Chapter
1: Homework Assignment
Finish
reading Chapter One.
For your
assigned character, please take notes and POST on the following:
- · What seems significant about their personality and values?
- · How would you describe their relationship with other family members? Does anything seem odd or surprising about these relationships?
- · Names: What do you know about how they got their name/nickname? Symbolism or connotations of their name? What are the traditions about naming that seem significant?
- · Family history: Significant myths/stories/memories about this character?
Your post
should include AT LEAST one
significant quotation. Let's try this: The first person from each group should just post under this post. Everyone else in the group, can you enter your post as a comment on the first group members?
You will
help yourself enormously if you take note of a couple more quotations that seem
important. As always, feel free to
also post on anything else that seems weird/strange/surprising/confusing in
this chapter.
Your Character
is (circle one):
Macon Dead (Milkman’s father)
Emma, Theo, Jhoan, Jessica, Amanda, Neethi, Anne
Macon Dead III/Milkman (the
son/baby)
Gabrielle, Matt, Daniella, Kaitlyn, Laura, Mike
Ruth/The Doctor’s Daughter
(Milkman’s mother)
Audrey, Tony, Phoebe, Amalia, Ian Crowley, Adam
Pilate and Family (Milkman’s
aunt and Macon Dead II’s sister) (Reba & Hagar)
Lisa, Sarah, Dan, Ian Chin, Chaewon, Meredith
Testing the drop down menu--
ReplyDeleteOk, to post, you need to select someting under the drop down menu next to "comment as." If you have a gmail, aol/aim, or yahoo email address, you can use those when it prompts you to login. (For yahoo, I think you need to select "openID" and then enter your yahoo email and password). Myspace, LiveJournal, and flickr accounts count too. (Choose the OpenID password option for myspace and flickr).
After reading the first chapter, I am still unsure of what kind of person Pilate really is but she seems to be an overall caring and an odd character. After her brother's son is born, "she seemed to be more interested in this first nephew of hers than she was in her own daughter, and even that daughter's daughter" (19), which at fist makes her look almost selfish that she is not caring about her own daughter and granddaughter. However, she is sacrificing her time to take care of her new nephew especially since her brother is busy all the time. If she had not cared about her brother's family, she would not bother going. Also it is clear that she also loves her daughter and granddaughter and loves spending time with them as they sing together just before dinner; even though they are very poor, they seem happy and Macon gets drawn into this scene. Even when Macon says she is embarrassing him, she replies by saying "I been worried sick about you too, Macon" (20). This shows that she is able to look past Macon's insensitive remarks and knows that in all, he means well.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the chapter, it says that Pilate's father who was illiterate named her by pointing at groups of letters that seemed to him "strong and handsome". He thinks that the letters look like "a tree hanging in some princely but protective way over a row of smaller trees" (18), which actually describes what Pilate is like. She watches over her brother's family - specifically his nephew - and takes care of her daughter and granddaughter. In that sense, she is like the big tree protecting and caring for the little trees that are her family members. Another point that is interesting is the context behind her name. Pilate, according to the Bible, was the man who killed Jesus Christ. Even though the name has a negative connotation, her father deliberately chose to name her that way. He did not heed to anyone else's ideas. In that sense, he is exercising his right to name his daughter no matter what others may believe. It might be that he just does not understand the situation but it seems to me that his choice to name her that way is deliberate because there is a different meaning to that name for him. He says "I asked Jesus to save me my wife" and I am not sure what he means but there is a vengeful tone to that response. Perhaps naming his daughter Pilate is a way of remembering his wife and of the unfairness that Jesus did not "save" her.
There is one significant memory about this character and I was confused on this part. It's when Pilate is being born. The narration says that when she was born, she did not have a navel. Still what is stranger is the part when it says "once the new baby's lifeline was cut, the cord stump shriveled, fell off, and left no trace of having ever existed" (28). Having no navel means she lacked an umbilical cord that connected her to her mother. The absence of the umbilical cord signifies that early on, Pilate cut her ties with her mother. Her mother did die but I think this has to do with family ties and ancestry and how Pilate perhaps is starting something new in the family lineage. In this case, Pilate looks like a very special person in a spiritual sense as the characteristics of her birth are strange and out of the ordinary.
