1In order to help you make sure you are on top of the reading, class discussion, and class notes, BE PREPARED FOR A QUIZ on Thursday 6/5 on Chapters 1-10. If you're a good listener and have been engaged in class for all of those days, you shouldn't really have to study for it. If you'd like, study by reading over your class notes, study guids, getting notes you've missed, and re-reading the best points of the blog for each of those chapters.
SoS Chapter 10 Homework:
Choose one of the following to respond to. OR, whatever you find to be better or more interesting:
2) Analyze Guitar’s speech that “everybody wants the life of a black man” (222-223). Repercussions of this speech for the friendship between Guitar and Milkman?
3) How
has Guitar’s past shaped who he is? (speech re mother’s eyes on 224)
4) Milkman’s
character development. Where is he
on his journey to find “a clear-lined self”? To what extent is he making progress in discovering himself
and becoming a better person?
Where is he still sort of a brat?
5) Review the pieces of the family puzzle that Milkman I now setting into place. What does he learn about: the life and death and name of his grandfather? Circe’s role in Macon and Pilate’s lives? The Lincoln’s Heaven farm?
6) The story of Milkman’s encounter with Circe at first seems almost too fantastic to be real. What detail in the story or phrases seem intentionally set to make the reader thing it is all a dream? What details root the story in reality? Either way, what’s the point of Milkman’s journey to see Circe? Why is it significant?
The Hansel and Gretel story is blended with the mythological story of Circe and with the sexual undertones that pervade the novel. Candy is linked to death and to sex in strange ways in this chapter. Guitar remembers with disgust the candy given to him by his father’s white boss after his father is cut in two as “bone-white and blood-red stick” (225). Money is also very tied up in all the death and hunger and sex. Milkman describes the smell of money as “like candy and sex and soft twinkling lights” (250-251). Morrison writes that a “grown man can also be energized by hunger” (219). In Milkman’s case, this is the hunger for that taste of salt, for gold, and through that gold, for freedom. Hunger for love is also a recurring theme in the novel, particularly among women. Ruth is starved of love, Hagar talks of being hungry for things other than food. Milkman’s hunger for gold shifts suddenly to real hunger after he has discovered that there is no gold in the cave. He is so starved that he tears “off a few leaves and put them in his mouth” (253). This evokes Pilate’s constant chewing, and Ruth’s compulsive chewing during her pregnancy when she escapes to Pilate’s home. When Milkman first enters the house, it smells of death, but “odor disappeared and, quite suddenly, in its place was a sweet spicy perfume. Like ginger root--pleasant, clean, seductive” (239). The “ginger root” smell evokes the gingerbread house in the story of Hansel and Gretel, but it takes on darker associations. It is interesting to juxtapose the words “clean” and “seductive” in this sentence. This ties in to the novel’s theme of purity, and the marring of that purity. Sweet fruit is also connected with death. The Butlers “ate the Georgia peaches after they shot his grandfather’s head off” (250). The fruit seems like the spoils of their pillage, contaminated by the blood of Macon Dead.
ReplyDeleteThe Circe myth is also tied up in all of this. When Milkman looks up at the house, he thinks that he sees the “eyes of a child” in one of the windows, and imagines that he is seeing himself (239). These eyes turn out to belong to the “golden-eyed dogs, each of which had the intelligent child’s eyes he had seen from the window” (240). The image of dogs with the eyes of children, and of Milkman believing a dog’s eyes to be his own, brings to mind the way in which the mythological sorceress Circe turns men into animals. Also, it makes me think of Guitar’s eyes, which are repeatedly described as golden and cat-like. When Milkman sees Circe and she forcefully embraces him, believing him to be his father, “her eyes” are “devouring him” (239). She is starved for attention and for love, alone in this decrepit mansion with dozens of vaguely menacing dogs with human eyes, clinging to this welcome remnant of her past. Her “one selfish wish” is “that when she died somebody would find her before the dogs ate her” (246). Due to the myth of Circe, and the child eyes of the dogs, this seems like the dogs’ (or men’s) revenge on her for turning them into animals and trapping them in this witch house with her.
