Song of Solomon – Chapter 3 Homework
Please read Chapter 3 (pages 56-89) and post a comment in response to one of the following questions. Your response should include AT LEAST ONE significant quotation, though you will help yourself if you take notes in your notebook on more than one quotation.
Remember: The below really are OPTIONS. If you have something interesting that you want to say or someone else you want to respond to instead, DO IT! Be a Transcendentalist!
The Options (choose at least 1):
1) To what extent is the scene where Milkman hits his father a turning point? Why?
2) Though Milkman wants to believe that he is being “wide-spirited and generous” and “defending his mother” (69) by hitting his father, there is evidence to suggest that deep down, Milkman has other motives and his actions has unanticipated ripple effects on his family. Why do his sisters give him a look of hatred, for instance?
3) What does Macon tell Milkman about his mother (Ruth)? Do you believe this story? Why? (Keep in mind that what Macon claims is “the whole truth” is later modified by Ruth’s version of the same events). How does Milkman react to these revelations?
4) Why is Milkman obsessed with his physical appearance (his limp, lack of mustache, reflection in mirror p.69)? What’s the deeper significance/anxiety there?
5) How is Guitar affected by his past/family history? What does he associate with the smell of candy? Why does he tell the hunting story? What do these moments reveal about his character?
6) Other moments and/or themes you find interesting, puzzling, confusing, fascinating, or otherwise worth noting?
Milkman notices that his legs are significantly different lengths, which bothers “him and he acquired movements and habits to disguise what to him was a burning defect” (63). At 14, Milkman is still growing up and trying his best to mature. Adults today describe it as the awkward, in between stage. Upperclassmen in high school cringe thinking back to their early teen years. Even in Milkman’s time, kids were worried about fitting in. Milkman already stands out because “he’s Macon Dead’s boy” (57). Macon is notorious for being cruel in business arrangements, but he is also known for his wealth and fortune. This separates Milkman from the other children in his community, who might use any defect against him. Grownups even ostracize Milkman because of who is father is, so it is understandable that Milkman doesn’t want to have any other features that are “different”. Milkman also notices that “Macon had no imperfection and age seemed to strengthen him” (63). Others already treat Milkman differently, but we are usually our harshest critics. Macon tries his best to impose his beliefs on his son, and some do stick. Milkman must compare himself to his father, who he views as flawless. Children always want to impress their parents and earn their approval, so if Milkman sees that Macon “had no imperfection” then Milkman would obviously want to mirror that in himself.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find bizarre about Milkman’s insecurities is how sporadic they are. On one hand, his deep-seated insecurities about his appearance affect his mannerisms, while on the other, he is extremely self-centered. Milkman flatters himself that “sleeping with Hagar had made him generous” to the extent that he would “defend his mother, whom he almost never thought about” (69). Milkman convinces himself that he has the qualities he wishes he had, such as empathy and love for his mother. However, before Macon recounts the story of her relationship with the Doctor, Milkman had never “thought of his mother as a person, a separate individual, with a life apart from allowing or interfering with his own” (75). Milkman lives his life as if the world revolves around him, and consequently, his relationships with everyone, his mother, Hagar, Guitar, revolve solely around his concerns.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, Milkman creates his leg defect in his mind, using it to justify the fact that “because of the leg, he could never emulate [Macon]. So he differed from him as much as he dared” (63). Inventing a fake flaw allows Milkman to be content with the fact that he is unlike his father, who “had no imperfection”. Milkman convinces himself that his faults were caused by a physical defect he has no control over or fault in. This allows him to justify evolving into his own person and ignore his true faults.
The inconsistency of feelings Milkman has about himself causes him to feel unfulfilled and self-conscious. While looking at the mirror, Milkman observes that “taken apart, [each of his features] looked all right. Even better than all right. But it lacked coherence, a coming together of the features into a total self” (69). Milkman’s inability to accept his true flaws and his attachment to the flaws he creates to compensate for the differences between him and his father render Milkman unable to understand how he fits into the world around him. He cannot comprehend a world in which he is supposedly worshipped by all who surround him yet is imperfect. I think that moving forward, Milkman will struggle with his identity as he discovers more about his past and the origins of his name, and as he continues to realize that the lives of his family and friends are not solely focused on him.