-Chaewon Hwang
I'll do my notes as a response to Chaewon's because I think she made a lot of good points. However, I had a different take on some of them: I read Pilate's line "I been worried sick about you too, Macon" on pg. 20 as her being sarcastic, since he had just told her that he doesn't care about her at all, and is embarassed by her "impropriety."
DeleteI like your interpretation of the tree image for Pilate, but I think it's also important that the image in the Bible, which P's father mistook for three trees, was actually the three crosses (18)- Pilate crucified Jesus, and two theives. So the little trees represent family but also sin, or death somehow?
Finally, I think the navel-lessness is significant for lack of family ties, but it also shows Pilate's strength. Pilate basically birthed herself, because she "inched her way headfirst out of a still, silent, and indifferent cave of flesh, dragging her own cord and afterbirth behind her... Once the new baby's lifeline was cut, the cord stump shriveled, fell off, and left no trace of having ever existed (28). Pilate HAD an umbilical cord, but once it was cut, she was left without a bellybutton- without a trace of having depended on someone. I think her "lifeline being cut" symbolizes how Macon II, her surrogate-parent, cut her off, and then she continued being strong and self-sufficient. Finally, I wondered if her constant chewing (30) had anything to do with missing the mother/ nursing she never had?
Meredith, I like your characterization of Pilate and how she was not dependent on anyone. The idea that she is differentiated from the other family members including her parents is a very interesting point. It also hints at how Reba and Hagar will be raised. The biblical connection there is also important to note as Hagar is considered the mother of Islam as a result of being thrown out by Abraham and Sarah and being forced into exile. Although it might be too early to foreshadow, it is clear that Morrison wants us to make the connection between abandoned/exiled women and Hagar, the member of the Dead family. The theme of escaping is also presented in this first chapter both through the meaning behind Hagar's name and the "O Sugarman done fly away" (7) song which Pilate sings.
DeleteLastly, I don't think that the constant chewing had anything to do with her upbringing, rather I think it has to do with how Hagar and Reba depend on her and how she has to constantly fix everyone else's problems.
While reading chapter one, I payed special close attention to Macon III, who was named against his will or understanding as the "Milkman". The child always seemed to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, for example he was born under the circumstances that Robert Smith had leaped to his death. He also was seen being breast fed, and now has to live with the name "Milkman". But the child has absolutely no say in any of this. He simply goes with whatever someone tells him to do, and he has a lot of things attributed to him that do not define his character, but now define him because someone wanted it to be that way. The connotation of the name "The Milkman," has a negative connotation for a clearly inappropriate audience. But, the names he has been forced to adapt and the circumstances surrounding the giving of those names does shape his character, and alter it from the true character, which is a perfect segway into his personality.
ReplyDeleteThe Milkman's personality is hard to get at in the first chapter. We know he was the first colored child born in "No Mercy Hospital." After this fact, at age four, Macon III discovers that "only birds and airplanes could fly," (9). We talked earlier in class about flying as a symbol of freedom and one could fly from a place to escape. Macon II runs his house like a prison which leads me to believe that since The Milkman doesn't believe he can fly, he can't get out of Macon II's oppression. Macon III always seems do things on a whim, like when he gave a pleading glance to his mother to leave the table and go upstairs.
-Michael Jabour
I read Song of Solomon Chapter one, focusing on Macon Dead. Macon Dead is seen as really harsh towards his family. The narration says that Macon "Kept each of member of his family awkward with fear. His hatred of his wife glittered and sparked in every word he spoke to her. The disappointment he felt in his daughters sifted down on them like ash..."(10). He seems to not be able to enjoy anything, as demonstrated when Ruth is unable to make a meal that doesn't make her husband want to vomit. He basically seems emotionally distant, described by the narration as "a hard man to approach"(15). He detests his son's nickname, speculating its impurity. He is a greedy man whose seemingly lack of redeemable qualities stem from his rough childhood.