Instead of discussing one of the prompts above, I will write about the contrasting reputations of Macon Dead II in Michigan and in Georgia. Back in Michigan, Macon is respected, but in a fearful, abhorring way. People acknowledge his power and wealth, but despise him for them at the same time. Milkman knows him as a "stern, greedy, unloving man" (234) who he finds hard to accept as a father. To Milkman, Macon has always lacked the compassion one would expect from his father. In Macon's hometown, however, he is more than respect, he is revered. Although he left the town as a teenager, the townspeople are still aware of his hardworking and ambitious nature. In fact, even Milkman "love[s] the boy they describe" (234-235). How could anyone dislike the successful son of the most successful farmer in the area? This part of the story really reminded me of the two plays we read earlier this year, Death of a Salesman and Fences. Both plays trace the turbulent relationships between a father and his son, and both plays investigate the idea of being liked by others. Both Willy and Troy seem to be well-liked by those around them in society, but they still have a rough time getting their sons to show them that same affection. Although Macon is not the most popular man in Michigan, it seems he is appreciated down in Georgia as the people there use Macon to "come alive" and "rekindle the dream and stop the death they [are] dying" (236). I'm not sure exactly what to make of this. Maybe the message is that success is relative; one man's achievements are judged on a totally different scale depending on who judges them. One thing is clear, though. There seems to be a correlation between Macon's rise in wealth and his drop in popularity. Does material gain really make you that worse of a person?
ReplyDeleteQ #2: In this passage, Guitar declares that white men, white woman, and black woman, all want to have control over the life of a black man in some way. White men want black men to be dead, white women want to see a form of submission from black men, and black women want a black man’s “whole self” (222). It is interesting how Guitar describes how black women want to own the life of a black man. He generalizes all black women, and says they are selfish and greedy while in a relationship with a black man. He remarks that black women have a skewed vision of love, because in a relationship, they crave total ownership of a black man and desire that the black man lives only for the purpose of giving them full attention. They don’t care about a black man’s ambitions and dreams, they just want to have constant assurance of a black man’s love. He shows this idea by saying that even if a black man manages to accomplish his dream of, for example, being a great horn player, “you blow your lungs out on the horn and they want what breath you got left to hear about how you love them”(223). It’s curious how Guitar thinks that being in a relationship with a black woman is suffocating, when in the past he did not tell Milkman he was right in breaking up with Hagar. In fact, Guitar made several remarks earlier in the novel that indicated that he believed Milkman was insensitive and wrong for separating from Hagar.
ReplyDeleteAfter this speech, Milkman asks Guitar why he feels that it is so important to vindicate the life of a black woman by killing a white woman when in the end, they are all out to get ahold of his life. He replies by saying “because she’s mine”(223). This is a strange reply, and I think that by saying this, Guitar is trying to imply that he also wants to have a sort of ownership over the life of a black woman, since being a black man means that he is starved of having a sense of ownership and control to make him feel empowered. Having the responsibility of vindicating a black woman’s life makes him feel as though he is the possessor of that certain life.
I also, find it intriguing how Guitar seems to generalize people he think that black men are “universal” and I am wondering what Guitar thinks love is. Earlier in this book Guitar is portrayed as a level headed or at least more level headed than Milkman, and he understands the difference of Milkman dumping Hagar and himself dumping a girl. Yet, now he says that women call “understanding” instead of “love” (222). He is now being depicted as someone who doesn’t know what love is or that understanding is apart of love. I wonder what Toni Morrison is saying about the male and female dynamic this time. I also, wonder what she is saying about love. Is she trying to make fun of women stereotypes?
