve left slaves with nothing.
For me, while Butler doesn’t necessarily leave behind a solid novel, the picture she describes about slavery is simply unforgettable. The descriptions she puts into the whippings, the hard labor of the fields, and the strong family ties many of the slaves have portray just how bad slavery really was. As readers, we should focus more on her message of slavery, and see that slavery has impacted our society.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Rufus and Dana
As I mentioned before in my previous blog post, there is a lot to say about the characters in the novel. Different opinions can be made towards a lot of the characters such as Rufus and Dana. Considering where and when they were raised, it definitely makes readers think and decide whether their actions are justified or not.
Let's start with Rufus. While Rufus has good intentions and wants his slaves to be treated as best as possible, he is still as monstrous as his father Tom. This can especially be seen in his relationship with Alice. Even though Alice clearly dislikes Rufus, especially for what happened to Isaac, he forces Dana to make Alice condone him, and let him rape and beat her. By doing so, it lessens his own feelings of guilt. Dana often questions why she still forgives Rufus after everything he does, and this attributes to Rufus' lack of change in behavior. Rather than trying to change himself, Rufus only shows genuine regret for what he's done, making Dana feel bad for him. He only cares about himself, and only his own happiness. When he didn't send Dana's letters to Kevin, Rufus argued that he didn't want Dana to ever leave him alone at the plantation. This particular scene exemplifies how immaturely Rufus thinks. His selfish and brutal actions, only worsen as he becomes an adult and an alcoholic.
Dana, the protagonist and narrator of the novel, must also struggle with many complex issues. As an alien in the antebellum South, her mannerisms cause her to be called strange and a "white nigger" by many of the other slaves. As she lives on the plantation, she begins to develop strong relationships with the slaves on the Weylin plantation. Dana soon sees how so many of these slaves each have their own histories and tragedies. She also begins to like Rufus, despite how cruel he is to the slaves and to Alice. Here, she is faced with such morally conscientious issues. Of course Dana is forced beyond her will to travel back in time in order to save Rufus' life. At the same time, she often wonders whether it is worth saving the life of a man who is committing so many cruelties. For someone who is selling off slaves and raping a woman, she feels that killing Rufus would solve the slaves' problems. This doesn't seem as easy as she thinks it is. Not only do her own affections for Rufus conflict with her decision to kill Rufus, even if she did kill Rufus for the sake of the slaves, they could easily be sold off and separated.
Maybe Butler intentionally invented such complicated characters in order to show how there is no black and white in history. As wrong as slavery was, there was no obvious solution towards it, and it took years before it was finally eradicated. Even when slavery was eliminated, it laid the grounds for hundreds of years of racial prejudice against blacks, especially in the South. Time has a lasting impact on people and on history, and Dana realizes that as she stays longer and longer in the South.
Let's start with Rufus. While Rufus has good intentions and wants his slaves to be treated as best as possible, he is still as monstrous as his father Tom. This can especially be seen in his relationship with Alice. Even though Alice clearly dislikes Rufus, especially for what happened to Isaac, he forces Dana to make Alice condone him, and let him rape and beat her. By doing so, it lessens his own feelings of guilt. Dana often questions why she still forgives Rufus after everything he does, and this attributes to Rufus' lack of change in behavior. Rather than trying to change himself, Rufus only shows genuine regret for what he's done, making Dana feel bad for him. He only cares about himself, and only his own happiness. When he didn't send Dana's letters to Kevin, Rufus argued that he didn't want Dana to ever leave him alone at the plantation. This particular scene exemplifies how immaturely Rufus thinks. His selfish and brutal actions, only worsen as he becomes an adult and an alcoholic.
