Toni Morrison, the most lauded American writer of our time, is also a profound scholar and critic of the American tradition, and her 1977 masterpiece, Song of Solomon, is a postmodern work that is in many ways a continuation and a critique of the literature we've been reading all year. Morrison gives us, as Miller does, a family; like Hawthorne and Fitzgerald and so on, she critiques American society and shows us a character who is in direct opposition to it; like Twain and Melville, she has her young protagonist go on a meaningful journey; like the transcendentalists (and Edwards and Cather and Whitman and Dickinson and Hemingway and Crevecoeur and so on), she is deeply interested in the American landscape and the relationship between people and nature.
Morrison is also African-American, and that fact shapes the novel in significant ways. For instance, I read the second half of the book as a reclaiming of the American pastoral tradition for African Americans. To this day, the relationship of African-Americans to "the woods" is often seen as conflicted and difficult; I have had Black students who talked about nature as something "white". So Song of Solomon in a sense reclaims nature for Black America--but it's a universal theme, and the book dramatizes the relationship of all of us urban-dwellers, both Black and other, to our ancestral pastoral past.
You should keep up with the reading schedule on the right, and for each night's reading, you should comment on a blog post. I will get posts up a couple of days before the comments are due. If you can't comment for technical reasons you may email me at eric_colburn (at) brookline (dot) k12 (dot) ma (dot) us or you may bring a written comment to class.
For Wednesday, read chapter 1 and write a comment about a very brief moment that you thought was interesting. Quote brief snippets to help you make your point.
There were a lot of weird moments of highly sexually charged scenes. Most of them came right out of the blue and totally shocked me(in most cases disgusted me) and clashed Morrison's elegant writing with very obscene subjects like breast feeding a large child(really weird), sex life of Ruth and Macon, Porter, and Ruth and the Dr (incestuous relationship?).
ReplyDelete"secret indulgence... she unbuttoned her shirt and smiled... once a day... [Milkman]tried pull milk from her flesh" (13)
"he entered her and ejaculated quickly" (16)
"At sixteen... ecstasy... seemed to be shining in Ruth's face when he [the Dr.] bent to kiss her" (23)
"I want someone to fuck!... peed over the heads of the women" 925)
A part of the chapter that I thought was interesting was when Morrison was describing the hatred of Macon Dead towards his children and wife. She describes Macon's "hatred of his wife" and the "disappointment he felt in his daughters" and it makes me wonder why he married Ruth in the first place. Later in the chapter it shows Macon didn't need the money from Ruth's father because he was making his own money. He barely knew Ruth yet he wanted to spend time with her and eventually married her. If he detested her so much, why did he waste his time? It's also unclear as to why he is disappointed in his daughters and ultimately his son. At the same time, they all grapple for Macon's attention and ridicule. The whole dynamic of the family makes no sense and this initial description of their life on page ten is really interesting.
ReplyDelete-Bianca Dempsey
I was most surprised by when it is revealed that one of Ruth's secret pleasures is breast feeding her son, whose age is unknown but identified enough so that he has teeth. Typically, this means that breastfeeding days are over as this is now seen as inappropriate. I don't think however, that this is going to lead to sexual abuse on Ruth's part. As when the tenant discovers this Ruth gives off a look of "simple shame" (14). These afternoons are later described as "strange and wrong" in the interpretation of Freddie, and of Ruth as well.
ReplyDeleteThe emphasis on the names of the children in the Dead family stuck me as very interesting. I was led to believe at the beginning of the book that their names weren't odd or unusual to them, but only to us. Instead, we find that on pages 18-19, Macon's father was someone who "couldn't have cared less," thus naming them in an extremely weird fashion. The nurse trying to stop Macon from naming his daughter Pilate was also a pretty moving scene. It meant a lot to her as a Christian, and I'm sure her name plays a somewhat large role in who she grew up to be. The naming of the Dead family is certainly an intriguing topic, which I don't doubt will come up many more times throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteWhat I thought was interesting in this chapter is the very last scene when Macon is looking into the window of Pilate's house. We hear a lot about how Macon hates his sister and is embarrassed by her. He is ashamed of her and the way that she conducts herself and hasn't seen her in years. This broken relationship is something that I first thought Macon was fine with, but while he sees her, he reminisces about her and their childhood days. Pilate is the "person who had been his first caring for" (30) I think that this scene gives us a different side to Macon and shows us that he still has a "family instinct" in him, as opposed to what we see at his home with Ruth.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to Macon's views on his family, my initial confusion was replaced by understanding as the chapter progressed. It is told to us that Macon hates his wife,children (as much as a father can) and sister. He is desperately ashamed and disapointed by each and every one of them. What i found interesting was the way his family seemed to feed off his disgust, it was as if they had accepted there was no pleasing him and upsetting him was the only way to gain any sort of recognition from him. I think that Pilate's selling of the wine to Porter may have been motivated by that, just as Ruth's sick passtimes do: they would do anything to get a reaction.
