Thursday, July 12, 2007
dream or reality?
oooookay, you guys are all obviously ahead of me. but one thing i have confused are Milkman's dreams. Like, i can't tell whether he's dreaming or not? Because he tells these surreal happenings in the middle of what seems to be an actual scene, like the one where he was walking in the crowd and everybody was pushing past him walking on one side, i thought that really happened because wasn't that when he was looking for Guitar after he hit his father? and then later he says "He remembered that long-ago evening after he hit his father how everybody was crammed on one side of the street... Nobody was going his way. It was as though Guitar had been in that dream too." But i thought that really happened, i am so confused. Also when he was telling of the "dream" he had of his mother, when she was planting tulips and they were growing and suffocating and killing her, he says "...he began to describe to Guitar a dream he had had about his mother. He called it a dream because he didn't want to tell him it had really happened, that he had really seen it." So... is it a dream or not? Or is he just a crazy guy that has these crazy hallucinations?
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2 comments:
Ester--I will do my best to help shed some light (because it looks like the rest of the class is stumped as well). I don't think Milkman is dreaming. The crowd of people pushing past him might show Milkman's ignorance (or rejection) of anything that effects his community. Emmett Till is a real person, and his lynching was a very real event. In fact, Gwendolyn Brooks wrote a poem about it and Toni Morrison wrote a play about it. Everyone is moved by this event, everyone except Milkman (in fact, doesnt he say "fuck Till" in his converstaion with Guitar). I will have to find the line you are referencing, but that was a real event.
The "dream" with the tulips is difficult because it is not a dream. Perhaps a touch of magical realism here. The way she passively accepts these aggressive and violent bulbs mirrors her relationships with Macon (and perhaps her father).
Hallucinations is just too simple of an answer. Dont forget that this book has ghosts, magic, a woman without a navel, and a woman who wins things.
Hope this helps. What does the rest of the class think?
Everyone is ahead of me but, I also had a little bit of trouble with dream or reality. but i agree with mr sheehy about the scene in which all the people are on one side of the sidewalk and walking one way, i feel like its Morrison's way of showing how Milkman is different. He doesnt exactly follow the crowd. Also could have to do with Milkman's selfish ways ( he only seems to care or stick his neck out for himself, with the exception for the one time he protects his mom).
The tulips just threw me off, im not really sure what that was all about. But im gunna again agree with sheehy and say maybe its to show her past realtionships and how she does nothing to really protect herself and just kinda watches things passivly. however i didnt get how that related to the serious talk he was having with Guitar. Help?
Sorry i didnt really say anything more than what sheehy already said.
Mr. Sheehy, Im gunna finish the book before the month is over, but im kinda behind so im nervous to post new blogs about old stuff for you guys.
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