It is interesting that the air force pilots, who are traditionally perceived as very masculine, are described in distinctly feminine manner. They wear “beautiful hats,” “gorgeous leather jackets,” “white scarves,” and “silver chains” (57). This is in sharp contrast to the descriptions of Pilate, who wears shabby men’s clothes and is as tall and strong as Macon. Morrison is very skilled at gender-bending her characters’ clothing and traits to emphasize parts of their personalities that are in conflict with traditional norms. It is interesting that Milkman is also described in more feminine terms. He has a “fine” face and “eyes women complimented him on,” but he lacks “coherence,” and thus doesn’t look fully like a man (69). Another contrast is set up in the description of Hospital Tommy. His eyes are “milky, like those of very old people,” but the rest of his body is “firm, lithe, and young-looking” (58). His tone is both “casual” and authoritative (58).
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting that Guitar reveals to Milkman that sugar makes him think of “dead people” and “white people” and makes him sick, and then tells the story of his father getting sliced up in the sawmill and the boss giving the children candy (61). Generally Guitar seems like he is trying to create a tough guy persona, drinking and smoking and cutting class, but in this case he is opening up to Milkman and showing his insecurity. Immediately after showing this weakness, however, Guitar says, “Let’s get us some weed” (62). Guitar’s reaction to sugar made me think of how colonial sugar production exploited the slave labor force, and how the money from that sugar, and the sugar itself, was tainted.
This chapter returns to the theme of whether the sins of fathers are visited upon the sons when Feather says of Milkman, “He ain’t got to be like him--from him is enough” (57). Milkman fears and respects his father, but knows that his defective leg, which seems psychosomatic, holds him back from truly becoming his father, so he tries to forge his own path with habits and style opposite to those of Macon, but “he couldn’t help sharing” certain traits (63). This delights Macon because he now feels that his son belongs to him. Yet Ruth seems to want to turn Milkman into her father, as she urges him to “use Foster as a last name” and become a doctor (69). In this chapter, Ruth uses her inappropriate closeness to her father to taunt Macon to the point of hitting her. She says, “I certainly am my daddy’s daughter” (63) and smiles, knowing this will trigger Macon’s insecurity and disgust as he remembers how he found her in bed with her dead father, with “his fingers in her mouth” (73). It is hard to understand Ruth’s behavior here. She is goading her husband to the point of hitting her and openly alluding to what one would expect she would want to hide as a shameful secret.
I want to expand a little bit on Katherine's ideas about Morrison's representation of gender. Although there are interesting twists on gender in the story such as Pilate's masculine personality and demeanor and the more femininely described air force pilots, Morrison does not fail to add the elements of more stereotypical gender-based characters. The first character that comes to mind is Ruth, who, on the surface, appears to perfectly fit into the typical female caretaker role. She gets married in an attempt to better her life but ends up locking herself away in commitment and is forced to only allow herself to indulge in small, insignificant pleasures such as "grow[ing] and cultivat[ing] small life that would not hurt her if it died" (64). When she tells the story of the wedding she attended, Macon is sure to pounce on whatever mistakes she makes. Through years of petty housework, she herself has become a hollow, lifeless remnant of a person, very similar to Linda's character in Death of a Salesman. However, Morrison adds a very fascinating aspect to Ruth's character that empowers her past the seemingly powerless character she is portrayed as for she possesses the more invaluable power of all: the power over her very husband. Morrison subtly adds a sentence or two about how Ruth is "fierce in the presence of death... its threat gave her direction, clarity, audacity" (64). It seems the only thing that can make Ruth come alive is death itself and the threat of death, which is a very human reaction. As a result, she takes a playful pleasure in provoking her husband to a point past anger. Morrison says it is Ruth's "suspicion of personal failure and rejection" (64) that drives her to do such a thing. Sure, Macon can hit her all he wants, Ruth is still going to end up the one with all the emotional power because she can control her husband's anger. She drives Macon to strike her just so she can feel this emotional leverage over him, which is quite a message Morrison adds to the story. Is she perhaps saying that even though men are stereotypically physically stronger than women, women will always be in the driver's seat for relationships emotionally?