ReplyDeletei found the scene near the end of the chapter, when Macon is walking home to be very interesting. As we are introduced to him, he seems to be such a rough, hateful man who only really values his business. As such, the sense of sadness and almost pity that arise as he thinks about his home,"his daughters, boiled dry from years of yearning" and "his son, to whom he could speak only if his words held some command or criticism", is very confusing because the overwhelming majority, if not all, of this sadness is his fault.
ReplyDeleteSomething that immediately caught my eye was when Ruth's situation is contrasted by what it appears to be, and what it is. It's far from an innovative idea (at least given today's standards). But I thought it was put fairly poetically when Ruth's not friends envy her "dark house of twelve rooms" (9) while people who actually know her pitied her "prison" (10). I suppose this is less interesting in terms of plot, but more in terms of concept. Rich(er) people are rarely pitied, and are more often spited. But Morrison couldn't have put it much more eloquently when she said "the house was more prison than palace" (10).
ReplyDelete-Sam P.
Most of the names and nicknames of characters in the book are pretty unusual. The one that stuck out to me the most was Macon Dead. Unlike other names in the book such as the Milkman, he did not receive his name due to something he did; he was born with it. As the years progress he seems to be living up to fulfill the destiny of his name. He is basically lifeless: He hates his wife, is disappointed in every single one of his kids, and doesn't even take any initiative to change anything. He gave up, which makes him metaphorically dead.
ReplyDelete-Keinan
I find Macon's disgust towards his family intruiging. While scarcely a page goes by without Morrison referring to Macon's hatred of his family, she also mentions that Macon did not always feel this way. The author describes a pleasent time in Macon's relationship with his wife - when Macon "had a head full of hair" and he would undress her and "they giggle occasionally." Similarly, Macon's contempt towards his sister stems from an unidentified event at which "they had separated outside that cave" after "her betrayal." Morrison presents Macon's relationships with an air of mystery. It makes me wonder what events could have changed Macon's feelings so drastically.
ReplyDeleteThe description of Pilate's birth caught my eye and I thought it was very interesting and connected her birth to her life in general. "After their mother died, she had come struggling out of the womb without help from throbbing muscles or the pressure of swift womb muscles."(27) She encountered struggles in her life, but Pilate was strong and got through it on her own, which just made her stronger. She never had that "reliable source of human nourishment"(28), but she had to survive on her own, which was how she lived her life as well.
ReplyDelete-Chloe Fishman
The scene in which a name was chosen for Pilate was quite strange. Macon's description of the group of letters that he chose was "a group of letters that seemed to him strong and handsome"(18). The words that he chose ended up being the name of the religious figure responsible for the killing of Jesus, described as "Christ Killing"(19) by the midwife. The fact that this name stuck out to him, and that even after the warnings of the midwife he decided to stick with it seems to hint at the kind of character Macon is. He certainly isn't described as a particularly gentile or good man, but this lends itself to a truly malicious image.
ReplyDelete-JD Nurme
A moment I found interesting was the habitual, brief one during which Ruth's eyes fall on the water mark on the table. In writing, "her glance was nutritious; the spot became, if anything, more pronounced as the years passed," Morrison describes the mark in a way that is just as (seemingly) bizarre as Ruth's focus on it. Although it at first may seem odd that Ruth views a simple wood stain as something almost lifelike - "a huge suede-gray flower that throbbed like a fever, and sighted like the shift of sand dunes" - we soon learn its subtle significance. It reminds Ruth that her life is not a dream, and one which we realize would be a nightmare, because it is a harsh stamp of the reality that the bliss of her childhood is gone.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Farman
The scene that stuck out to me most was how Milkman got his nickname. I thought it was extremely peculiar that such an old boy was being breastfed. More so, Ruth knew it was weird and even Milkman did too; this action, "confirming for him what he had begun to suspect-that these afternoons were strange and wrong." I wonder why Ruth still does this and if Freddie hadn't caught them, how long it would have continued for.
