Character Analysis
Tom Weylin comes across as a real jerk at the beginning of this book. He's a brutal slave master and he's very harsh with his son Rufus. When Rufus falls from a tree and breaks his leg, for example, Tom Weylin's first thought is, "Guess it's broken all right. Wonder how much that'll cost me" (3.3.6). In other words, Tom's mind is on his money more than his son's health. But as the book progresses, Dana realize, that compared to other men from his time, Tom Weylin is actually even-handed and honest. As she says at one point, "[Weylin] wasn't the monster he could have been with the power he held over his slaves. He wasn't a monster at all" (4.6.53). Now it's possible that Dana is letting Weylin off the hook too much here. But you could also argue that the guy we have more sympathy for (Rufus) actually grows up to be a worse man than his father.