ReplyDeleteI also focused on Macon, and not only is he rude to his family, he ignores them, as though they are beneath him (when in reality, he likely married to get into money). "Her husband looked at the driftwood...Your chicken is red at the bone. And there is probably a potato dish that is supposed to have lumps in it. Mashed ain't the dish.'" (12) He doesnt even respect his wife enough to pay attention to a word she says. I believe he has an inferiority complex, maybe brought on by the fact that he had to marry a woman who he obviously considers to be beneath him to get rich. He tries to compensate by being the big head of the house who causes it to shake with the fear of its inhabitants, even when he knows he can't live up to the former man of the household, the doctor.
DeleteGabrielle Bueno
My goodness, I hope Chaewon and Mike haven't set the length precedent too high!
ReplyDeleteI read chapter one with a focus on Ruth. Ruth is the mother of "Milkman." She seems to be a devoted mother, who spends a lot of time and effort for her family. Even though she is not skilled at cooking, she tirelessly strives to please her family, especially her unappreciative husband. Ruth is incredibly starved for affection, looking to unconventional means to feel loved. She spends time staring at the mark on the table where the father she idolized used to put fresh flowers, and she carries on an inappropriate relationship with her son Milkman, at least by today's standards. Even as a teenager, she breastfeeds him, which I'm guessing would still be considered grossly inappropriate in those times. She seems to find some sort of pleasure in nursing him, whether it is the holistic notion of nourishing her son, or a weirder motive to achieve intimacy after her abusive and neglectful husband has refused to have sex with her.
Ruth is known as The Doctor's Daughter because as an adult,she still lives in the shadow of her father, a respected man, and she truly lives her life as if she has no one left to please but him.
P.S. I would be impressed if anyone posts on here with a myspace page. I was not aware that was still around.
Thought we were supposed to do this as notes?!
Delete-Ruth = Milkman's mother
-Devoted mother -- breastfeeds Milkman, even though he is a teenager (very strange -- earns him the name Milkman)
-Why? -- longing for better relationship with husband? wants power? wants child? wants control? wants something to stand for (her father was a doctor, she seems to have nothing)?
-Bad relationship with husband -- no sex, "His hatred of his wife glittered and sparkled in every word he spoke to her" (10)
-Why are they still together? Does Macon want the $/house? Does he feel ties to her still? To his children?
-Looks nostalgically back at past (watermark)
-Terrible cook, but does try to make good food
Wait, I thought Macon was only about five when he was caught breastfeeding- not a teenager! The narration on pg 10 that precedes the incident makes it seem like he's still a child- he's slipping past his hostile sisters, and wondering again why he can't fly, which he learned when he was four. Also, his feet dont reach the floor yet, (13) although theyre close- which makes me think he's at most 6 or 7.
DeleteYes, Ruth doesn't breast feed Milkman until he is a "teenager" because Freddie the janitor (who discovers them and names Milkman) talks about a mother down south who "nursed hers till the boy, I reckon' was near 'bout thirteen. But that's a bit much, ain't it?" (14). This implies Milkman is at least younger than thirteen, and as his legs "dangle ALMOST to the floor" (13), I think we are supposed to read him as MAX elementary school age. He is old enough for it to be strange that Ruth is still breastfeeding (though as Freddie mentions, there were and are people who do this) but young enough so that he doesn't fully understand yet what she is doing and the fact that it's "strange and wrong" (14).
DeleteWhy does Ruth still breast feed Macon III? It sounds really weird why she might when
Delete"pushed her into fantasy... And that was the pleasure, a pleasure she hated to give up." (14)
So she takes some weird pleasure in doing it? Why?
The most significant aspects of Macon Dead's personality and values are that he is very angry, close minded, and pessimistic. He only sees the bad qualities about his wife, children and sister, and appears to be the darkest aspect of life in their home; "It was not peaceful, for it was preceded by and would soon be terminated by the presence of Macon Dead" (10).
