Song of Solomon follows Milkman from birth to when he is 31. Recently in class, we talked about whether or not Milkman's fight in Chapter 11 with Saul was an example of Milkman improving or regressing. This was very similar to Milkman standing up to his father in Chapter 3, it is unclear whether or not Milkman is really growing as a character. Compared to other protagonists in other novels, Milkman remains pretty stagnant. There are plenty of moments when Milkman is pretty mature age-wise, yet his reactions and situation resembles that of an adolescent. In fact, if Milkman's age hadn't been explicitly stated that Milkman was no longer a teenager, I wouldn't have realized that this novel encompassed so much of his life because of the lack of growth in part 1.
Qualities such as commitment and being independent are things that Milkman lacked greatly throughout the novel. From his childhood he was always taken care of. His sisters picked up after him, and he never sees things as they really are. His executive decisions are next to none, the only one being when he hit Macon Jr. Guitar also starts to get annoyed with Milkman's disregard for the racist issues around him. These all add to the adolescent feeling that Milkman gives out in part 1.
The first time that Milkman makes a serious decision is when he decides to leave his hometown in search of some answers about his family and the cave that occurs at the start of part 2. Even Guitar is surprised that Milkman has decided to do something on his own. This journey proves to help Guitar grow up and mature (although a good 15 years late). Eventually Milkman learns how to actually interact with people other than those that acted just like him. This journey physically and mentally changed Milkman greatly.
However, when Milkman picks the unnecessary fight with Saul in Chapter 11, I don't believe that was a huge step forward. While he was starting to have his own thoughts, these thoughts didn't really benefit him for the better, or make him more mature. The biggest difference from the beginning of the novel to the end is that he became more adult-like, however picking a fight with Saul over some pretty trivial affairs isn't really a step in the right direction in my opinion.
It wasn't until the second part that Milkman seemed to being making executive decisions, his final one being attacking Guitar after Guitar shot and killed Pilate. This is probably the most decisive Milkman has been, making the decision to fight Guitar, even though Guitar had the advantage of being armed, Milkman musters up the courage to charge at Guitar.
Qualities such as commitment and being independent are things that Milkman lacked greatly throughout the novel. From his childhood he was always taken care of. His sisters picked up after him, and he never sees things as they really are. His executive decisions are next to none, the only one being when he hit Macon Jr. Guitar also starts to get annoyed with Milkman's disregard for the racist issues around him. These all add to the adolescent feeling that Milkman gives out in part 1.
The first time that Milkman makes a serious decision is when he decides to leave his hometown in search of some answers about his family and the cave that occurs at the start of part 2. Even Guitar is surprised that Milkman has decided to do something on his own. This journey proves to help Guitar grow up and mature (although a good 15 years late). Eventually Milkman learns how to actually interact with people other than those that acted just like him. This journey physically and mentally changed Milkman greatly.
However, when Milkman picks the unnecessary fight with Saul in Chapter 11, I don't believe that was a huge step forward. While he was starting to have his own thoughts, these thoughts didn't really benefit him for the better, or make him more mature. The biggest difference from the beginning of the novel to the end is that he became more adult-like, however picking a fight with Saul over some pretty trivial affairs isn't really a step in the right direction in my opinion.
It wasn't until the second part that Milkman seemed to being making executive decisions, his final one being attacking Guitar after Guitar shot and killed Pilate. This is probably the most decisive Milkman has been, making the decision to fight Guitar, even though Guitar had the advantage of being armed, Milkman musters up the courage to charge at Guitar.
Your point at the end here is a good one: we could tell a lot about the progression in Milkman's development simply by comparing the way he initiates (or stokes) the fight in chapter 11 to the way he stands up bravely ("knowing" that Guitar will shoot at his head, he does so anyway) and calls out to Guitar "You want my life? Take it." We're off the schoolyard here, and into some more "epic"-style territory. We could view him as putting up a front in the earlier scene, maybe channeling Guitar a little bit ("where I come from, little boys play with knives"!--oh, really?), while in the later scene he simply presents himself: "Here I am, take my life." And then he makes the "leap," without posturing our hesitation. And as Morrison's narrator suggests, it doesn't matter who "wins" the fight. The point is the leap.
ReplyDeleteIt is honestly a journey that we follow when we read this novel. Milkman makes the change from childish behavior to making his own choices, and it seems so odd in this story because it happens in his thirties. Overall you make good points about how he grows up in the novel and it makes for an interesting read when we think back on how Milkman has changed since chapter 1.
ReplyDeleteMilkman seemed to even regress, exhibiting schoolboy kind of behavior with his fight with Saul. He uses very childish language making homophobic jokes and such. I definitely don't see this as Milkman growing up, as the more mature thing to do here would be to turn away from an unnecessary physical fight. I think it's also noteable that Milkman doesn't even try to really figure out why Saul was upset. He came in feeling so entitled, his attitude rightly set Saul, someone who was not used to such a wealthy and privileged man of color, off.
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