DeleteAs Milkman's story progresses, there are some subtle changes in his character. To some extent, Milkman is learning to become more independent. One criticism I had of a younger Milkman was that I saw little motivation. He claimed he hated his dad's job and would die if he had to do it for the rest of his life, but accepted it eventually because its as expected of him. The hope of gold seems to give Milkman the push he needs, telling Guitar "I just know that I want to live my own life. I don't want to be my old man's office boy no more" (221-222). Milkman has conflicting past of family drama, which is the root cause of his emotional turmoil. He gets a sense that "everybody wants something from me" (222). The prospect of gold gives Milkman an opportunity he never had before, he can learn to support himself and not rely on those who want him for ulterior motives. However, I also think that he takes some steps back when he travels back to Macon's childhood. As he tells the old men about his dad today, "he glittered in the light of their adoration and grew fierce with pride" (236). As JK has pointed out, Macon seems to have two different personas for Michigan and Georgia. As a boy, Macon was nothing short of an idol for the other boys. They still respect and idolize him, and it seems infectious to Milkman. Everything Milkman didn't like about Macon and how he ran his business becomes something he's proud of in front of the old men. In some ways Milkman progresses because he's able to respect what his father did, but it also shows how easily he is influenced by others.
ReplyDeleteWe learn that Macon I’s real name is Jake and that his wife’s name is Sing. Jake is short for Jacob, who, in the Old Testament, is said to have been born holding his twin brother Esau’s heel, hence its meaning of “holder of the heels” and “supplanter,” which means someone who takes over another person’s place through force, scheming or strategy. The meaning of the name seems unfitting for Macon I’s personality, for he rightfully earns his reputation as “magnificent” despite his coming “from nowhere, as ignorant as a hammer and broke as a convict… and in one year he’d leased ten acres, the next ten more” (235). However, Jake does change his name to Macon, which is related to assuming another’s position who never existed before anyway. It is curious how Sing makes Jake change his name to Macon Dead because “it was new and would wipe out the past” (54). The new name, Macon, is English by origin and has a meaning of “to make.” This new name seems suitable for Jake, for he changes his name to make a new history after wiping out the past.
ReplyDeleteSing is not commonly used as a name but as a verb, which means to make musical sounds with the voice. Singing is a recurring image in this novel, and it is Pilate who is strongly connected to singing, though appearance-wise, Macon Sr. describes himself and Pilate as they “don’t take nothing after her” (54). It’s strange how almost no one remembers Sing, and her description by the only man who remember her is her physical appearance and how she dies in childbirth. Circe later describes Sing as “overcrazy” about Macon I and that “she watched over him like a pheasant hen” (243). It is fascinating to note that, in addition to her protectiveness over Macon I, there are several parallels between Sing and pheasant hens. First, a pheasant hen’s appearance is much less showy than that of a male, which connects to the fact that Sing is less remembered in spite of her beauty. Secondly, pheasants have the ability to fly yet prefer to run; flying is symbolic of success in this novel, and her unremarkableness binds her to the earth and dirt rather than the free sky, where her husband is. Thirdly, juvenile pheasants are noted for their ability to grow quite quickly after hatching, which connects to how Macon II and Pilate grow independently without their mother. I found it interesting that Milkman connects Sing to Hagar when he first hears about Sing’s “nervous love” (243). There is a reason for Hagar to be so anxious about Milkman, for he dumps her, but it seems to me that a wife should feel secure with her husband. It might be a stretch, but pheasants are polygamous, and Morrison could have been comparing such stress of a pheasant hen to Sing’s crazy love.
2. Guitar’s speech to Milkman describes what is expected out of all black men. He says that everything that black men are told means the opposite. When he says “Be responsible,’ but what they mean is, Don’t go anywhere where I ain’t”(222), shows the double meaning that other people talk to them about. Guitar is trying to tell Milkman not to trust other because they never mean what they say. Guitar also talks about how people want more from them. Even though people expect very little from black men but when they succeed they expect the impossible from them and keep on demanding more and more from them. When Guitar starts talking about buying a horn and wanting to play, "they love the music", "only after they pull eight at the post office."(222) They only like things when they are already good and after they pass a certain point they will want "you good, real good - still that ain't enough."(223) They want all these impossible expectations from black men and they expect them to deliver too even though a normal person cannot what hey expect them to do. They want black men to keep on giving and giving to black men until they give away their lives. With all this talk of black men giving and giving, Milkman starts to question Guitar's logic in his speech. When Guitar gives a response to Milkman is still in disbelief and this keeps on worsening their relationship.