ReplyDeleteWhat Macon seems to value most in life are money and reputation. When Freddie comes to him and tells him that Porter is going to shoot himself, all that Macon sees in the situation is losing or gaining rent money that Porter owes him, as he says, "'Float those dollars down here, nigger, then blow yourself up!'" (25) His obsession with reputation comes from his relationship with his sister, Pilate, who makes and sells wine, is extremely poor and unkept, and is not married with a daughter unmarried with a child. Macon thinks to himself, "the thought of the white men in the bank--the men who helped him buy and mortgage houses--discovering that this raggedy bootlegger was his sister" (20).
Macon does not appreciate his names and his family names because he thinks that his name lacks "love and seriousness", which is ironic because Macon himself lacks love for him wife and children and siblings, and cannot take any of them seriously. He feels as though the names which rooted from "a drunken Yankee in the Union Army" are careless and meaningless, which is essentially true.
A significant memory that Macon expresses is his nostalgia for his wife, and their relationship early on. He tells us about how early on, spending time with Ruth, the Doctor's Daughter, was "honorable" and that he had to be "worthy" (23) enough to be with her. He also remarks on his sexual experiences with Ruth when, "he had a head full of hair and when Ruth wore lovely complicated underwear that he deliberately took a long time to undo" (16). This shows that their relationship was built on temptation and expectations, but both have lost this and can only "fabricate"(16) images and memories of themselves romantically involved in this way.
-Emma A.
I did Macon Dead aswell, and what was significant about his personality and his values was that he was, in general, a very angry person who took out his frustrations from his past out on his wife Ruth and on his daughters and son. His values were more on hard work and hard discipline- but in not so helpful or reassuring way, he used anger and fear to force his children, and wife, to learn what was expected of them from him. What's odd about his relationship with his family members is that they are all afraid of him, they are scared to talk to him and try to relate to him. What was weird about it however, was what it said about how his daughters and wife almost needed his criticism and hate. "Without the tension and drama he ignited, they might not have known what to do with themselves. In his absence, his daughters bent their necks over blood red squares of velvet and waited eagerly for any hint of him, and his wife, Ruth, began her days stunned into stillnes by her husbands contempt and ended them wholly animated by it."(11) His family history is strange, by that he doesn't speak to his sister once he kicked her out afraid of what the town would think when they found out he had a bootlegger as a sister.
DeleteI focussed on Ruth Foster as I read Chapter 1. Ruth was the first black patient at Mercy Hospital. She gave birth to her son Macon III, who is known as the "Milkman', there the day after the insurance agent jumped from its roof. Ruth is always trying to please her husband but she seems to never be able to, he finds flaws in everything she does. Ruth's husband, Macon, abuses her. She is constantly oppressed by Macon and she finds an escape in breastfeeding her grown boy and polishing a water mark on their dining room table. Ruth claims that the watermark is "a mooring, a checkpoint, some stable visual object that assured her that the world was still there; that this was life and not a dream"(11). Ruth needs something physical in her life that brings her back to reality. The watermark was caused by a vase of flowers that her father had always put there. When he died, the watermark was left and whenever she saw it, it reminded her that her father was gone. The way she is constantly trying to polish it away is her way of trying to undo the past or just erase it. Ruth has also nursed her son up until his teens, this is how he got his nickname Milkman, but it also is a way for Ruth to escape from her daily life as a wife that is not treated right. Ruth Foster was Dr. Foster's daughter. Dr. Foster was the reason the neighbors started calling Mains Street "Doctor Street". When Dr.Foster dies, the street name does not just go back to Mains, the neighbors call it "Not Doctor Street". Ruth's father is never forgotten and was a great man. She is in the shadow of her father and people never saw her as a "real" person that they give a "real" name to. She is know as The Doctors Daughter.
