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Human Condition
As Dana soon discovers, the reality of slavery is even more disturbing than its portrayal in
books, movies, and television programs. Before her journey into the past, Dana called the
temp agency where she worked a "slave market," even though "the people who ran it
couldnt have cared less whether or not you showed up to do the work they offered."
This turns out to be an ironic contrast to life at the Weylin plantation, where a slave who
visits his wife without his masters permission is brutally whipped. Perhaps a more painful
realization for Dana is how this cruel treatment oppresses the mind. "Slavery of any kind
fostered strange relationships," she notes, for all the slaves feel the same strange
combination of fear, contempt, and affection toward Rufus that she does.
At first she has difficulty comprehending Sarahs patience with a master who has sold off
three of her children. Likewise, she observes that Isaac Greenwood "was like Sarah,
holding himself back, not killing in spite of anger I could only imagine. A lifetime of
conditioning could be overcome, but not easily."
"After being beaten following her attempt to run away, however, Dana is tormented by
doubts about her own resistance: "Why was I so frightened now