ReplyDeleteAlso he seems to display white people as hypocrites. "You tell them 'they lynched my pap' and they say 'you're better than the lynchers so forget about it"(222). Even though the white people arbitrarily kill the black people they expect the black people to turn the other cheek. Moreover when they want a racial loincloth they have one. However I find the speech weird, because everything that Guitar is saying is something negative. Everything does not want me to be black quite the opposite the black people seem to have it bad. Also the ending "choose what to die for"(223) strikes me. It is almost as if he does not realize that he is killing people and children who have not even had time to choose what to die for. I agree with Gavin that Guitar is saying that everyone expects black men to give which reminds me a bit of Troy from Fences. Once agin Milkman is left wondering what Guitar is talking about, and Guitar is spiraling down until he crashes and burns.
DeleteI also found the described aspects of Guitar in this chapter to be interesting. I focused more on question three and analyzed more deeply the passage of his mother receiving money from a white man after the death of Guitar's father. He described the look in her eyes as having a look of "willingness to love" the white people which struck me as particularly interesting(224). This description of her shows that from a very young age he was exposed to interracial contacts that like the one his mother had after the death of his dad. Yet the relationships that he is exposed to seem a bit in-genuine because she doesn't show love but a willingness to do so. This "willingness" to love has changed to a willingness to kill in Guitar's case. Since he was not taught to concretely love other races he pieced together his own feelings for them through his life experiences, but that unfortunately lead to a grim conclusion.
DeleteIn this chapter, Morrison seems to enjoy making a fool out of Milkman and his imperious attitude towards the people of the countryside. For example, Milkman recalls how Ms. Cooper’s hospitality in providing him breakfast “had disgusted him then”, but after his arduous (and not to mention unnecessarily arduous) trek, he experiences “real hunger”(253). Morrison makes a point of mentioning all of Milkman’s belongings, such as the “five hundred dollars” and his “thirty dollar shoes” to show how, despite all of his inherited wealth, his ignorance leaves him hungry in the same woods where his father and Pilate once “[joyous]ly ate raspberries and apples”(167). Milkman proves to be dysfunctional in times of trouble, for he eats the leaves that “were as bitter as gall..spit them out” only to “[get] others”(253).
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting scene was the scene with Mr. Garnett. Milkman does not respect Mr. Garnett just as he does not respect everyone else in the area, as can be seen from the way he describes Flint, the place where Mr. Garnett’s aunt lives (“Jive. No place you’d want to go to”). However, Mr. Garnett seems considerably more cultured than Milkman. He “wiped himself with a navy-and-white handkerchief” when the Coke exploded on him, and does not smoke, while Milkman “gulped the Coke…in three of four seconds” and lets out “a long belch”(255).
I think that the most important aspect of Milkman’s interaction with Mr. Garnett, and what leads me to disagree a bit with Tomomi, comes when he is getting out of the car and asks, “What do I owe you? For the Coke and all?” (255). I think that Milkman is genuinely thankful for what Mr. Garnett has done for him but he is accustomed to a different way of life. Milkman has been conditioned to think that money is the most important thing in the world, especially by his money hungry father. He thinks that the best way to show one’s gratitude is financially, and that since he has taken money from Mr. Garnett, he must repay him. This connects to the idea that Milkman does not care about anyone’s feelings, but simply their monetary value. Earlier in the chapter it is described that he “did not remember ever asking anybody in the world how they were” (229). I do not think that Milkman intends to be rude or disrespectful in this interaction, he was simply not brought up in a manner that left him with the values most important to that community.