Dana, the protagonist and narrator of the novel, must also struggle with many complex issues. As an alien in the antebellum South, her mannerisms cause her to be called strange and a "white nigger" by many of the other slaves. As she lives on the plantation, she begins to develop strong relationships with the slaves on the Weylin plantation. Dana soon sees how so many of these slaves each have their own histories and tragedies. She also begins to like Rufus, despite how cruel he is to the slaves and to Alice. Here, she is faced with such morally conscientious issues. Of course Dana is forced beyond her will to travel back in time in order to save Rufus' life. At the same time, she often wonders whether it is worth saving the life of a man who is committing so many cruelties. For someone who is selling off slaves and raping a woman, she feels that killing Rufus would solve the slaves' problems. This doesn't seem as easy as she thinks it is. Not only do her own affections for Rufus conflict with her decision to kill Rufus, even if she did kill Rufus for the sake of the slaves, they could easily be sold off and separated.
Maybe Butler intentionally invented such complicated characters in order to show how there is no black and white in history. As wrong as slavery was, there was no obvious solution towards it, and it took years before it was finally eradicated. Even when slavery was eliminated, it laid the grounds for hundreds of years of racial prejudice against blacks, especially in the South. Time has a lasting impact on people and on history, and Dana realizes that as she stays longer and longer in the South.
Initial reactions to Kindred
When first reading Kindred, it seemed much more like a traditional novel compared to the other books we have read this semester. Kindred focuses on the larger story of slavery instead of warping historical facts and characters to the author's will like Doctorow did in Ragtime. It is easier to accept characters like Dana and Rufus because we know that they are fictional, and are not real-life historical figures with mysterious backgrounds (as Doctorow did with J.P Morgan and Harry Houdini). Kindred has more similarities to Slaughterhouse-Five, not only in the sense that it puts fictional characters in real events (with Billy Pilgrim in the Dresden firebombing), but also in the sense of time travel.
I couldn't help making the comparison to Back to the Future when reading Kindred. While Dana is trying to save her great grandparents Rufus and Alice from death in order for them to give birth to her grandmother Hagar, Marty McFly is trying to get his parents to fall in love so that they'll marry and give birth to him. This need for survival by trying to preserve the flow of history definitely engages me as a reader and moves the book along. Not only do these characters have to struggle with the social norms of the times they are in, but also have to make sure they themselves stay alive through everything.
What makes this book even more interesting though is its characters. There are plenty of things to say about the novel's characters, and I will save that for my next blog. Dana's attempt to reform Rufus into a better human being is certainly something to note. Marty McFly, in a way, is also doing something similar with his father, trying to help his father become a much more confident man that can stand up to Biff rather than the coward he originally was before Marty went back in time. With Dana and Rufus, it is almost like a secondary goal that Dana wants to accomplish. She certainly recognizes the difficulties of changing the mindset of someone growing up in a society with such institutionalized slavery, along with racism and sexism. The time when she tries to stop Rufus from calling her a "nigger woman" is an example. Yet, she's convinced that she can change him for the better somehow. Who knows? Maybe she can.
I couldn't help making the comparison to Back to the Future when reading Kindred. While Dana is trying to save her great grandparents Rufus and Alice from death in order for them to give birth to her grandmother Hagar, Marty McFly is trying to get his parents to fall in love so that they'll marry and give birth to him. This need for survival by trying to preserve the flow of history definitely engages me as a reader and moves the book along. Not only do these characters have to struggle with the social norms of the times they are in, but also have to make sure they themselves stay alive through everything.
What makes this book even more interesting though is its characters. There are plenty of things to say about the novel's characters, and I will save that for my next blog. Dana's attempt to reform Rufus into a better human being is certainly something to note. Marty McFly, in a way, is also doing something similar with his father, trying to help his father become a much more confident man that can stand up to Biff rather than the coward he originally was before Marty went back in time. With Dana and Rufus, it is almost like a secondary goal that Dana wants to accomplish. She certainly recognizes the difficulties of changing the mindset of someone growing up in a society with such institutionalized slavery, along with racism and sexism. The time when she tries to stop Rufus from calling her a "nigger woman" is an example. Yet, she's convinced that she can change him for the better somehow. Who knows? Maybe she can.
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