Delete1) I think that a scene worth noting is when Guitar, Milkman, and all the other men are discussing the story of Emmett Till at the barbershop. The stance that many of the men took on the issue was very interesting and not at all what I had expected. I thought that the men would be filled with anger and hatred for the white people that had unjustly killed the young Emmett Till but instead they seemed much more critical of the actions of Till. Freddie exclaimed “He from the North. Acting big down in Bilbo country. Who the hell he think he is?” (81). Freddie and the others thought Till was being blatantly dumb and not understanding the ways of the south. They also claim that he “thought he was a man” and had false confidence in his actions. Although some of the men claimed that he could do what he wanted and that he was just whistling but many objected, still not showing the blaring hate for the people that had unfairly ended the young boys life. I also thought it was interesting how many of them seemed to take the way that whites treated them as a given, showing little to no anger and accepting it as a way of life. It says that “the men began to trade tales of atrocities, first stories they had heard, then those they had witnessed, and finally the things that had happened to themselves...they laughed then, uproariously” (82). The men use these awful stories to create a bond between them instead of tying themselves up with unneeded anger. It seems to be a part of them, a part that on one hand defines their actions and mannerisms and on the other hand is a cloud looming over them as a constant reminder of blatant injustices that face them day to day.
ReplyDeleteI agree that some of the men believed that Emmett Till was at fault, but at the same time there were a few men who were confused and shocked at the realization that African Americans would not find equal protection under the law. Walters says, “Oh, they’ll catch them” (81). After reactions from the other men around about how the perpetrators will actually receive “a big party and a medal” (82) Walters responds in a voice that is “high and tight” (82). This description shows the anxiety that Walters feels about the situation and about how African Americans are being passed over by the eyes of the law because whites are controlling the justice system. In my opinion, the men begin to talk about things that have happened to them as a means of getting over their painful experiences and a way to express their anger at a system that is geared to work against them.
DeleteThank you Sophie and Sara for the insightful comments. Personally, I felt it was no coincidence that Morrison paired the story of Emmett Till with the explanation Macon gives of Ruth's past. At first I was quite confused with how these two scenes had anything to do with each other. However, after taking the time to examine the chapter it became clear that Morrison's goal was to show that in so many situations, concepts of morality are completely up for interpretation. When I first read Macon's explanation of why he hates Ruth so much, I was disgusted by her. In the same way when Emmet Till is stomped to death I expected that the entire community would be in uproar. However that was not at all the case. In line 81 Freddie exclaims "He from the North. Acting big down in Bilbo town." It is as if Morrison is encouraging us to avoid using our moral senses to immediately justify our opinions on someone or a situation. I assume that throughout this book many more bizarre/controversial scenes are going to come up. The story of Emmet Till and the towns people reaction to it, serves to prepare us for how we should go ahead looking at situations. Before immediately labeling something we should look at all aspects and angles even if they may appear morally unorthodox.
DeleteHow is Guitar affected by his past/family history? What does he associate with the smell of candy? Why does he tell the hunting story? What do these moments reveal about his character?
ReplyDeleteUp until Chapter 3, Guitar does not seem to be a deep or meaningful character- concerned with drinking or getting the thrill of meeting Pilate. However, his associations with candy and the story he tells about hunting lend the reader insight into the fact that he is a much more emotionally complex part of Song of Solomon.
Guitar says that sugar makes him "think of dead people" and of "white people" (61). He associates the sugary taste with divinity candy given to his family by his father's boss when his father died. It is important that after Guitar's father got "sliced up" (61), the boss's only actions were to give the kids candy- no compensation or apology for the death gets mentioned. The death of a parent, a formative moment for any child, is for Guitar coupled with the negligence and apathy that those in the white community have for African-Americans. Guitar's visceral reaction to even talking about that experience- he has to disappear into an alley to dry-heave- elicits sympathy for him as someone who has suffered and is not only about having fun or being cavalier in his manners.
When Guitar tells his story about hunting, he demonstrates how good of a friend he has become to Milkman, but he also shows his flaws as a listener. He is trying his best to relate to Milkman by telling a story that represented a similar emotion as the emotion he thought Milkman was having (that men should not hit women). However, after telling the "it was clear to [him] that nothing he had said had made any difference" (87). In my opinion, this is because Guitar does not give Milkman the time to express what was really worrying him- that his mother is a sexually perverse woman. Guitar's penchant to keep talking coupled with Milkman's reticence about the subject result in a fairly unproductive conversation.