DeleteAs Sophie and Tomomi have mentioned, I think we saw aspects of Milkman that have matured and those that have not changed. When he is questioned by Reverend Cooper about what he means when he thinks that there could be change to the white treatment of blacks, he stops himself from responding because he “couldn’t answer expect in Guitar’s words” (233). Although this shows how uneducated he is about the events happening around him, the fact that he realized this is a big step for him. Before, I would have expected him to speak meaninglessly in Guitar’s words without actually knowing what he’s saying. Yet, as expected, the aspects we have come to hate of Milkman have not changed. As he needs to ask for help in this new town he, he realizes that he “had never had to try to make a pleasant impression on a stranger before” (229). This would explain why he appears to us as such an unlikeable character. Furthermore, he expands on this by saying how he “did not remember asking anybody in the world how they were” (229) as we saw promptly in the preceding chapter as he had never asked Lena, Ruth nor Corinthians if they were ever tired. Later in the chapter (247), he is yet again yelled by a female character, Circe in this case, about his ignorance.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter begins with an interesting allusion to the childrens story Hansel and Gretel. Morrison writes, "When Hansel and Gretel stood in the forest and saw the house in the clearing before them, the little hairs at the nape of their necks must have shivered. Their knees must have felt so weak that that blinding hunger alone could have propelled them forward." (219) Here Morrison connects Milkman's search for gold with Hansel and Gretel's search for food in the forest. The "blinding hunger" that propels Milkman forward is the hunger for finding the gold that has eluded him for so long. The two stories are also surprisingly similar in certain aspects. Hansel and Gretel stumble upon a witch's house in their search for food, and Milkman stumbles upon a house in which he encounter's what he thinks is a witch but we later learn to be Circe. This metaphor also could be Morrison saying that perhaps we shouldn't take everything so literally in this book. With inclusion of a few supernatural things (Macon Dead I ghost when Pilate and Macon II go into the cave) and being very similar to a fairy tale, maybe we should attempt and figure out whether or not everything is actually happening or if it is metaphorical.
ReplyDeletePrior to Guitar's speech, Milkman vents about the difficulty he is having trying to please each of his family members. He claims that his father wants his to "hate his mother", his mother wants him to "hate his father", his sisters have had enough of him, and Hagar wants him dead. Guitar explains that everyone wants the life of a black man but for different purposes. White men want them dead, white women secretly want attention from them, and black women want commitment and love (which doesn't seem so unreasonable). An interesting section of this passage is when Milkman states, "except for skin color, I can't tell the difference between what the white women want from us and what the colored women want" (223). This caught my eye because it seems like to Milkman race is insignificant in what he considers to be a woman's expectations of a man. It seems like Milkman sees white women as less of a threat than white men, and Hagar just as threatening as any white woman. Guitar goes on to criticize Macon Dead Jr and Pilate "being to white" so to speak. He calls Pilates act of collecting the dead white man's bones from the cave "voluntary slavery". I think Guitar is being a little rigid because Milkman defends his family well saying that they just want to opportunity and comfortable lifestyle of a white person. A life without fear of racial violence or other discrimination.
ReplyDeleteThe scene where Milkman encounters Circe is very fantastical, and seems to resemble a dream.For one Circe could not possibly be living because Reverend Cooper said she, "was a hundred when I was a boy" (233). Cooper even tells Milkman that Circe has died.So if Circe was dead than how did Milkman speak to her? At first Circe seems to be a part of a dream, but as the dream fades Circe remains. Circe seems way to realistic to Milkman. My reasoning for this was that Circe must be a ghost. This would make sense because Milkman does not believe in ghosts as he laughed at Freddie when he spoke of them. So to Milkman, Circe would seem as though she was still alive even though he knows she should not be.
