Indecision, or, Milkman Has Never Made A Decision In His Life And He Sure Isn’t Starting Now
Milkman irritates me. His presence in the book is grating. He gets on my nerves. And until recently, I wasn’t quite able to figure out why. It’s because he doesn’t make decisions, but it’s more than that. He believes he’s too good to have to. Obviously, he’s privileged. And man, does it show. This guy has never had to move a muscle in his life. He’s had conflicts, sure, but they’re on the level of the conflicts you have when you lay on the couch and decide what to have for dinner. As Lena puts it, “You have yet to wash your own underwear, spread a bed, wipe the ring from your tub, or move a fleck of your dirt from one place to another. And to this day, you have never asked one of us if we were tired, or sad, or wanted a cup of coffee.” Everyone around him paused their life for him as soon as he was born. His sisters gave up their childhood for him. They, and his mother, cooked and cleaned and worked for him, and his father patted him on the shoulder and set him up with the family busin...