Guitar certainly seems to be a poor listener in that he insists that Milkman "just listen, Milkman. Listen to me" (85) because "I can understand how you feel" (84). However, it is important to note that Milkman feels much better after seeing Guitar: "it did bother me. Before I came in here it did" (87). As Kako said, Milkman doesn’t talk in detail about the story of his parents, but it is mostly Guitar who pieces together what happens to him that makes him so distressed. Because Guitar does not know the entire story, he cannot fully understand that Milkman can’t simply “forget it” (87), but he does the best he can to try to help Milkman. I’m curious to know what Guitar means when he tells Milkman that “people do funny things. Especially us” (87), because it is clear that Guitar has personally gone through some drama, most likely in the black community. I disagree that the conversation is unproductive, however, because Guitar is able to find the helpless Milkman a next step of going to Hagar’s, where he could potentially seek additional assistance.
DeleteJust expanding further on the analysis of the candy reaction that Guitar has I found out many things about him and his personality. When he said that sugar makes him "think of dead people" and "white people" (61). Guitar has an extremely strong sensory memory of the sweet taste of candy correlating to the death of his father. He is forced to associate the sweet taste to the "reparations" that were given to his family by his father's boss with extreme sadness and remembrance of his father. This is highly significant insight to the character of Guitar because it is now evident that he is a sensory learner and relies on his 5 senses to remember information or learn things about the world. Unlike most other people he associates a memory with a palpable sense rather than an experience which provides for a deeper understanding of his view of the world. Also this experience is obviously a detrimental one (the death of his father) but the fact that he gets only a sweet candy to quell his bitterness really shows how superficially his father's boss cares for his workers and their families. Morrison's exemplification of the stone-cold and cut-throat working world really leaves an impression and shows the reality of how hard things are for the working class.
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ReplyDeleteThe passage about Milkman walking against the current on a busy street was interesting to me. After his revelation about the origin of his name, Milkman realizes that the street is “crowded with people, all going in the direction he was coming from” and that “nobody was walking on the other side of the street”(78). From his perspective, this dream-like scene must be pretty eerie. It is early evening, well past the homeward rush after work, and yet so many people are out on the street, “all walking hurriedly” in a large mass one a single side of the road. Everyone is “going in the direction he was coming from”, the wealthy area of the town, while he is headed toward Southside. It is odd that everyone is walking toward the wealthy area of town, for the majority of the population should be living on Southside.
DeleteI think there can be many ways to interpret this. One is that this is a figurative scene, a figment of his imagination, that connects to how everyone else seeks to attain his family’s level of wealth. However, Milkman alone is headed toward Southiside because he prefers and longs to be in Pilate and Guitar’s community, whose occupants often reject him due to his background. The cold reaction of the man Milkman approaches in this scene (“ ‘Watch it, buddy,’ the man snapped”) may relate to Feather denying Milkman entrance to the bar for having the wealthy, evil Macon Dead as a father.
I am still confused about why the crowd does not use the other side of the street. Also, why does Milkman continue to go in the opposite direction of the crowd instead of crossing the street?
I think it's important to note that this moment comes not only after the revelation about Milkman's name, but the revelation of a repressed memory of his mother breastfeeding him passed infancy. I think the fact that he figured out his mother "did that to him" and that she probably "did other things with her father" makes Milkman believe that his entire life is not what he thought, which lends to the dream sequence that you described (78). It also supports the fact that other people have mentioned about Milkman being really self-centered; he only thinks of what his mother "did" rather than what was done to her/her side of the story. The crowd "bumps against him" rather than bumping against each other, and tries to talk to a man who is busy (78). Even though this moment is very important to him, Morrison makes it seem like Milkman is to caught up in his own head to understand the events of his surroundings.
Delete6.) What stood out to me as most peculiar in this chapter was the last four pages of rapid dialogue between Guitar and Milkman. As Milkman tries to decide who to talk to once his father tells him the ‘truth,’ he decides against talking to Hagar, Pilate or Reba and decides that “a Drink with Guitar would be just the thing” (76). It is evident that Guitar has become a “bro,” to Milkman in the sense of being a good friend but also as a brotherly figure who can provide assistance for him. As some parts of Guitar’s character are mysterious, the majority of Milkman telling Guitar the situation actually becomes Guitar guessing the situation spot-on. It is as if Guitar has somehow experienced something similar, which seems unlikely from his irrelevant hunting analogy, or he has an astute sense in him. He also seems much more mature than Milkman, perhaps because of his perception of reality and his hatred towards white people because of the prejudice they cast on the blacks. Evenmore, the chapter ends with a clever pun of Guitar mentioning that Milkman’s grandfather was “already Dead,” (89) which brings into question the certain selection of this last name for the whole family.