ReplyDeleteThis might be one of the most interesting chapters in the book so far. I can honestly say it is my favorite because of morrisons immensely vivid use of scenery and setting. For example, as Milkman is making his way to the cave for the first time, his path is riddled with obsticals and problems that he has never faced before. The novel continues to go on and say that Milkman's journey probably could have been much easier if he just weren't so eager to reach his destination. I believe that Morrison was trying to make the point that Milkman was never supposed to get to the gold in the first place. The path was so stressful and harmful that it reflected Milkman's state of mind during the moments when he was traveling to the cave and only focussing on the "smell of money". However, on Milkman's way back, "He sat down and lashed the sole of his shoe to it's top with his black string tie, then walked across the homemade bridge. The woods on the other side had a pathway"(253). After Milkman left the cave, everything was clear for him and he no longer had to struggle. The didn't have to wade through the stream of part the bushes or even climb the side of cave to leave it like he did to enter, he was given a clear path away from the cave and the past. Morrison wants to say that this is the correct direction for Milkman; away from the greed and thirst for money.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found really interesting in this chapter was the parallels that could be drawn between the new characters that were introduced, namely Circe and the Butlers, and members of the Dead family. For instance, Circe and Corinthians are similar in that their work, although not glamorous, has integrity, which stands in stark contrast to the meaningless acquisition of wealth that other characters desire. In contrast, Macon Jr. mirrors the Butlers’ arrogance and quest for wealth. Therefore, the downfall of the Butlers insinuates that aspiring towards wealth can never come to a good end, and foreshadows Macon Jr.’s downfall. Circe comments that the last living Butler “saw the work I did all her days and died, you hear me, died rather than live like me” (247). The last Butler succumbs to her own arrogance, and refuses to live without her wealth and reputation. Therefore, the name “Butler” is ironic because the Butlers refuse to be subordinate to anyone, yet fall victim to their own arrogance and insecurity.
ReplyDeleteWhen Milkman assumes that Circe acts out of love for the Butlers, she replies incredulously, “Love? Love?” (246). She then clarifies that “They loved it. Stole for it, lied for it, killed for it. But I’m the one left. Me and the dogs. And I will never clean it again” (247). Circe recognizes the unimportance of material wealth, yet she is the one who ultimately receives it.
One strange aspect of Circe’s account of the story is when she says, “Folks tried to get in here to steal things after she died. I set the dogs on them” (247). It is odd that while Circe set the dogs on potential thieves, she simultaneously allows the Butler house to fall into disrepair. Circe incredulously responds to Milkman’s accusation that she acts out of love, and replies that she “will never clean it again”, and passively allows the Butlers’ empty possessions and accomplishments to become worthless. It is ironic that the one thing that the Butlers valued eventually becomes dog food. Circe seems to be one of the only self-aware characters (other than Pilate), because she openly acknowledges that she does not act out of love, rather than use it to justify extreme actions.
When Milkman fails to find the gold in the cave, he “began to shake with hunger. Real hunger, not the less than top-full feeling he was accustomed to, the nervous desire to taste something good. Real hunger” (253). Milkman feels real hunger when he cannot find the gold because, for the first time, he does not value wealth over all else. Thus, he feels the absence of real nourishment rather than the “nervous desire to taste something good” when he desires wealth. This is a turning point for Milkman, because for the first time, he values the necessities, food, water, shoes that are not broken, over wealth. This is a break from Milkman’s emulation of his father.
I really like Ella's point about Circe contrasting with other characters in the book, specifically about how she doesn't act out of "love." Milkman feels uncomfortable when he realizes that Circe has "just one selfish wish: that when she died somebody would find her before the dogs ate her." (246). This quote made me stop because it seemed like she was already dead; she had just said "They'll find me. I just hope it's soon" (246). They have to come "soon" for some reason; is it possible that Milkman is making this conversation up while looking at her dead body?? I'm actually really confused about it. Either way, though, Milkman uses Circe's aversion of acting out of "love" to show that doing that, as Guitar does, is an actually "selfish" thing since love makes you blind to what you have to harm along the way. Circe seems to act with principle, refusing to accept the wealth that represents the hardships she has been through, and forcing herself to live in such an uncomfortable atmosphere instead of living a nice life. Guitar "loves" black men and Macon "loves" his status. but Circe sees things for what they really are. She uses her judgement, not her "love" to make decisions. This affects Milkman because he sees that things aren't so black and white and that it is possible, as Circe has shown, to do things for others without any desire for something in return. In a way, this changes the definition of "love" from acting for a certain outcome to acting unconditionally.
