Sunday, January 12, 2014
Milkman's Transformation
Perhaps one of the largest symbols for Milkman's transformation from an immature boy into an adult was the moment when he selflessly helped the man lift a crate. Although this moment was apparent to the reader when it occurred, it was not apparent to Milkman until his conversation with Guitar after Guitar's first attempt on his life. This realization for Milkman, that he was capable of helping others with nothing in return, shocks him, as well as Guitar. To me, this seems to be an example of Milkman starting to "fly" as he distances from his family and the [lack of a] life that he left behind in Michigan and as he begins to become more in-touch with his familial roots and discover the important aspects of life.
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You can start to slowly see a transformation by Milkman throughout the second part of the book. Milkman starts off as a self-centered boy who remains a child throughout the first 30 years of his life. Every place that he goes in the second part of the book it is evident that he is changing. The very first thing he does is fly on a plane which could show the beginning of his journey to fly by himself. When he is in Pennsylvania, he is polite when talking to someone for the first time. During his journey, I think that it is the first time that he does something challenging and gets "dirty." He then helps a man lift a crate even though he is wet and tired and has never helped anyone before. His transformation is also seen with the challenges he faces in Shalimar, but he reacts differently. He wants to know why things happened not only hating people for acting in a certain way. He is then "officially" transformed into a man when he partakes on the bobcat hunt. One final thing that I saw in Milkman's transformation was that he started to take the initiative instead of just going along with what everyone else does.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that a major part of the novel is Milkman's transformation. Something that I noticed while Milkman was changing, was how cognizant he was about it. I think his change was intentional. He realized that he would need to become someone else to survive outside of his hometown. That being a rich daddy's boy just wouldn't work in the real world. It almost got him very injured in Virginia. And I think he understood their animosity towards him. When he went hunting, they extended an olive branch to him, and I don't think he was going to waste that.
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