ReplyDeleteThe scene where Milkman hits is father is a turning point, for it shows the boy himself that he is as strong as his father (if not more), that he doesn’t fear him and respect him by then as he did before and that his family isn’t what he always thought it was.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as he finds himself hitting his own father, Milkman realizes that he is in fact able to beat him, and strong enough to defend his mother. “There was the shame and the pain of seeing his father crumple before any man- even himself”. (68) Discovering himself equal to his father in physical force makes Milkman feel differently about his father, who has always been for him unsurpassable. For this reason, he inevitably loses fear and respect for him, no longer an idol and a boss, but a man whom I can easily threaten. “He also felt glee. A snorting, horse-galloping glee as old as desire. He had won something and lost something in the same instant”. (68) While losing the way he used to see his father, though, Milkman also gains self-confidence, which makes him feel happy and disappointed for his sisters’ not so proud reactions. What also makes the scene a turning point is the consequent decision of Macon to speak to his son about the reasons behind his violence, that also makes Milkman change his prospective on all his family and confuses him until he wonders whether his father has the right to hit Ruth and whether he himself has the right to hit Macon.
Not only was Milkman hitting Macon a turning point in the story because it helped Milkman gain self confidence, but also because it got Milkman thinking about his roots and the origins of his family. Before punching his father, Milkman simply accepted his nickname and his family without questioning anything. However, after his encounter with his father, Milkman gains the title of a "whole man" (70) from his father and is exposed to the reason why Macon has so much hate towards Ruth. After hearing the story, Milkman beings to question his name and how he got it as well as whether he's normal because of how long he was nursed by his mother. He soon begins to question other characters names, like Hagar, and how they got theirs as well. This scene was a turning point because it causes Milkman to mature and creates a desire for him to learn more about his background and family history. However, it also causes him to want to question and feel distant from his family and the other people that surround him (aside from Guitar.)
DeleteIn this chapter, Milkman realizes the source of his name.He figures out that it is because his mother continued to nurse him even when he was "old enough to talk, stand up, and wear knickers" (79). Milkman does not understand his mother's reasoning, "she did that to me when there was no reason for it"(78). I wanted to look into this and see if there was a "reason" for Ruth's strange ways, so I re-read the scene in chapter 1.
ReplyDeleteWhat struck me was that Ruth herself knew it was wrong, but did it anyway. Ruth made sure to nurse Milkman, "before her husband closed his office and came home" (13). Ruth knows that she shouldn't be doing it, so she hides it. She also knows that her husband would not be okay with it, and would be upset if he found out. Ruth is embarrassed by it as well, she avoids, "seeing [Milkman's] legs dangling almost to the floor" (13). Milkman is too old to be nursed and she knows this, yet she proceeds. His legs are "dangling almost to the floor" showing that he is older now. Ruth looks past this. This means there must be something driving Ruth to look past the shame and embarrassment. Milkman himself knows he is growing too old for it. Milkman "came reluctantly, as to a chore" and did it with "restraint" (13), Ruth seems to be forcing Milkman to do it even when he does not want to. What is is driving Ruth to look past all the reasons against her nursing Milkman is the pleasure she gets from it. A part of the pleasure is from, "the room in which she did it" which is the Doctor's study (12). This backs up Macon's story of because it shows the strange connection between Ruth and her father. The strange connection being she finds pleasure from being in her father's room as she shamefully nurses her child. Another part of Ruth's pleasure is "to see golden thread stream from her very own shuttle" (14). Ruth feels like she has something valuable to offer which is "golden thread" and it comes from her. All day long Ruth is criticized by Macon which makes her feel worthless. For Ruth the only time she feels like she has something to offer is when nursing her child. Although very strange there is also a sadness that there is only one thing that makes Ruth feel good about herself.
I think the scene in which Hospital Tommy talks to Guitar and Milkman towards the beginning of the chapter is noteworthy. In chapter three, the reader experiences the southside for the first time. Hospital Tommy tirade in which he tells the boys, "I'll tell you something else you not going to have"(60) repeatedly, portrays the lack of opportunity the poor blacks have. This scene is important because it formally addresses the difference between blood bank residents and Milkman, in regards to the advantages they have had. Hospital Tommy is used as a symbol for the negativity that is fed to the youth in the poor black community. Instead of thinking of ways in which they can enable their youth, and break the cycle of being treated poorly, they degrade their youth and harvest a new generation of people who feel as though they have no control over their destiny.
