As indicated by the title of this post, I am going to attempt to analyze one of the big decisions Toni Morrison had to make in the writing of The Song of Solomon. The reason I want to analyze this decision, is because the decision she made strayed from the *stereotypical definition of a novel and what most authors choose to do.* But let's face it, if anyone were to stray from the norm, it'd be her since she's pretty much a genius. It worked for her too, because she won every award possible for the novel, and English classes around the world read her book. This "decision" that I'm referring to is her decision to make the main character (Milkman) somewhat annoying, extremely oblivious, profoundly stupid, and quite unlikable to the reader. Being the main character, the reader encounters Milkman the most, so why would Toni (yes we are totally on a first name basis with each other) make Milkman so annoying and unlikable to read about? If she wasn't thee Toni Morrison, no one would read the book then... right? Milkman would immediately annoy readers and deter them from the book, causing them to eventually abandon it altogether. So why does Milkman as a main character work in The Song of Solomon for Toni Morrison? Is it just because of Toni Morrison's acclaim? Do people just trick their minds into thinking the book has to be good because it was written by her? We may never know for sure, but some theorizing never hurt anyone, in fact I hope it serves to satisfy some curiosity.
Before I begin to analyze, I must clarify and explain. You may be wondering how I thought to even analyze this. How did this particular thought even enter my mind? Well it goes back to the *stereotypical definition of a novel. In the process of planning to write a novel in my creative writing class, we had to learn about what makes a "good novel" good and a "bad novel" bad. We had to think about novels we'd previously read and what we liked and disliked about them. Then, in groups we had to create two lists; one list consisting of the elements of a good novel, and one list consisting of the elements of a bad novel. As you can probably guess by now, one of the main elements that the majority of the groups included on the "Elements of Good Novels List" was a likable main character! I came into AP English the next day, and my group started recapping the chapter we read the night before for homework. I can't remember the exact chapter, (mind you this happened a few times in my group) but they immediately stated how much they disliked Milkman, and POOF - this idea came to me. Milkman doesn't fit the stereotype for main characters and I intend to theorize about why.
First, let me remind you how annoying Milkman can be in case you forgot. Here are just a few examples of some really stupid things Milkman has done throughout the course of the novel.
1. Milkman breaks up with Hagar through a letter! This is equivalent at this time to being "dumped by text"! He also includes money in the letter as if he's trying to buy her tranquility and ignornace over the fact that he just dumped her through a letter.
Let me include a specific excerpt of the letter that was included in the book to show how ridiculous this really was. Milkman ENDED the letter with this; Also, I want to thank you. Thank you for all you have meant to me. For making me happy all these years. I am signing this letter with love, of course but more than that, with gratitude. This of course was followed by a wad of cash stuck at the bottom - because duh, Milkman is GRATEFUL!
2. Another more minor example is this quote that really just speaks for itself.
Example of Pure Stupidity #107
"There he saw a crude footpath he might have found earlier if he had not been so hasty."
3. The next example is when Milkman receives the message left for him by Guitar at the general store. He goes in circles thinking about what Guitar could've meant by "good luck" and "your day was sure coming" and concludes with the LEAST PLAUSIBLE possibility. He concludes that "Guitar needed to find [him] and he needed help" indicating that Guitar is in some sort of trouble. Yeah right. Guitar does need to find you Milkman, but only so you can help him kill you!
4. Don't forget the little fact that Milkman decided to go hunting with a group of men that were angry with him, teasing him, picking fights with him, and trying to KILL him! He then puts himself in the position where he is surrounded by these men while they have GUNS! He has never shot a gun in his life, but he thinks this is a good idea?! Not to mention that Guitar is still out there, and we all know what happens with that.
So hopefully you at least somewhat agree that compared to most main characters, Milkman is so annoying, extremely oblivious, profoundly stupid, and quite unlikable to the reader. Now the question is... why?
Here is my first thought. In a good novel, the main character should come to some realizations and/or show some growth. Therefore, by making Milkman so extremely oblivious, Toni allows him to have extensive room for growth and a huge potential to come to realizations. Some authors pull this off without making the main character extremely oblivious or annoying, but Toni had a vision for Milkman and she chose to make him that way in the novel. But not only does Milkman have a lot of room for growth, but everything else in the story stems from his bad or stupid decisions because he is the main character. He stirs up conflict with almost every other character in the novel, and conflict is also an element of a good novel. If you have no conflict, you have no story, or you have a really boring story. So somehow, Toni took out the element of a likable main character, but inserted twice the element of conflict to balance it out, and it worked!
Another reason I think Toni might've chosen to make Milkman well... Milkman is that I think she was trying to use reverse psychology on us readers. If you think about it, it's kind of worked. We get so annoyed by Milkman and so confused as to why he does the things he does, that we actually begin to root for him and want to see him change. This intrigue is what causes us to keep reading despite our confusion and annoyance. Toni has written it so the potential happy ending of this book becomes Milkman finding who he is, understanding society, hopefully becoming more mature, and learning to be thoughtful and rational. Since human nature naturally wants a happy ending, we subconsciously (yes I just tied back to subliminal messaging) keep reading without knowing why.
Hopefully these theories and insights make you feel a little more sympathetic towards Milkman. It not, hopefully they help you understand our friend Toni's decision a little bit better, satisfying the curiosity I raised by my questions.
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