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Introduction When we first meet Rufus Weylin as an adult slave owner in Octavia Butler's Kindred , it's tempting to measure his cruelty against his father's and call it progress. Rufus doesn't seem to go out of his way to brutalize his slaves the way Tom Weylin did. He protects some of them, even calls them friends. But this apparent improvement reveals something far more disturbing. Rufus is a "better" slave owner than his father, but he's ultimately a worse person. This paradox shows us both the success and the failure of Dana's influence on him, and it forces us to ask an uncomfortable question: what does it mean to be a "better" slave owner when you understand your slaves are fully human? Tom Weylin's cruelty is impersonal and consistent. He brutalizes his slaves, seeing them as property that needs to be controlled through fear and violence. Rufus is different. He doesn't physically punish most of his slaves as frequently. He prot...

The surprise narrative at the end of Mumbo Jumbo,  which feels like an entirely new book, quickly stood out as its most entertaining act. At first, the novel feels like a jumble of random ideas thrown together, or, as the title suggests, pure mumbo jumbo . But in the two Chapter 52s, everything suddenly clicks into place. These chapters elegantly accomplish three things at once: 1. They wrap up the detective plot These chapters finally explain what Jes Grew is through its origin in Osiris’s dancing and what the mysterious text really is: the Book of Thoth, containing instructions for Osiris’s various techniques. They answer the very questions that have lingered in readers’ minds since the chaotic beginning of the novel. 2. They weave the narrative with mythology and history Instead of simply giving us answers, the chapters take us on a mythic journey through LaBas’s retelling of Jes Grew’s history, from Osiris and Set, to Moses and the Knights Templar, and back to the modern dete...

Mother's Younger Brother is introduced as a creep. He keeps to himself. He's obsessed with a girl he can't dream of dating. He puts posters of Evelyn Nesbit on his wall. He stalks Evelyn for 3 weeks straight. He hides in Evelyn's closet. He violates Evelyn. Somehow, Evelyn can't resist his attraction, and MYB kicks off a transformation. MYB discoveres some change in his love. As he dedicates everything to Evelyn, she slowly loses interest, and MYB begins to discover a disillusionment for the world. Evelyn Nesbit, MYB's sole obsession for years, finally leaves him for a ragtime artist. Devastated, MYB takes the first steps to finding himself.  Many might find MYB lost during the chapters following Evelyn's departure. And while he may seem somewhat directionless, I think MYB is at his best during this period. He isn't fully closed off in his room. He discovers himself and looks for a way to channel his genius in creativity and obsession. While experimentin...

    Two characters narrate Sag Harbor: Benji and Ben. While they may be the same person--just at two different points in their coming of age journey--Benji and Ben are so different that they can hardly recognize each other. Ben consisently expresses puzzlement at Benji's behaviour throughout his narration. In the ending chapter, Benji even explains that he wouldn't be able to recognize a put-together future version of himself, because he doubts he could develop into one. Ben often criticizes Benji's behaviour, even seeming ashamed or dumbfounded at how he could have once been Benji. Ben goes far to distance himself from his past self. He looks back, not through the the rosy lens of nostalgia, but with the microscopic lens of objectivity. He takes a third person perspective, addressing Benji as "the other boy". Yet even with Ben's attempts to seperate from Benji, Ben is kept connected to Benji from several chains through time.      In "If I could Pay You L...

Jason Taylor is easily my favorite character we've discussed so far. Yet, on the surface he seems the most bland. Jason is not as charismatic as Holden; he is not as cool as Esther; and his story is not as unique as Alison's. Yet when you look beneath his stuttering words and his constant desire to be cool, Jason Taylor is a loveable boy who's impulse to do the right thing consistently shines through. Jason has one true friend: Dean Moran. Yet, at the start of the book, Jason consistently looks down on Dean in order to climb the social ladder. And throughout the first half of the book, Jason successfully does so. Even though his concious screams out against him the whole time, Jason pulls off a badass prank in front of the coolest kids in school. He even gets an invite to the Spooks, the most exclusive gang in all of black swan green. Yet just when he gets accepted into the Spooks, he throws it all away in order to get a chance to help out his friend Dean. While the society...

 When I first picked up Fun Home , I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It was honest, dark, even funny—but what struck me most deeply was the portrayal of Alison's father, Bruce Bechdel. Despite being depicted initially through his many flaws--which I do not wish to minimize despite the scant discussion of them in this post--and emotional distance, Bruce gradually emerged for me as a profoundly empathetic character, someone whose humanity shone through more brightly as I learned about his story. Bruce isn’t your traditional hero. On the surface, he's distant, demanding, even harsh at times. But beneath that exterior--and all the many skeletons hidden away in his closet--is someone struggling deeply with his identity, caught in a life that society dictated rather than one he truly desired. Growing up gay in a world deeply unaccepting of homosexuality, Bruce's internal conflict was palpable. Bechdel reveals her father's hidden life with such care and subtlety that I could...