DeleteMilkman's character begins to change during his experiences in this chapter, mostly due to his forced self reflection because of his first interactions with other people. At first, when he meets Reverend Cooper, he realizes his complete lack of social skills, and it is the only time in the book so far that he changes how he would interact with someone, which is quite a solid start for Milkman. Milkman's stupidity also becomes more obvious to him, when he realizes how poorly equipped he was for his trip during his travels to and in the cave. He realizes several times that he treks through the mud only to discover a much easier path, and during his walk back to the road, when he misses his ride, his shoes fall apart after his long journey through the woods. After all that, he does make it back to Davillian, only to find that his luggage that he had left at the bus stop wasn't there, a real shocker to Milkman. His new interactions with the outside world force him to realize how he affects people, although the town is awfully excited to meet him due to his esteemed grandfather, and requires development of his social skills. He also is lucky enough to have found someone who knew him, offered him a comfortable place to stay, and even find a ride back to Danvillian and get a free coke along the way. While his privileged lifestyle is changed slightly in this chapter, he still is the same, slightly less selfish Milkman.
ReplyDeleteI think that the reason Morrison references the Hansel and Gretel illusion is to show how Milkman is like Hansel and Gretel because he is looking for a big bag of gold while Hansel and Gretel found a big house made of candy with food to offer. They both represent tempatation and greed, however I feel like the only reason Milkman is falling into this idea that he is greedy and that he wants the gold, to give himself a reason to go to Pittscburgh and Virginia and find out about the real truth in his family. I think that finding out the real truth about what happened in his family is the real pot of gold here because after so many years of hearing biased and skewed stories from Macon and Pilate, I think that Milkman can't handle it anymore, so he decides to use the excuse that he is looking for gold to infact get in touch with part of his family that he has never known. Milkman really isn't greedy and the Hansel and Gretel reference is actually a contrast to what Milkman really is. In a way it seems like with Pilate and Macon, are the witches, and Pittsburgh and Virginia, are the two escape options.
ReplyDeleteThe description of Guitar’s past in Chapter 10 reinforces how misguided or dishonest his beliefs of “love” are with regard to the activity of the Seven Days. After Milkman questions him about his murderous stare directed at Pilate after she bails them out from jail, asking “You saw her face. You ever see anything like that in your life?” to which Guitar responds “Once. Just once” (224). Momentarily transported into Guitar’s mind, the reader lives the moment when the mill owner, responsible for the grisly death of Guitar’s dad, gives Guitar’s mother 40 dollars in compensation. In that second, “his mother had smiled and shown that willingness to love the man who was responsible for dividing his father up throughout eternity,” which disgusts Guitar because “she took it happily and bought them each a peppermint stick on the very day of the funeral” (225). Guitar was not upset at Pilate for bailing them out, but rather for looking the same way as his mother on the day of his burial, faking love to get the benefit of the situation (despite the fact that this fake love is eventually for the benefit of her children). If Guitar’s personification of love is so closely related to feelings of hate, how can he consider himself able to act out of love in the end?
ReplyDeleteAs the story progresses and we move into Part 2, the reader can start to see small changes to Milkman's personality, mostly him becoming aware of his effect upon others. It is evident in the beginning of Part 2 that Milkman's surroundings are changing. Previously in the book, Milkman always felt as though something was needed of him, and that he could not escape the demands of the people around him. In his conversation with Guitar he says, "I have to get out of that house and I don't want to owe anybody when I go. My family is driving me crazy"(222) Milkman's incentive to leave home is his feelings of contempt towards his family.Yet when he is on his own on his quest to find the gold, Milkman finds that things aren't as easy as he thought they would be. As Milkman introduces himself to Rev. cooper, he feels that he " had never had to make a pleasant impression on a stranger before, never needed anything from a stranger before, and did not remember asking anybody in the world how they were."(229) I think that Milkman is on his way to understanding the relationship between giving and taking and is becoming a less selfish individual.
