Numerous stories wouldn’t be as good without the minor characters in it. Minor characters can add to the conflict of the book. They also help to develop the main character’s. Specifically Rufus’s mom played a role in how Rufus grew up to be. Rufus’s mom was a greedy and nervous woman at the same time. Most of the time, she would look for something to do throughout the day. So, she would use her power over the slaves and control them. Sometimes she would yell at Dana for no reason. The way Octavia E. Butler shows the changes in Margaret Weylin throughout the book, shows how our feelings can affect us and other people.
Margaret Weylin was disliked by the majority of the slaves on the property. Over time, Dana also grew a hatred towards her. After staying in the early 1800s, for a few months,
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Occasionally, she did something she wasn’t supposed to do. Margaret Weylin sometimes took her frustrations out on children. She would punish children because they were the children of a woman who her husband had an affair with. One of the people who hated Margaret Weylin the most was Sarah. Sarah worked in the cookhouse. All of her children were sold except for one because she was considered a defect since she couldn’t talk. The reason all her children were sold because of Margaret who just wanted, “‘new furniture, new china dishes… things she didn’t even need”’ (Butler 95). Margaret finally saw how the slaves on the property felt when their kids are taken away from them. Margaret had twins, but they, ‘“died one after the other...she went kind of crazy’” (Butler 137). After being in Baltimore for a while and taking medicine, Margaret finally calmed down. When Dana took care of Margaret, she