Milkman Dead was born in a family where his father, Macon Jr., is only obsessed with wealth but he is loved by his mother, Ruth Foster Dead, and his aunt, Pilate. Milkman's mother is the daughter of the town's only black doctor. Pilate is a poor but strong and independent woman, who's a daughter, Reba, and a granddaughter, Hagar, who is obsessively in love with Milkman. Milkman’s grandfather, Macon Dead, received his odd name when a drunk soldier erroneously filled out his documents. Macon’s two children, Macon Jr. and Pilate, were scarred by witnessing the murder of their father, Macon Dead, becoming estranged from each other. When he is young, Milkman doesn’t have any interest in himself and others except for the pursuit of wealth like his
In the first part of the novel, Milkman is his father's son, a child taught to ignore the wisdom of women. Even when he is 31, he still needs "both his father and his aunt to get him off" the scrapes he gets into. Milkman considers himself Macon, Jr., calling himself by that name, and believing that he cannot act independently (120). The first lesson his father teaches him is that ownership is everything, and that women's knowledge (specifically, Pilate's knowledge) is not useful "in this world" (55). He is blind to the Pilate's wisdom. When Pilate tell Reba's lover that women's love is to be respected, he learns nothing (94).
one page 11) this indicates that he is a selfish man and cares for his
Near the end of the book Milkman seems to change his view of his father, with some help from the positive memories of the old men in the passage.
Though gold was the initial desire, Milkman was able to forget about his quest for money, because his quest for his family history eventually brought him more wealth and happiness than the gold ever would have. When Milkman gives up in his search for gold, he puts himself on a path to discovering his own self, who Milkman was apart from his family. This discovery is what allows him to “fly” or fall from the cliff at the end of the novel. Guitar however was not able to forget the gold; he believes Milkman has betrayed him so he sets off to follow and to murder his best friend. Poverty led many people like Guitar to join the Seven Days, a racial group that avenges injustices committed against African-Americans by murdering innocent whites. Why if racism and injustice towards blacks rather than economic injustice motivated the group, are all of its member’s poor?
...e on her part. Throughout the story, the Mother is portrayed as the dominant figure, which resembled the amount of say that the father and children had on matters. Together, the Father, James, and David strived to maintain equality by helping with the chickens and taking care of Scott; however, despite the effort that they had put in, the Mother refused to be persuaded that Scott was of any value and therefore she felt that selling him would be most beneficial. The Mother’s persona is unsympathetic as she lacks respect and a heart towards her family members. Since the Mother never showed equality, her character had unraveled into the creation of a negative atmosphere in which her family is now cemented in. For the Father, David and James, it is only now the memories of Scott that will hold their bond together.
Milkman?s journey into manhood begins when he is in his thirties. He has been thriving for financial independence since he began working for his father. He also wants to es...
Analyzing character in a Faulkner novel is like trying to reach the bottom of a bottomless pit because Faulkner's characters often lack ration, speak in telegraphed stream-of-consciousness, and rarely if ever lend themselves to ready analysis. This is particularly true in As I Lay Dying, a novel of a fragmented and dysfunctional family told through fragmented chapters. Each character reveals their perspective in different chapters, but the perspectives are true to life in that though they all reveal information about the Bundren family and their struggles to exist they are all limited by the perspective of the character providing the revelations. The story centers on the death of the mother of the Bundren clan, Addie, whose imminent death creates fragmentation and chaos in the Bundren family because Anse, Addie's husband, has promised to travel to Jefferson to bury her with her family. Floods, fires, injuries and poor decisions mar the journey, but the family endures and Anse brings home a new Mrs. Bundren. However, Anse, often read as the most selfish Bundren is the only one prepared to go on with life and accept Addie's death.
Now that Morrison has explained the background that Milkman comes from the reader can now understand why Milkman has such personality flaws. Milkman is presented to the reader as someone who has much to learn about life and his personality can now be developed throughout the story. Because of his family Milkman grows into a materialistic young m...
Song of Solomon tells the story of Dead's unwitting search for identity. Milkman appears to be destined for a life of self-alienation and isolation because of his commitment to the materialism and the linear conception of time that are part of the legacy he receives from his father, Macon Dead. However, during a trip to his ancestral home, “Milkman comes to understand his place in a cultural and familial community and to appreciate the value of conceiving of time as a cyclical process”(Smith 58).
The Bragg family grew up with virtually nothing. The father left the family a number of times, offering no financial assistance and stealing whatever he could before he left. When he was there, he was usually drunk and physically abusive to the mother. He rarely went after the children, but when he did the mother was always there to offer protection. Mr. Bragg's mother's life consisted of working herself to exhaustion and using whatever money she had on the children.
Flannery O’Connor used a lot of foreshadowing throughout the story. An example is “She said the house had six white columns across the front” (409) and “They passed a large cotton field with five or six graves in the middle of it, like a small island”. These two passages foreshadows the death of the family as they had six members. It’s also strange how it took place in a town called Toombsborro. This also signifies, tomb, which leads to death. In the beginning of the story the grandmother mentioned about the misfit heading to Florida so she think it’s best to go to Tennessee. There, O’Connor foreshadows that story will somehow end up having the grandmother having an encounter with the misfit.
He has an idea to be rich, and he wants it fast. Being nine year old, he starts out looking for jobs in his neighborhood. After doing two jobs, he earns a nickel, a quarter and two peaches. He has money, and he can do whatever he wants. So with a friend and his sister, they go swimming. Money, to him at this age, affects him greatly already. From his own family, he learns that without money, they'll always be poor and working class. He has the need to be higher in social class and he wants to be like rich people.
...ography book. But had been from one end of the country to another. One wholly dependent on money for life, the other indifferent to it. But those were the meaningless things. Their similarities were profound. Both were vitally interested in Macon Dead’s son, and both had close and supportive posthumous communication with their fathers” (139). They are very different in personality, but they both want Milkman, Pilate wishes to teach him love and culture, and Ruth wishes to keep Milkman at her side. These characteristics lead Milkman along his journey, both as hindrances and as salvation, and without these juxtaposed mother-figures in Milkman’s life he would not have a well-rounded character and growth which is brought from his struggles brought by his mother, and his triumphs from Pilate.
wealth which leads him on a journey to discover his own expectations. Using foreshadowing and
He is a very poor man. So he tells his young daughter, Tess, to go find job at their “family’s” town, but Tess’s mother never warned her about how mean man can be.