ReplyDeleteI think the scene in which Milkman is walking against the current in the streets of blood bank is fascinating. Milkman feels estranged from the blood bank residents. They marginalize milkman, and rule him of as pompous and entitled without even making an effort to interact with him. Milkman in Chapter 3 also feels alienated from his own family. After Macon reveals Ruth's past to him, Macon is referred to as "the alien who had just walked out of his room"(75). Milkman walking against the current towards Not Doctor street reveals his emotional removal from the black community. Milkman is too disgusted with his family to return home, thus he decides to spend the night out with Guitar. While arguing about Emmett Till, Milkman refers to Till as "crazy"(88), whereas Guitar empathizes and relates with Till. This reveals the contrasting social philosophies of Milkman and Guitar. Milkman is bound to have a mental breakdown soon, he cannot relate to anyone in his life and seems to have no purpose or cause.
ReplyDelete3) In this chapter we finally find out why Macon resents Ruth so much. He tells Milkman that after her father, Doctor Foster, passed away he saw her, “naked as a yard dog, kissing him. Him dead and white and puffy and skinny, and she had his fingers in her mouth” (73). I assume this is at least somewhat true, as I can’t imagine someone making up a story like that and it would also explain Macon’s attitude towards Ruth earlier in the book. After hearing this, Milkman starts confused and turns angry at his father, saying “What the fuck did he tell me all that shit for” (76) Milkman’s emotions change a lot at this point, and he finally decides to find Guitar to talk about it.
5) This chapter also offers a lot of insight into Guitar’s past and reveals a bit about his character. While talking about the dessert Baked Alaska Guitar says he has never liked candy as it “makes me want to throw up” (61). He goes on to say it makes him sick because his father was killed in a sawmill accident and the boss gave him candy to all the kids. This shows that Guitar is still affected by his fathers death, as he still cannot eat candy because it “makes me think of dead people” (61). This part also suggests that Guitar is not fond of white people, given that he said the candy reminds him of dead people “and white people” (61). This implies that Guitar might have a deep seated resentment towards white people which goes back to his father’s death in some way. This segment also ends in an interesting way, with Guitar and Milkman going to search for weed after Guitar throws up. This is interesting as it seems that he is trying to forget his experiences by smoking.
The reaction of Macon also involves him seeing his dad as an "alien" that had just walked out of the room. He was stupefied and could not comprehend what his dad had told him. He still had the image of him hitting a "helpless person" stuck in his mind. He was not able to believe what his dad had just told him and coupled with the fact that he saw his mother as too insubstantial goes to show that he is disconnected with his family and is almost like a stranger living in another person's home. Moreover when he had hit his father he also saw his sisters as individuals instead of just replicas of his mother as he had seen them before. This realization creates a mix of understandably complex emotions.
DeleteI agree with Juan that Milkman is very disconnected from his whole family. Macon tried to give a reason for Milkman to like him by giving a reason to hate his mother. The only way for Macon to do this is by making her look like a "yard dog" doing these dirty and gross things with her mom. Instead of feeling grossed out about his mother, he gets angrier at his father and get the "urge to smash his father's face"(75). Milkman believes that his father is attacking helpless person. Milkman protect his mother not out of love but out of the injustice he feels that Macon is doing to his mom. Milkman lack of love toward his mom shows more of a disconnect between he and his family. He even sees his mother as not "a person, a separate individual"(75). He sees his mother like property just like his father. His father tries to keep his "property" by physical abuse so it won't leave him but Milkman tries to take it away by punching the owner. It is strange that no one in this family actually think of Ruth as anything more than object.
