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 business. Pilate came back to Michigan and took care of him until Macon kicked her out.
He thinks everything can be solved with his wallet. He barely remembers to say “how are you”, much less introduce himself. When his car breaks down, he says he’ll just buy another like it’s the most natural thing in the world. He pulls out his money to solve his problems, because that’s what he’s done all his life: knock on doors and collect money. So when he goes down into the deep South, he doesn’t give his name, simply offers money, and he gets in a knife fight because he’s wearing a three-piece suit and talking about buying cars like it’s the easiest thing in the world.
Part 1 Milkman is the most annoying, wishy-washy, blind-to-the-world character I have ever seen.
Milkman is absolutely annoying with his wallet dependence but I think that this serves as a good contrast for part 2. However, can you really blame Milkman for his lame worldview? If anything, I think that Macon II is just as responsible due to his rejection of both his past and his treatment of Milkman. This isn't to say that Milkman isn't responsible but he singularly isn't one to blame.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is *possible* for a child in Milkman's position to define himself against and apart from his father's values (OR to enthusiastically embrace them and model himself after the father), but we get something in between in this novel. His efforts to "define himself" apart from his dad don't go very far (that moustache!), but he also isn't enthusiastically on board with his father's program. It's just, as you say, EASY for him. He's never had to GET a job on his own; he's just been GIVEN this one. So he takes it. And the years go by.
DeleteWe see how inept he is at dealing with people during his journey to Pa., where he keeps whipping out his wallet to solve every problem, and each time it alienates people.
Yeah completely agree about how oblivious Milkman is to how to interact with people and how to solve his own problems. This reminds me of Pilate saying at one point that Milkman will be (and has been) saved by women in his life and will be killed by his own ignorance; perhaps it connects to how dependent Milkman is on the women of his family for his physical needs and protection (?) and how he gets a fight with the toothless guy because he doesn't understand other people's perspectives on him (or just doesn't have self-awareness of his actions).
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