ReplyDelete(sorry - pages 12 and 13)
ReplyDelete-Amanda
While reading the first page of Song Of Solomon I was surprised by the very frist sentences and how they reflect so much. “The North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance agent promised to fly from Mercy to the other side of Lake Superior…” I found this sentence really interesting because, “North Caroline” is in the south but it has the word north in it which could represent the south and the north of migration of African Americans. Other interesting metaphor is when Morrison writes “mutual” and “life” in the same sentences it represents how African Americans struggled for equality. The last thing that I found really fascinating is how Morrison writes how the agent is “flying from Mercy to the other side of the Lake Superior…” how African Americans migrated into the north to start up their new lives.
ReplyDelete-Shira Hartman
Something I found interesting was how invested Ruth was in trying to get rid of the stain on her table. She always does her best to make the table beautiful by having "something to grace the dinner table in the evening" (12) and as a result has an ugly mark that seems to represent her husbands constant and obvious disapproval. The same goes for her food. Every day she tried very hard to make something that he would like, even trying to create new desserts in cases were "the sunshine cake was too haggled to put before him" (11). I wonder why she is always trying to please him even though she gets nothing out of it.
ReplyDeleteMacon's hatred of his family, particularly his wife is very strange. It seems as though she cannot make him happy, regardless of how hard she tries to. For example, the food she makes him is described as "nauseating" because "she simply didn't know how" to cook. Throughout that entire passage (p.11), it seems as though she tries to fulfill her domestic duties and please her husband to a certain extent. He seems extremely ungrateful.
ReplyDeleteA brief moment that I found interesting, but even more despondent, in the Song of Solomon was the scene where Macon Dead would not give Mrs. Bains an extension on her rent. Mrs. Bains has several grandchildren and not enough money coming in to even "keep a well-grown yard dog alive" (21). But Mrs. Bains' circumstances seem to have no effect on Macon's conscience, as he does not even consider giving Mrs. Bains more time to pay her rent. The scene ends with Mrs. Bains leaving Macon's office and returning to her grandchildren, who imply their fate by Granny's silence.
ReplyDeleteCorey
I found the scene with the interaction between Porter and Macon to be particularly interesting. Something that we see throughout the chapter and specifically in this scene is Macon's total lack of any empathy. Porter holds a gun to his own head, threatens to kill himself, and Macon gets angry with him, saying "Float those dollars down her, nigger, then blow yourself up!" (25) Macon eventually points his own gun at Porter. It seems that Macon either does not know or does not care about dealing correctly with people threatening suicide. It is somewhat unclear who the real main character/protagonist of the story is; if it is Macon, he certainly doesn't inspire the reader to like him in the first chapter.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting when Macon is walking home and is passing Pilate's house and stops because he has a vision of his own home that repulses him. It seems that he sabotages every relationship he is in and now keeps people at a distance. He once loved his wife and sister but now is purposfully mean to both of them and can't decide what he wants.
ReplyDelete~Lily
I was a little weirded out when Ruth invites her son into the room to breast feed him even though he is well past infancy. This scene definitely grabbed me by surprise, "...she unbuttoned her blouse and smiled. He was too young to be dazzled by her nipples, but he was old enough to be bored by the flat taste of mother's milk, so he came reluctantly, as to a chore, and lay as he had at least once each day of his life in his mother's arms and tried to pull the thin, faintly sweet milk from her flesh without hurting her with his teeth". What i found weird and confusing was how she turned to her son for pleasure...i hope I'm not the only one that finds that a little strange.
ReplyDelete-Jack Corcoran
One scene that struck me as particularly bizarre was that in which Porter threatens to kill himself and then continues "cowering, screaming, threatening, urinating, and interspersing all of it with pleas for a woman." (26) This scene reveals both Porter's desperation and how lightly Macon treats suicide threats and other issues (it seems that he is solely concerned with money). I also found Porter's speech about the burdens of love very interesting: Porter drunkenly bellows, " 'If [love] killed Him, what You think it's gonna do to me?' " (26) This is unexpected, as before, he was demanding " 'somebody to fuck' " (25) yet now he pleads to the crowd, " 'Don't give me love.' " (26) This presents a contrast between his perceptions of sex and love.