ReplyDeleteI read the chapter with focus on Pilate and her family which includes Reba and her daughter, Hagar. I think it is really interesting how Pilate and her family seem much happier than the Dead family. The Dead family is obviously a very unhappy family -- hence the name. The Dead family seems that they do not get along very well, and I feel it is ironic that Pilate grows up more at peace than her extended family. She was born with the decision with high "perversness or resignation, had agreed to abide by a naming done to them by somebody who couldn't have cared less"(18), and may I add, this person was both intoxicated and nearly illiterate. This shows that Pilate was surrounded by people who did not care for a daughter and they did not feel that naming it would be a very important component to life, which could add something to the naming schemes of the book. With Reba and Hagar seems happier than with Macon and Ruth. they are described as singing, "All of them. Pilate, Reba, and Reba's daughter, Hagar"(28) and enjoy food. The contrast between Pilate and Macon become obvious where Macon cannot talk to the son without finding something at fault with him. Because Pilate's name was created on very unimportant circumstances, she has been unimportant in chapter 1. Granted, it is only chapter one, but it also shows how the names of characters behave.
ReplyDeleteIan Chin
I agree with Ian about Pilate and her family and their happiness. They do seem much happier than Macon Dead and his family. Unlike his family, Pilate and her family are much closer and have better relationships with one another. In Pilate’s house, there are three generations of females who live in it: Pilate, her daughter Reba, and Reba’s daughter Hagar. Although there is no male, the three females are still happy and surviving. When Macon walks by Pilate’s house on his way home, he hears the girls singing: “They were singing some melody that Pilate was leading. A phrase that the other two were taking up and building on. Her powerful contralto, Reba’s piercing soprano in counterpart, and the soft voice of the girl, Hagar, who must be about ten or eleven now, pulled him like a carpet tack under the influence of a magnet” (29). Pilate “leading” shows how she is the head of the household and carries the family. Following is her daughter and granddaughter. Not only are Reba and Hagar following Pilate’s lead, but their singing is “building” on to it, making the sound more beautiful and full, like their family. The harmonious piece also shows the unity and prosperity in which Pilate’s family enjoys. This unity and kinship is what “[pulls Macon] like a carpet tack under the influence of a magnet” back toward Pilate’s house after he initially walks past it. Unlike Pilate, Macon does not have a family who is happy or united. As the head of his household, he has failed to raise a happy and prosperous family, so when he passes Pilate’s house and hears the singing, he gravitates back to the house because he desperately seeks what Pilate has achieved.
DeleteMacon Dead Sr makes me really sad. He does not have sex with his wife anymore, is completely estranged from his son, and is not on talking terms with his sister whom he feels betrayed by. But the worst part is his obsessive business. Macon measures his manhood in keys, and by those standards he is wealthy, successful, and the old-spice guy of men, in other words the very top. But as I mentioned earlier his life is really devoid of meaning. What really got me is Mrs. Bains saying, "A nigger in business is a terrible thing to see. A terrible, terrible thing to see" (22). At first glance it seems that Mrs. Bains is going against the interests of her race, in that she should be excited to see a black man succeeding. But I think Morrison is trying to say that most of the blacks who find success are the traitors.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Theo's comment about Macon being a traitor. He went into business and only cares about getting and staying ahead. He acts just like the white men do towards the majority of the black community because he has no relationship with him. I find it interesting that the only interaction he has with the community is when he's collecting rent, just like the insurance agent who killed himself. I think this is Morrison trying to tell the reader that you can't cut yourself off from your own background, you won't end up happy that way.
DeleteTheo also points out that Macon is completely distanced from his family and really only shows any care for the keys to the buildings he owns. Even his family, people that he should care about, revolve around his abuse and power. Without his anger and cruelty directed at them, "they might not have known what to do with themselves." (11) I think this reflects that Macon is so focused on having power over people that he doesn't think anything else is important. He has worked it so that in every aspect of his life he has total control to the point that he is alienated from everyone.
I focused on Ruth when reading this chapter. What I thought was most interesting was the symbolism of the watermark on the kitchen table. I think one of the things it could represent is Ruth's longing for her deceased father, as he would always put some ornate centerpiece on top of it. When Ruth and Macon first moved into the house, she would try to emulate her father's decoration, and still felt the watermark's presence even in her sleep. This shows how she cannot let go of the memory of her father.