ReplyDeleteJason F
One passage I found very interesting in Chapter 10 takes place on page 229 soon after Milkman's arrival to his father's hometown. He is at the home of Reverend Cooper and mentions that his father is Macon Dead. The Reverend reacts excitedly to this news, saying "I know your people!" (299). Milkman's reaction is abnormally happy- he "let his shoulders slump a little" and finally unwinds from his tense bus trip where he has mainly contemplated his wealthy appearance, how the country does not measure up to what his father said about it, and the inadequacy of all the transportation.
ReplyDeleteHe speaks of the "tremor" in the word "people" that he notices when those in his community say the word. This tremor notes the emotions that those in his community have about their family and how who your family is and where they are from is very important. However, when Milkman thinks about this, he doesn't associate this with himself- he never speaks of his "people" with a tremor in his voice. He has a very low opinion of his family (as demonstrated in his previous talk with Guitar). I think that the reason he is interested in learning about his family and his origins is to find out how his father turned out so mean and if there is anyone in his family that he can completely relate to.
I couldn't find the Chapter 11 prompt, so I'll post here:
ReplyDeleteLike Corinthians, Milkman is relieved when his reputation and class no longer follows him. He enjoys the hospitality and the “attraction” the Southern people offer him, yet he appreciates it more because “none of the pleasantness was directed at him because of his father, as it was back home, or his grandfather’s memory, as it was in Danville” (260). Milkman gains the independence from his family that he wanted, yet he also, at least to some degree, learns that he, not his class or reputation, represent himself, and that he himself is responsibility for how he is portrayed to the world.
On the hunting trip, Milkman is finally able to think freely about the effect he has on others, and realizes that he does not deserve to take and be “loved at a distance” without caring for others. Milkman’s realizations came “obstructed by other things, by people, even by the sight of himself. There was nothing here to help him- not his money, his car, his father’s reputation, his suit or his shoes. In fact they hampered him” (277). Devoid of dysfunctional relationships and values, Milkman is able to transform as a person and realize his past faults. This provides him with freedom. After Guitar’s assassination attempt, Milkman lets go of his own insecurities that stem from his inability to live up to the skewed value system his father imposed on him. The symbol of this maturity is that Milkman walks like “he belonged on [the land]; like his legs were stalks, tree trunks, a part of his body that extended down down down into the rock and soil, and were comfortable there- on the earth and on the place where he walked. And he did not limp” (281). Milkman’s psychosomatic limp resulted from his desire to not be like his father. Therefore, his limp going away represents Milkman’s recognition that he does not have a limp represents an understanding that he will never be like his father, and that he must stand on his own feet, without excuses, and take ownership of who he is. It also represents the connection Milkman has to the land in Virginia, both literally and metaphorically, as he is attacked to the culture and value system that defines it as well.
Milkman’s relationship with Sweet exemplifies his changed personality. While Milkman uses Hagar and consequently discards her, Milkman’s relationship with Sweet is reciprocal. When she bathes him, “he soaped and rubbed her until her skin squeaked and glistened like onyx. She put salve on his face. He washed her hair. She sprinkled talcum on her feet…” (285). The simplicity and directness of Morrison’s descriptions shows the fairness and equality of Milkman and Sweet’s relationship. While it is somewhat odd that the most functional relationship in the novel is one of prostitution, it shows that Milkman has grown emotionally to the point where he can support others, rather than just taking.
Milkman is developing his social skills and relationship with others very well along his journey. For the most part, people are quite nice and take a liking to him, even if is isn't always the most polite. But when he arrives in Virginia, his terrible and inconsiderate social skills get him into a knife fight, when "he hadn't even bothered to say his name, nor ask theirs."(266) Milkman still needs a ton of work if he wants to be able to have conversations with people without them trying to kill him. Just after the fight is broken up however, Milkman is abruptly asked to go hunting. But this time, even a mere five minutes late, he knows he needs to act differently. "He laughed again 'Name's Omar.' 'Macon Dead'." (269) While less than five minutes ago he had very little concept of introducing himself by name, instead of introducing his privileged story, but this time he knows. better. While Milkman still has a long way to go, he is showing improvement, and quick improvement at that.
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