Milkman and the Past
Song of Solomonputs a lot of focus on the past. Most of Milkman’s story is about his parents and Pilate’s past. Most of part one is learning about his family’s history and it sets the stage for part two where Milkman goes on a “quest for gold”. One theme in the book is how Milkman doesn’t really look to the future and how he is really passive. He doesn’t really plan for the future and only can see the past, as shown by the car ride in chapter 2, “But riding backward made him uneasy. It was like flying blind, and not knowing where he was going – just where he had been – troubled him” (32). This shows how he can’t really see the whole picture, only the past. Milkman’s “quest for gold” is him trying to look to the future and start being more active. He wants to be able to get away from his family but to get to his future he needs to learn more about his family’s past. Milkman’s future is very much influenced by his family’s past and heritage.
When Milkman goes to Pennsylvania to search the cave, he doesn’t actually find the gold, but he still finds things that are of value to him. From the people in the town and from Circe he finds out more about his father, his aunt, and his grandparents. Milkman actually enjoys hearing about his father in a good light and about his grandfather. When talking to Circe, he learns more about his grandparents and what happened to his grandfather. This information actually helps him on his quest for gold because he decides that Pilate must have taken the gold to Virginia which is his next stop. So, to continue his search for gold, Milkman had to learn more about the past.
When in Virginia, Milkman realizes that his family history means a lot and it is important to find “his own people”. Also, here, Milkman realizes that the song the children sing is about his grandfather and great-grandfather and he hopes that this song will help him.
The search for gold is supposed to help Milkman get to his future and he wants the gold to help him be independent and leave his family, but while on his quest, Milkman learns more about his heritage and realizes the importance of family history and he becomes more sympathetic to his parents and Hagar. Milkman’s life is influenced in his family’s past and Toni Morrison shows how important the past is to the future.
I agree, the theme of the past influencing the present is very important to this book. By showing us some extremes of people looking towards the past (Macon II and Pilate) and people looking towards the future (Guitar), Morrison really highlights Milkman's struggle to find a balance between looking back at the past and towards the future.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really good point. Milkman is learning that his life doesn't have to be defined by his family's past, but he's also learning not to shun it completely. He can't live caring only about one or the other-- not happily, anyway,-- and so like Raine said, he's learning to find a balance.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting point. I’ve never really considered the relationship between past and future. I think understanding this is a good way to understand the characterization of Milkman.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, though, that we see that the gold becomes less and less important to Milkman. Sure, having gold would be great and he hasn't entirely stopped looking, but near the end Milkman has turned more towards the thing he was avoiding: his past. It's more like he thinks that this gold will secure for him a future, but he realizes that his past directly affects his future more than any gold will.
ReplyDeleteI think that Milkman's shift in priorities is similar to the kind of story that we hear where the cocky rich guy goes on a journey and learns that money isn't everything. This is another example of how Milkman goes on a "hero's journey". However, this picture is complicated by the fact that he returns home triumphant only to hear of his ex's death and to wake up from a head injury in his aunt's basement.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I loved the most about this book. His character is completely transformed from being an extremely immature and child-like man, to a maturing adult who has more curiosity about his ancestry and family's past. It was interesting to see how his character got to learn more about his own heritage and history. Toni Morrison definitely makes "the past" a big part of Milkman's quest
ReplyDeleteI feel like the Milkman as a character is about someone who can't look to the future. Even when he is trying to plan his future he is still looking to the past to do it. He always looks behind him rather than forward. There are many example of this throughout the book. One of such is when he is peeing, rather than focusing on that task, he decides to turn around and pees on her dress. This demonstrate the fact that he is unable to focus on looking forward and his current task but would rather look behind him.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good analysis. I think it's interesting that, by learning about his family's history, Milkman is technically still looking backward, but it's very different from the looking back that he did earlier in the novel.
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