ReplyDeleteHer relationship with Macon seems like a horrible marriage-- she endures constant belittling and abuse from him, and does not fire back at him for such behavior. One of the things she does to deal with this abuse is to continue breastfeeding her son, who is definitely past infancy. She says she does it because "something else is needed to get up from sunup to sundown: a balm, a gentle touch or nuzzling of some sort" (13). The fact that she has to resort to this in order to get affection in the form of a "gentle touch or nuzzling", shows how Ruth never experiences emotions like love anymore, and further emphasizes the distance and poor relationship she has with her husband.
Another thing that I thought was worth noting was that at the beginning of the chapter, her appearance were described as much neater and well-groomed than that of the singing lady. This could show how she is trying to separate herself from the rest of the black community by trying to look nicer than them.
-Although how she got her name isn't mentioned (I dont think) she is referred to as the Doctor's daughter at the beginning of the chapter, which I thought was another example of how she is being overshadowed by men.
-Jessica
For this chapter i focused special attention on Pilate and her family. The family is portrayed by the author as seeming very out of the ordinary, almost witchlike, in how they don't use electricity or rely on many of the modern advancements of the time. I found particularly interesting that the family ate no traditional meals, according to Macon, as he mentions on page 29 saying "No meal was ever planned, balanced, or served"; this criticism by Macon of their eating habits seems slightly hypocritical because earlier on we learn from his wife that he shows displeasure with her food as well (perhaps traditional and expected to a fault). Despite Pilate and her family's intricacies the family in many ways seems closer than that of Macon's, we see Pilate and her family all doing various tasks in a room together while singing (seemingly having a good time), while if we were to meander into Macon's house we would encounter a rigid family structure with Macon showing contempt and disgust for his daughters, son, and most of all, his wife. I thought it was perhaps the most interesting part of the novel so far learning about how Pilate got her name, so far as the book reads her father (Macon) was illiterate and chose a random spot in the bible and had that word be his daughter's name. The significance of the fact that the word he landed on was Pilate, the man that authorized the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is that she is somehow breaking the laws of goodness and divinity by leading the life she and her children lead, a life free from many of the social rules of humanity (the underlying message of this being that conformity is good and nonconformity is sin). The one thing that confused me however was the distancing between Macon and his sister, I was perplexed as to why this happened (other than the obvious reason of how different they both are) and have not found a decent answer. I feel that the most important thing to take away from the entire account of Pilate and her family is that they serve as a direct contradiction to the social patterns of Macon's family and I predict confrontations between their lifestyles soon in the future. ---Dan Harris
ReplyDeleteI was assigned to take notes on Macon Dead III, or Milkman. Milkman is a very interesting character. Though he is only a young boy, we can already distinguish many things about him. Other people in the neighborhood say he is “deep” and “mysterious” and notice his eyes. But Milkman himself seems to be a rather thoughtful, perceptive, and kind boy. On afternoons when his mother has people over he kneels in his room and wonders “again and again why he had to stay level on the ground” (10). He has a strong imagination and big dreams, yet seems extremely disappointed that he can’t do the things he imagines, like fly. It seems he wants to escape, which hints at the idea that he may be unhappy (perhaps because of his father?). When he drinks his mother’s milk he is careful not to hurt her with his teeth. We never hear of any resistance to his nickname. He does not seem angry in any way like his father. In fact, he seems to be a well-tempered child.
