One thing I overlooked throughout my reading of Song of Solomon is Milkman's brief moments when he displays somewhat of a longing for the future. The impression that Milkman gives in the majority of the novel is that he lacks drive for life. In very short instances (I remember only one time before chapter 10), the reader sees Milkman mention the future: Milkman tells Guitar about how he worries about the stories he will tell his children when he is old. This small detail stands far away from Milkman's general image.
In chapter 10, the reader sees a change in Milkman. As Milkman hears more about his father's father from Reverend Cooper, he begins to feel more than nothing for his father, emotionally. He begins to see his heritage from a different life, and even denies that this change of feeling was due to the strong whiskey he ingested. In fact, he begins to feel genuine feelings of "anger" towards the whites that killed his grandfather among other feelings.
Chapter 10 marks the time when Milkman begins his coming of age. He grows up in the fact that he opens his self to his given life. Before he ignored it or took it for granted, but during his 4-day long stay at Reverend Cooper's house, he becomes stronger and braver. Instead of just accepting the events as they come, he begins to feel passion. He feels passion to take the gold from those that killed his grandfather. He feels passion in telling (bragging to) the locals about his father's life. And these are all signs of his development into someone knew. It is hard to say that he strictly becomes a Man, but Milkman definitely becomes something else.
1 comment:
Good points. The effect of hearing his father *talked about* (in a way that's much different from how he's talked about back home!) has a profound effect on Milkman. He's able to see his father's life from the outside, in a way, and not merely as a hindrance on himself, a burden he has to deal with, a guy he has to live up to and please and placate and work for. This does seem like an important move toward maturity--to grow past an "adolescent" view of parents and to see them as individuals with their own struggles. (It'll take a while longer for him to get there with Ruth, but it happens, and it's all part of this "quest" in part 2.)
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