Delete4. Milkman seems to have a very unusual issue with self image, that I think could root back to his father. He thinks he looks "very tentative...like a man peeping around a corner of someplace he is not supposed to be, trying to make up his mind whether to go forward or turn back." (69-70) The idea of his body unsure of whether to go forward or move back shows his state of development, and after hitting his father right before, he is obviously maturing away from his childlike self, and getting ready to turn that corner, although he knows he shouldn't. Things are going so well for his father, yet his father's hatred towards his mother is still rampant, and turns violent quite quickly at the dinner table. While Milkman sees himself as limp, he is perfectly able to get Macon Dead off his mother. He is obviously strong, but is developing his will to use his strength, since early in the chapter he was dabbling in other things he shouldn't be doing, such as trying to get some drinks from a bar. Macon Dead has shown him that strength is a virtue, with his cold decision to collect the money from Mr. Porter, and Milkman is learning his own sense of values, one of them being his love for his mother. The root of his anxiety traces back to his undermined sense of self, shown with his disappointed after learning he would never fly at the age of four. Milkman also grows up quite quickly, with his aunt being known for making wine, and his illicit activities in this chapter show he is unsure of his own values, and his fathers.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Milkman’s perception of himself is unusual to a certain extent. Physically, he attempts to be everything unlike his father by parting his hair, giving away his money, and trying “to put a cigarette in his mouth every fifteen minutes” (69). However, he still remains innately like his father. He does not seem to change his inner perception of himself as much as he does his outer self. That is the only way he and Macon share a personal quality. Milkman looks in the mirror which reflects his personal change on himself. From the mirror, he is reminded of all the ways he differs from his father. True, Macon Dead does show him that “strength is a virtue” but Milkman is not strong enough to understand that He had just assaulted his father, but that does not render him physically strong. There is still doubt and angst left in his mind whether “to go forward or turn back” which shows that he is still not complacent with his view of himself. He never has been. Milkman never believed he was worthy of imitating his father, and before he can truly change, he must be content with himself.
DeleteAfter reading this chapter I have realized how selfish and self centered Milkman is. He is especially disrespectful to women. After reading that "Sleeping with Hagar had made him generous. Or so he thought. Wide-spirited. Or so he imagined. Wide-spirited and generous enough to defend his mother, whom he almost never thought about, and to deck his father, whom he both feared and loved." it started to look like Milkman defended Hagar only because he "felt generous " at that moment, and not because he loves his mother. Also Milkman "fears and loves" his dad which makes me afraid that there is a chance that he might become rich and greedy, just like Macon. The fact that he is already so self centered means that he is already on that dark path.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting how despite Milkman's action to protect his mother, "there was no one to thank him" (68). Macon seems to get very irritated by something so trivial and his reaction seems unjust, but the fact that Milkman's sisters, Corinthians and Lena, aren't really glad and even had "hatred so full it was about to burst through", show that the two have become accustomed to Macon hitting Ruth.
ReplyDeleteFranklin
DeleteAnna Gargiulo:
DeleteI also found the reaction that Lena and Corinthians had to their father being pushed back by their brother very interesting. I believe that their “lips were swollen in hatred” and they looked at Milkman with a “look of hatred so fresh, so new” because throughout their life, they had gained the position in their family of being above their mother. Instead of being silenced and taught to respect their mother as young girls, Macon always set the example of looking upon Ruth with disgust and regarding her opinions as inferior and not worth listening to. An example of this can be seen in chapter 2, when Corinthians was talking to her father in the family car. Corinthians engages in a conversation about renting with her father, and her father answers her questions fully and completely. Whenever Ruth talks, however, she is met with harshness from Macon and dismissal from Corinthians; her voice has been insignificant and small throughout almost all her life with Macon, and I think that this degradation of the main female figure within the household made Lena and Corinthians believe that they were immensely important. They became drunk off of the power they possessed in the household that should have been their mother’s. When Lena and Corinthians saw their mother being protected, I believe that they saw a sudden threat of the power that they had acquired with the help of Macon’s oppressive way of treating Ruth. This is why they looked upon Milkman with hatred…they are selfish women who don’t love their mother or their brother, but only care about their own lives and what they can do to be in a position of power.
To start I definitely agree with Jason (Fehrnstrom) about the barbershop scene with Hospital and Railroad Tommy. While the rant does put in perspective how minor it is that Guitar and Milkman were denied a beer, it is disheartening to hear how the older generation sets a mindset in the younger. The treatment of blacks at the time is obviously unjust but eventually there has to be a generation that can rise for a chance in treatment. That will never happen with the elders' discouragement. Young black children have enough trauma from the whites, they to get a sense of empowerment from somewhere. Take Guitar's memory of his father getting killed at the sawmill and his white boss simply giving Guitar candy, as if it were a reparation. Now, whenever he smells sweets, he is overcome with nausea thinking about his father and the hatred from whites. That's real trauma, almost phobic.
