Alice and Rufus in the 1970s

So we know that Rufus would have loved to marry Alice had he lived in the 1970's, but would Alice have agreed to marry him? This question has been nagging at me for basically the entire book long. I would like to think that Alice and Rufus could have been a normal, loving couple had they lived in a later time period, but something tells me that it's not as probable as I think. We know that a lot of Alice's hate for Rufus stems from his being white. At one point Alice says that she'd rather sleep with ten black men than with Rufus. But if Alice and Rufus had lived in the 1970's, these racial barriers wouldn't exist in the same way they existed in the ante-bellum slavery era. Well, that's what I thought when I was mid-way through the book.

The truth is that an interracial couple still wasn't normal in the 1970s, as we can see from Dana and Kevin's relationship. Dana and Kevin get looks from people and also have no family support when they want to get married. What's interesting is that Dana has a more extreme reaction than Kevin to her family not giving support. Kevin is one who just brushes these things off and could care less (he even says something along the lines of let's just pretend we don't have family), while Dana is actually concerned when her family isn't happy with the marriage. This reminds me of Rufus who could care less about how the people around him think of how he loves Alice and how Alice is concerned about her reputation. Of course the time period in which Alice and Rufus live in affects how Alice feels about Rufus, but if Alice had so much hatred towards Rufus because of his being white in that time, and there still is something weird about being an interracial couple in the 1970s, I think it is highly unprobable that Alice and Rufus could have been in a normal relationship in the 1970s.

Why is Rufus Unlikable?

I find it quite weird that many people seem to link Rufus's dislikability  to the time period he was raised in. I thought that most people, like I, would point towards Rufus's inconsistent personality to blame for his dislikability. Rufus can prove to be a good person throughout the book at many scenes. He really can be playful, nice, gentle, and trustworthy when he wants to. The problem is he is very inconsistent with staying this likable person. Whenever he doesn't get what he wants, he flares up and totally pushes his concern for others' emotional and/or physical pain aside to ensure that he gets what he wants. Not only does Rufus push aside his concern for others' pain, but he also pushes aside his morals.

This is the main reason I find Rufus dislikable, he doesn't have a moral line within himself that he won't cross. You would expect that since Tom Weylin keeps his word with everybody, including slaves, that Rufus would do the same but he fails to keep his word with Dana and send the letter to Kevin. You would expect that since Rufus is generally nice and playful with the slaves (like Nigel, Sarah, and Carrie) that he wouldn't react the way he did to Sam simply talking to Dana about teaching his younger siblings. You wouldn't expect Rufus to forcibly rape Alice over and over again after he was childhood friends with her. But Rufus does all of this and more. He shows others that he can be a nice and trustworthy guy, and thus we the readers set a higher bar for him (that IS attainable), but he constantly lets us down, almost always because of his selfishness and inconsistent line of morality within himself and NOT because of the time period he lives in.