ReplyDeleteI thought the most interesting scene was the intense and powerful scene between Mrs. Bains and Macon. Mrs. Bains has already established herself as a powerful presence, and Macon is a hateful person living for power. Two see two large personalities unite was interesting, especially because they were such equals. This is clearly a dispute, and yet they spoke "without any hint of conflict" (21) What struck me the most was that even while blatantly crying Mrs. Bains never loses any power, especially because this isn't young and foolish, with "more juice," washing down her cheeks. The tear "simply gleamed" and that simplicity kept her stance solid. Finally, though literally she loses the dispute, she clearly has all the logical and emotional advantages over Macon. Her odd victory is claimed in stating "What's it gonna profit you, Mr. Dead, sir, to put me and them children out?" Her point is clear and correct and she knows it. She knows despite going in equals she leaves the superior, and she lets the children know by saying "A n***** in business is a terrible thing to see. A terrible, terrible thing to see." In such simple dialogue and description a rich dynamic develops between the two forceful characters.
ReplyDelete~Rebecca
As I read Chapter 1, I was really surprised that Ruth's son is still breast fed. It was shocking to me that Ruth got pleasure out of doing this task. The line, "It was one of her two secret indulgences - the one that involved her son - and part of the pleasure it gave her came from the room in which she did it," (pg.13) shows us that Ruth looked forward to breast feeding her son. In another line, "He was too young to be dazzled by her nipples, but he was old enough to be bored by the flat taste of mother's milk, so he came reluctantly, as to a chore, and lay as he had at least once each day of his life in his mother's arms, and tried to pull the thin, faintly sweet milk from her flesh without hurting her with his teeth," (pg. 13) tells the reader that the son already is realizing that maybe he shouldn't be doing this. The son tries not to hurt his mother with his teeth and at the same time it is such a strange moment. The fact that Ruth keeps this a secret and continues to feed her son is just strange. Absolutely strange the way she goes about this situation.
ReplyDelete-Ayan Noyan
Getting at the earlier point in class about how Morrison inadvertadly makes women look better than men, Ruth seems to be made out as a heroic victim in her marriage with Macon. This stood out to me when Ruth was talking about a centerpiece, a possible symbol for herself. The analogy between the centerpiece and Ruth was drawn from the "cut" (12) made by the "wind" (12) at her "ankles," (12) just as flowers stems are cut at their stems and placed in a decorative vase, or in Ruth's case a "skirt" (12). More specifically, she (the centerpiece) is something that, in Macon's opinion, 'most people overlook' (12) and 'don't see anything beautiful in.' (12) Macon's low opinion of his own life makes Ruth out to be a victim of sorts. What makes her a heroic victim in the family is that in the centerpiece, Ruth, is what holds the tenuous marriage together as they come together every day, "just the two of them" (12) "at dinner." (12)
ReplyDelete-COLBY
An interesting scene was when Macon Dead the Third earned the name Milkman and his father's thought afterwards that "Milkman" was a dirty nickname, somehow worse than the everyday dairyman that delivered milk.
ReplyDeleteJosef Shohet
I thought that Macon Dead's conception of names and naming was quite interesting. Macon even slightly detests his own naming, for "surely, he thought, he and his sister had some ancestor, some lithe young man...who had a name that was real," (17). A real name, according to Macon, is "a name that was not a joke, nor a disguise, nor a brand name," (17). Macon seems to be searching for something lofty and, in his mind, currently unattainable. I wonder whether Macon's own children have "real" names. Additionally, why would Macon name his son Macon as well if he looks so poorly upon the naming of himself and his sister? This entire controversy conveys to me that names and the nature of them (Macon Dead II's renaming to "milkman" as one instance) play a large role in identity.
ReplyDelete-Anna Parkhurst
The description of how Macon III loses hope and interest after learning, "That only birds and airplanes could fly,"(9) is very interesting. As Mr. Colburn said, in Morrison's books, the underlying metaphors are often introduced in the first chapter. Even at the young age of 4, Macon has realized the futility of trying to escape his oppressive father and society. Thus, "Flight" is a symbol for escape to freedom as shown by Robert Smith's flight, which may have killed him, but certainly led him to freedom. This is most likely foreshadowing an important theme present throughout the book. Morrison's 2004 forward to "Song of Solomon" described the significance of the North Carolina to Lake Superior "flight" as seen in the first sentence, which alludes the the passage north taken by black slaves to freedom. Flight can refer to either literally flying, or to escape, and the two are very interrelated in the first chapter.
ReplyDelete-Mike W
I was interested by the line where we learn that Macon hates his wife partly because of a memory he has of her kissing a dead man's fingers. This is not elaborated upon further as far as I could tell, and is mysterious.
