Milkman is Boring

1) Milkman is the only son of Macon Dead Jr.
2) Milkman doesn't want to be at all like his father, but is unknowingly becoming part of the endless cycle of the past. His past and the pasts of his ancestors are becoming his present.
3) We are all a product of our past. Despite his greatest efforts to defy the patterns of the past, Milkman has become a victim of the past and its influence on the present. He has unknowingly taken up his father's quest for power in a world where the only power blacks have is power that is denied.
4) "He also felt glee. A snorting, horse-galloping glee as old as desire. He had won something and lost something in the same instant. Infinite possibilities and enormous responsibilities stretched out before him, but he was not prepared to take advantage of the former, or accept the burden of the latter" (Morrison 68).
5) Milkman's search for power leads him on the path to his own self discovery, but in the face of his much wanted disconnection from the past, he is unable to let go of the very things and people who propelled him on his quest for power because of the past's firm grip on the present. Milkman's struggle for power represents the African American population's continual struggle to let go of the oppressive impressions of the past to gain standing in a world still shadowed by white.
6) Without knowing his heritage and who his ancestors are, Milkman is disconnected from everyone and everything. He cares only for himself and what involves him. He only cares for Hagar or even pays attention to her because she loves him, wants him, revolves around him. His relationship with Ruth is again based on her love for him not the other way around. Once he finds his ancestors and discovers the origin of his family, Milkman is able to understand love.

Love's Dark Side

When someone says the word love, what immediately comes to mind are red hearts, chocolate, flowers, two people together forever, and everything made better by a Hallmark card, but that's just love's facade. Love has a dark side. My most life changing experience with love was the loss of my grandmother, grandfather, uncle, and godmother all in the same year. It wasn't the life-fulfilling love that makes one feel warm and gooey inside, it was the empty love that left my insides as cavarnous ruins that will never be filled. Every day is a reminder of not what I have, but what I don't.

Loss puts love to the test. When someone is gone, if you truely love them, they can never be replaced. The wounds will never fully heal. But life will go on. With all of the people I've lost, I keep their memory in mind as I walk the halls of school or read a book or play sports. The connection I once felt with them keeps part of them with me eventhough I will never see or touch or hear them again. The fact that I can continue on with life with nothing but the memory of a connection is a testament to the love that existed between us.


Love cannot be explained. Only felt.