Grandmother Hagar Weylin, an ancestor of Dana’s was born in the year 1831. Her parents were Rufus Weylin, a white man and Alice Greenwood, a freed, black woman. Hagar, born biracial (half black half white) married Oliver Blake and had seven children. Dana remembers a chest of historical information at her uncle’s house, and in that chest was a bible and a family tree Hagar had kept records of family members up to her death. Grandmother Hagar was organized because despite the difficult circumstances she was living under (society - being a black woman in the Antebellum South), she was still able to keep track of her family generations as times got difficult. Grandmother Hagar was also insightful because in her generation, blacks weren’t offered …show more content…
Dana has these flashbacks that take her to the time of her ancestors and someone that she was related to was Rufus, a white southern slave owner. Dana, being black, had ancestors that were slaves.
Dana vacillates between the present and the past because she goes back in the past when Rufus is in danger. When Dana returns to the present, Rufus gets older. Kevin, Dana’s husband, suspects that the reason she returns to the present is because her life is in danger.
When Dana saved Rufus in the burning bedroom, she explains to Rufus that when he was younger, she saved him from drowning. Rufus says he recalls the scene and didn’t recognize her because she was “...wearing pants like a man…” (Butler, 22). In the past, it was nearly impossible to see a woman wearing pants and a blouse. Women were usually in dresses or a long skirt that covered their entire body. Rufus resists this because Rufus will grow up and do things the way he wants to and makes his own decisions for things. He avoids what society would usually do and he goes his own way into making prominent decisions. This is an external conflict because he is fighting against