In Toni
Morrison’s Song of Solomon, a
plethora of characters have odd character development, especially pertaining to
their age or the era in which it takes place; however, I find this to most relevant
with Macon Dead III, or Milkman. Milkman, despite being over 30 years old,
still lives at home, along with his two sisters who are even in their 40s. What
I find to be especially odd is that whilst having a conversation with his
father he refers to him as “Daddy” (164), which is completely inappropriate
for a full-grown man. Also, as shown by the lengthy paragraph on page 165 in which he
describes everything wrong in his life, he seems to have absolutely no control
over any aspect of his life, which is relatively unrealistic, but the way in
which he describes it makes it seem as if he is victimized makes it ridiculous. Why do so many of his actions mirror those of a young child when in fact he is a full-grown man? I believe that these
developments are largely used to emphasize how his warped childhood and family dysfunction has affected him so greatly.
I completely agree with the fact that the family relationships are warped and have unusual immaturity. I wonder if the reason Morrison chose to emphasize the childish manner of Milkman and the family relationship could be because of her desire to comment on the racial issues? Maybe she wanted the family to seem odd and immature to show how they are being oppressed by white Americans. The Dead family does not see anything wrong with the way they are behaving, although it shows inferiority.
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