ReplyDeleteMilkman seems to have a fine relationship with Ruth, his mother. His father, however, is a different story. I think it’s interesting that Macon continues to pass on a name that has made him feel lost and deprived of an identity to his children. He passes his own full name (Macon Dead), a name that has clearly caused him much grief, onto his son. I find the relationship between Milkman and Macon to be very interesting. Macon’s opinion on his son is given when the narrator says, “this disgust and uneasiness with which he regarded his son affected everything he did in that city. If he could have felt sad, simply sad, it would have relieved him. Fifteen years of regret at not having a son had become the bitterness of finally having one in the most revolting circumstances” (16). He has always wanted a son, yet for some reason, Milkman is not good enough. From what we see of the boy there is no reason to hate or object to him, but Macon is “disgusted” and “uneasy” and “bitter” about Milkman. My guess is that we will find out more about why this is later, but it is clear now that Macon is extremely concerned with his reputation and how others see him. This name that is “not clean” (15) contributes to his hatred, as it reflects badly on the family. But I think it is interesting that Macon never wants to know the details. I wonder how Milkman’s father’s anger and the sour relationship between the two of them will affect Milkman as he gets older. We have not yet seen the two of them interact face to face, but my guess is that their relations are extremely strained. Poor Milkman, he is hated by his father and hasn’t done a single thing to deserve it.
--Laura Gumpert
I think it's interesting how Milkman refers to everything as "dull" after finding out that people can't do the amazing thing of flying. It makes him seem like an incarnate of Mr. Smith, since his infatuation for flying is so strong and everything else just seemed monotonous to them both. Also the relationship between Ruth and Milkman is like a perverse story of 'Oedipus Rex'. It makes me feel like there will be no catharsis in this book. When Morrison wrote, "She felt him. His restraint, his courtesy, his indifference, all of which pushed her into fantasy" (13). Morrison makes it seem like Milkman is Ruth's scapegoat emotionally and physically and that she is having something like an incestioual affair. It's one thing to nurse a kid for a long time, which is a bit strange and uncommon, but another thing to use him for sexual release. The whole issue of Milkman's nickname doesn't improve the relationship between Macon and him when Macon has a sense of what is going on. The only thing though is that Macon doesn't really do anything to confront the issue. Especially when Morrison writes, "So if the people were calling his son Milkman, and if she was lowering her eyelids and dabbing at the sweat on her top lip when she heard it, there was definitely some filthy connection and it did not matter at all to Macon Dead whether anyone gave him the details or not" (17). Ruth's reaction just admits that she is guilty with her visual facial expression after hearing the name, but Macon, he knows that something was done and shuns Milkman and Ruth for it without knowing exactly what was done.
ReplyDelete-Daniella S.
IAN CROWLEY
ReplyDeleteRuth Foster is the daughter of doctor and was the first black woman to give birth in Mercy Hospital. Her son is Milkman, who got that nickname because she breastfed him until a late age. Ruth seems to be a very fragile person. She doesn’t look at herself as strong, probably as a result of Macon abusing her, and doesn’t really know what her role in the world is as she is almost never able to please anybody no matter how hard she tries. She finds herself lost and clinging to anything that reminds her that she exists and is important. Her relationship with her husband is horrible, and she finds no love from him and has to turn to her son to find that love. This is probably why she breast fed Milkman for so long, as it was something that only she could provide for him and it reminded her of a time when it was his only source of food and he needed her to survive. Ruth also obsesses with a water mark on the table in the dining room, as it was where her father had put flowers and it reminded her of a happier time in her life and was a “checkpoint, some stable visual object that assured her that the world was still there.”(11)
Imagination is a powerful influence on a person. Our imagination allows us to be able to dream. It’s our outlet to the impossible. Macon Dead III is unlike the typical child. At an early age he learned that “birds and airplanes are the only things that could fly” pg 9. This let down has impacted Macon Dead III. In fact “he has lost all interest in himself” due to his let down of him flying. Cutting off a child’s imagination at such a young age is detrimental to their growth. This lack of imagination also affects his relationship with his family. His father acknowledges him as a momma’s boy and is completely disrespected by his old man. His father always wanted a son but when Macon Dead III was conceived that all vanished. His father doesn’t like that he has strong relationship with his mother. Macon Dead III is still breast fed by his mother and therefore receives the name Milkman. The connotations of a milkman are very important. In real life, one would think of a milkman as being a nice, friendly and happy guy but in the book we are suppose to think of a milkman as being unclean and impure. Also, milk is white but Macon Dead III is an African American.
ReplyDelete