ReplyDeleteThe other storyline that I'm intrigued by is the relationship between Ruth, Doctor Foster, and Macon Jr. Obviously there was tension between Macon Jr. and Doctor Foster. Macon Jr. describes Dr.Foster calling blacks, "cannibals". When he delivered Milkman's sisters (which shows the odd relationship between Ruth and the Doctor), "all he was interested in was the color of their skin" and he would have "disowned" Milkman (71). Ruth's father makes things very complex in the family because he himself is a racist and doesn't seem to approve of Macon Dead Jr's complexion. The relationship between Ruth and her Father is suspicious because even after he dies, Ruth still sleeps in his death bed. Macon Jr. calls Dr.Foster a, "white rat". I think this is a shot at Foster's discriminatory views of and disloyalty to black people. It's as if he might as well be white.
I do believe that Macons story of Ruth is vaguely true but mostly must be made up of things that he wanted to see because he was already shaken by Ruth's relationship with her father. The affect it takes of Milkman almost mimics the affect it had on Macon. It makes him feel uneasy and gives him mixed feelings towards his mother and his family. He begins to have visions of his mother but they confuse him entirely. They get him angry and flustered and he doesn't know what to do about his history with his mother in relation to the story his father told and his name Milkman. "My mother nursed me when I was old enough to talk, stand up, and wear knickers...(78)" he has memories of his mother but doesn't understand why her motives behind the actions she used to engage in with him, giving milkman more reason to get caught up in the story Macon told him, since his mother had a similar character towards her own father, an overly intense character.
ReplyDeleteI find it shocking that Macon stayed with Ruth even after he found out that Ruth was cheating on him with her own father. Macon for some reason does not divorce Ruth and instead he beats and scolds her. Since Macon is a materialistic man, maybe he didn't want to lose half of his money to Ruth after divorce. However Macon then tells Milkman about Ruth after Milkman had jumped him and this part of this chapter really pops out to me. Milkman's reaction is very weird in my opinion and maybe its because of the shock and confusion. "Milkman's confusion was rapidly turning in to anger...but no. He comes to me with some way-out of tale about how come and why." (76) I think that when Macon tells Milkman everything about how Ruth was having sex with her own father, Milkman was at first shocked that his dad wasn't there to scold him about the beating that he gave him, and then in disbelief after hearing what Ruth had done, and I feel like Milkman doesn't believe his father. He doesn't know who to trust and goes on a search for guitar. I think that Milkman's reaction to the truth was kind of weird, instead of accepting the truth and acknowledging that maybe next time he should understand why his dad punched Ruth, he practically becomes mentally unstable and starts questioning everything. "He wondered if their was anyone in the world who liked him" (79) and also "Now he questioned them. Questioned everybody"(79) and not to forget he questioned his name."How come they call me Milkman" (84) I think that Milkman believes that his entire life was a lie after he heard about what his own mother did, and that's why he's acting so strange and curious.
ReplyDeleteIn this chapter, I think we start to see the beginning of a phase of change that Milkman is going through. It mainly starts (in my mind) when Macon tells Milkman about what his mother did. When he leaves his house, he seems completely out of it, as his emotions are all over the place. The narration, too, seems to go back and forth between reality. Milkman seems to realize that everything he has known and thought is screwed up now that he knows what Macon told him about his mother. He says "his whole family was a bunch of crazies" even though he had previously thought of Hagar and Reba and Pilate as accepting, nice, and loving people. As Milkman walks more, a "cold sweat broke out on his neck", thus showing that something is wrong with him. To me, it seems like this is a turning point in the book-- "Now he questioned them. Questioned everybody" (79). I think in many ways, he is turning into Macon more than anything else. He is turning against his mother, his sisters, and Pilate and her family. He thinks all the women in his family have betrayed him, and everyone Macon hated/s, so does Milkman too now. Furthermore, knowing this speech from Macon came after Milkman turned against him, Macon almost definitely wants Milkman to side with him, especially as Milkman grows older, stronger, and becomes more of an adult. Whether or not what Macon said was completely true, we also know from previous chapters that Macon is afraid that Milkman is hanging out with Pilate, and I interpreted this as he was afraid his own son would desert him and his values like Pilate did. I think this is another way Macon makes sure Milkman doesn't turn against him.
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