ReplyDeleteI found the line about how Macon treats his family, ad specifically his daughter's very interesting. It says he keeps his family "awkward with fear" but at the same time the way he breaks apart their confidence is the " single most excitement of their day". This line really gives the sense of how completely disfunctional the family is
ReplyDeleteGabby st pierre
The prose so far is scattered with things that are 'odd'. In fact, it can be seen as nothing more than a collection of scarcely related little anecdotes. A good example of this is the paragraph that spreads over pages 27 and 28. It introduces by talking about the pine trees backing Pilate’s house. Then after a brief shift to praising of her mouth, he claims that “she had been like his own child” (27). Although it flows in context, it is not backed by any evidence – before it or after it. It then proceeds in giving a graphical account of her unusual birth and abnormal physical characteristic. Halfway through this description, the sentence “But the rest was true” serves as a logical break rather than a clarification (28). Had the information after this break been more realistic than the information preceding it, its inclusion may have been justified. But as the account gets progressively less realistic, it only serves to confuse the reader. Finally, he ends this odd and seemingly insignificant account by making a short statement about his “drive for wealth” (28). In a way, the whole paragraph reminds the reader of one’s train of thought. But it does so in a strikingly bizarre way. Or at least so it seems.
ReplyDeleteI really loved the part when ruth goes out and sets up the wood and seaweed centerpiece and how she descirbes the beauty of it and how she doesn't have to do much because the beauty of nature is already there and so effortless. The way she spoke about nature's beauty really hit home with me because I feel the same way, seeing the colors of the sky or a huge landscape of nature really is more beautiful than anything people can do or recreate
ReplyDeleteElla macveagh
DeleteMy favorite part of the first chapter was Macon Dead's reaction to Milkman's nickname. It was a great reflection of his character that he deduced it as "dirty, intimate, and hot" (15) and also that he figured "it had something to do with his wife"(16). This shows that along with his negative outlook and maltreatment of his family, Macon is also a character who is quick to pull apart gossip and get to the heart of things. His bitter countenance also has a humor to it, and this shows throughout the entirety of chapter 1 and makes for a slightly entertaining read, despite the dark family dynamics.
ReplyDeleteI thought the part where Macon talked about his houses as he was walking home was really interesting. When he was walking home after getting his money from Porter his houses seemed like "squat ghosts with hooded eyes" (27) and he felt like they were "in a league with one another to make him feel like an outsider" (27). I liked this because for most of the book so far Macon has seemed like a cold, unfeeling person who had to weaknesses, but these houses are able to draw a reaction from him that people can't.
ReplyDeleteI found the moment that Mrs. Bains does not get the extension of her rent, because she could not afford it. Macon Dead, the house owner, does not extend her rent and says, “keep a well-grown dog alive” (p. 21); it is a mean of him. Furthermore, Mrs. B keeps trying persuading Macon Dead to give her more time to pay, but he does not listen to her at all. This scene later ends sadly; Mrs. Bains goes back to her grandchildren, who are happy and loud, breaking Mrs. Bains silence of sadness.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Oh
I was interested by Macon's response to Mrs. Bains and Harry Porter. He denied Mrs. Bains cheaper rent despite her lack of money to feed her grandchildren. He went to Harry Porter to collect his rent after Porter was making threats of suicide. Both instances display Macon as selfish and materialistic, placing his own ambitions before the troubling situations of others. This materialistic trait is reflected in other parts of the chapter such as Macon's rejection of his sister, and the acceptance of names being insignificant(Macon I, Macon II, Macon III). Macon's default acceptance of materialistic values over emotional values(did not hesitate to reject Mrs. Bains) suggests that he is afraid of sentimental emotions. Furthermore, this suggests that Macon is haunted by his past because he most likely experienced emotion in his past. His obvious attempt to avoid his past could be why Macon only focuses on affluence and self advancement.
ReplyDelete-Oliver Sablove
I found the moment when Macon Dead's aura and effect on the house and all the family members was described interesting. his "contempt" and "disgust" for his wife, and how he "mired the wit and elegance" of his daughters.
ReplyDelete~Marie Kolarik
To me, the part where Macon Dead was discussing how his father named Pilate, "thumb[ing] through the Bible", copying down words the way "illiterate people do." Not only was this style unconventional and interesting, but it explains the strange names in he family. And honestly, the contempt that Macon Dead shows for his daughter after his wife died giving birth to her ("I asked Jesus to save me my wife,") is really striking. Physically binding Pilate's name to Pilate in the form of an earring seems to be a cruel form of punishment as well.
