Dana's Pride
Like with most main characters, readers connect and support Dana throughout her trials and tribulations in Antebellum South. Dana is clearly a good person, attempting to survive in a new environment in which she has little to no experience. Yet, Dana is still a flawed character, as the best characters often are. One of her many flaws is her pride.
Dana has always considered herself special around Rufus (at least compared to the other slaves). She tells the readers time and time again “if he ever raped me, it wasn’t likely that either of us would survive” (180). Although she doesn’t have a choice, Dana is the one that has to tell Alice to get raped and sexually abused by Rufus. She lets it happen, thinking only of self-preservation, and doesn’t even think to try to limit the abuse that Alice is taking from Rufus. Dana instead acts lofty, scoffing at the idea of being raped by Rufus, while Alice has to go through this personal invasion daily. Dana doesn’t even try to sympathize with Alice either, she instead chooses to ignore the ugly truth of how her ancestor was born.
In the same chapter, Dana decides to escape from the plantation to send a letter to Kevin. When she gets caught, Tom makes a comment that an “educated [n-word] don’t mean smart [n-word], do it?” (175). She later reflects on this statement and realizes the truth in it. Even though Alice is mostly illiterate, she still managed to stay at large for 4 days, while Dana couldn’t manage more than a few hours. Dana seemed to assume that escaping would be easier for her because she had read about many escape stories. She doesn’t even ask for Alice’s advice, even though it was still fresh in Alice’s mind. It sounds arrogant of Dana to think that since she is more “enlightened” than Alice, she had a better chance of escaping. Dana considers herself superior to the other slaves because of her “advanced” knowledge, but this pedestal is brought down and destroyed throughout the duration of the book.
“I never realized how easily people could be trained to accept slavery” (101). This is one of the main points of the book, that everyone, including slaves, are complicit in slavery, regardless if they want to be a part of it or not. Dana starts the book unwilling to let herself be beaten down, talking back to everyone and refusing to be submissive to anyone. This seems like a point of pride that she is unwilling to relinquish. She is disgusted by the food she has to eat, saying “Tablescraps…Someone else’s leftovers.” (72), and silently judges everything happening around her. Yet by the end of the book, even Margret comments that “‘You’re a good girl… Much better than you used to be. Someone must have taught you how to behave.” (219). Dana has become like the other slaves that she once condescended. She loses her assertiveness and takes on a meek attitude to survive. Her pride is taken down several notches by the end of the book because of who she became to endure the time period.
My final judgment is that although Dana may have started off thinking of herself as slightly superior to the other slaves in certain ways, she loses that arrogance by the end of the novel. It is easy to point out the parts where Dana seems ungrateful or prideful, but her main fault is not arrogance, it’s her ability to forgive Rufus so quickly.
Thank you so much for reading this post! Comment what you think of Dana down below!
I don't think I ever interpreted Dana as arrogant- she just hadn't been beaten down by as many years of torment as the other slaves. She was absolutely right to be horrified by the circumstances she found herself in. But, and not to beat a dead horse, she did not show nearly as much empathy for Alice as she could have, or really should have.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good way of framing Dana's character development over the course of the novel, or the ways her character is shaped and reshaped by this ordeal in the past. I hadn't thought to put it this way before, but I agree that we see some "pride" (mixed with naivete, as other commenters on the blogs have pointed out) that makes her feel apart from the suffering she witnesses, clinging to her "special status." I agree that we see this pride erode as the novel unfolds, and she seems quite sincere when she talks about how much stronger Alice is than she is. It's as if Dana herself is suprised to realize how she's been "made into" a slave over the course of the story--in true nightmare/horror fashion, the changes creep when she isn't clocking them, and it's like she suddenly *realizes* she's actually a slave, no longer playing a role. That "role" idea had been the salvation she clinged to--the sense that she was "just acting," not "really" part of this dynamic.
ReplyDeleteMy personal opinion isn't that Dana is prideful, but rather she has a modern viewpoint on things. She still has the late 20th century beliefs of equality and fighting back against oppressors, which is why she is the way she is. However, after experiencing slavery, she is broken down to the early 19th century slave mentality. This is a survivalist mentality, and she becomes much more "realistic" when it comes to her actions in the time period.
ReplyDeleteYou explained her character flaws and development really well. I agree she was a flawed character, though it's hard to see her acting differently considering how many lose-lose situations she was put in. One point Butler was really good at making was how powerless black people in this time felt, all of America simply seeing them as sub-human. It seemed like in most of the situations she was put in she did the most she could to help without risking severe harm, and even still she got whipped for doing the help she did. If she was white, I don't doubt that she wouldn't hesitate to feed and free slaves like Kevin did.
ReplyDeleteI think this post does a great job encapsulating Dana's character and it's development really well so great job. I think by the end Dana begins to realize that this whole experience isn't really as much about her as it first seemed. Of course she needs Hagar to be born, but over time her relationship with Rufus and Alice and the rest of the slaves becomes very important. She is humbled by how strong the other slaves are compared to her. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your analysis of Dana. I never even considered the point about escaping that you mentioned. It's very clear to see that Dana expected to escape even easier than Alice, but it's simply Dana was completely naive when it came to anything relating to slavery. She didn't even consider that she would need to take advice from other slaves. I think over the course of the book, she starts to realize that the more time she spends on the plantation, the more she becomes an integral part of it. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting analysis, and I think you touch on a lot of ambiguities in Dana's character that become especially important as the novel progresses. One particular example of how her pride shifts into empathy that stuck with me was the change in her perspective on Sarah. On the surface, she embodies somewhat of the stereotypical "mammy" role, occupying a position that Dana remarks would be looked down on by 1970s-era Black activists. However, as Dana gets to know her more deeply, she begins to understand the pain and fear that have kept Sarah from rebellion, and comes to appreciate the complexity of her situation rather than viewing her condescendingly.
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