ReplyDelete~Daniel Krane
My favorite part of the chapter was the scene were the white nurse tells guitar to get the security guard, and spells out the word admissions to make it easier for guitar. She disrespects guitar by both spelling the word out, and when she acts very surprised when guitar tells her his name. Guitar finds a clever and non hostile way of getting back at her, when he points out she forgot an s. This scene shows racism, where the white nurse questions the literacy of a young black boy, and also his unusual name.
ReplyDelete- Sam KW
I found Macon’s character very interesting because of his immense spite for his wife. He creates an even more awkward family dynamic because he likes to keep the members of his family, especially the female ones, “awkwardly in fear”. I feel as though his character is one that many people can relate to, because it seems that certain family members will feel the need to become irrationally angry in order to invoke fear and some how respect. I find Macon’s character disgusting and one I can relate to because of the men in my family. I that even today, men in families are allowed to take out their anger on their wives and daughters simply because they live unsuccessful and unfulfilled lives. Macon is obviously not happy, however has shown no effort to try and improve his circumstances. Instead he jumps at every insult he can give his wife, and makes the people around him miserable.
ReplyDeleteI thought the ending of chapter 1 was one of the most interesting parts of the chapter. Macon Dead constantly relays to the reader how he hates his sister, and is embarassed by her, her job, and the way she lives, yet he goes out of his way to stop by her house. Macon hides outside of his sitere's house purely to observe. "Reba was cutting her toe nails with a kitchen knife or switchblalde...Hagar, was braiding her hair, while Pilate..was stirring something in a pot." Macon regards the lives of his sister, her daughter, and her grand daughter as a careless time spent on doing whatever they want, like children. However, he seems to be attracted to this life style and acts like he is a little jealous of such a lackadaisical life style.
ReplyDelete-Jordan Bayer
One of my favorite scenes in the book is when Porter gets drunk and threatens to kill himself. One would expect someone to try and save him, but instead, all Porter gets is a barrage of encouragment. Especially from Macon Jr. who instead of helping his tenant, does nothing but berate Porter, and doubt his purpose.
ReplyDelete-Chris
i found family dynamics to be the most fascinating thing in the chapter. Every member of the family has their own unresolved psychological issues that they try to make up for. The most damaged is definitely Ruth; she has to always fel needed but underappreciated.She breast feeds her son who is way too old for this, however not for health reasons but for sexual pleasure which is just so wrong in my opinion. She also knows that it is frowned upon and that her husband would not approve of it if he knew, hence "the terror that sprang to Ruth's eyes"(14)when she gets caught by Freddie, but that probably makes her enjoy it more because it's a way for her to get back at him.
ReplyDeleteAnya
I thought the way Morrison relays her morals to the audience is interesting. Morrison seems to be a very opinionated woman and she is able to make her opinions apparent through her writing. This is seen when Ruth drops Macon Jr. when she is breast feeding him, indicating that there is a perverse intent behind it, when the scene AFTER Macon Sr. refuses to give Mrs. Bains an extension on the rent, she returns to her grandchildren, resulting in an obvious "pity party" scene, and when the nurse condescendingly spells out Admissions for Guitar but his spelling actually ends up being better than hers.
ReplyDeletepema
I thought that the way that Morrison integrated historical evidence into her novel in a descrete manner was very interesting. In the beginning of the chapter Morrison writes about how Mains Avenue had evolved and been deemed "Doctor's Street" because the first "colored doctor" had lived on that street. She writes about how when people started being drafted they would register themselves under the address "Doctor's Street" rather than "Mains Avenue" which led to quasi-legitmatacy of the new name.
ReplyDelete"Without knowing any of the details, however, he guessed, with the accuracy of a mind sharpened by hatred, that the name he heard schoolchildren call his son, the name he overheard the ragman use when he paid the boy three cents for a bundle of old clothes -- he guessed that this name was not clean. Milkman." (15)
ReplyDeleteI think the situation encompassing the mother and her overgrown son is strange, to say the least. Freddie, the janitor, who dubs Macon Dead III as Milkman, knows about the salacious origins of this nickname. And, the mother's peculiar indulgences seem to indicate that she is compensating for a void in her sexual life. However, by observing the way Macon Dead analyzes this nickname, we learn a lot about his sentiments towards his wife, which are actually "coated with disgust."(16) Macon Jr. later decisively states that he doesn't care about the details concerning this nickname because although "there was some filthy connection... it did not matter at all to Macon Dead whether anyone give him the details or not."(17)