Peter Wu

Period 1
Liles
Chapter 1

There was racism introduced already when the nurse was talking
to Guitar, Listen. Go around to the back..tell him to get over
here on the double. Move now. Move! The tone that the nurse
used seems that she thinks that Guitar is stupid because he was
black and the tone sounded ignorant because the nurse thinks
Guitar doesnt have enough brain power to listen to the nurse
since she was spelling things out for him and speaking slowly
assuming that Guitar wouldnt get it if she spoke normally.
Color imagines like the rose petal flying around and the clear
blue sky. I assume the rose petals flying around represent the
blood that Mr. Smith was about to shed by flying but others see
it as committing suicide.
By using syntax, Morrison made the women seem mythic
because the sentence structure were bits by bits and all of the
sentences contain visual imageries of the three women and the
way she describes them with such descriptive details make them
see like they are complicated and mystical type of characters
Question: why does Mr. Smith see that he can fly but in reality he
knows that he is just committing suicide?

Chapter 2

to be embarrassed,yesShe was the one who was ugly, dirty,

poor, and drunk. The detail how Milkman sees the adult is like
he did not want to communicate with such a dirty person. The
way he was embarrassed not because he was insulted but
because he was insulted by someone that was lower class
society than him. This shows that as a kid, Milkman was already
spoiled and arrogant that he is better in life than certain people
like Pilate because he lives in high society with a rich family.
The book is purposely giving us a hint that money doesnt really
bring happiness because compare to Pilates family and the
Deads family, Pilates family is a lot more happier even though
they are poor, they care for each other and they have a family

bond like how everyone in the family has each others back and
everyone has a say. The Deads family are the unhappy ones
because although they have money, they do not contain the
family bond that each family should have and there is a lot of
bitterness coming from the vibe of each family member.
Chapter 3

He aint got to be like him-front him is enough this quote was

said by feather and this intrigue me because by the tone of
feather, he sounds like he hates him already because Milkman
was related to Macon and it seems like feather somewhat
represent the people in the town explaining how nobody likes
Macon and to the point even his kins are hated too and this
makes me predict that Milkman will somewhat hate the town and
become like his father.
Im telling you the truth, he aint going to have it, neither one of
em going to have it Railroad Tommy is explaining the real of an
African American. How African American cant have everything to
anything special. He wanted to tell the boys to not expect
anything good out their lives like beer, or a house to live.
Railroad Tommy wanted to explain to the boys about African
American Hardship is difficult and they shouldnt be just
complaining about not having a beer. This is divided in two
logical parts as the boys not getting what they want, Tommy is
there to give a life lesson.

Chapter 4

She was the third beer.the one drink because it is there. This
is the maturity point that Milkman has reached. The point where
he sees other people as objects and he is walking towards the
path like his father and despising people in town because they
are not worth the time and effort. His tone about Hagar has come
to a reach that he is bored by her and with this tone, it is
describing what Milkman has become, his father.
The word and was used when he was buying presents meant to
me as if Milkman feel like it was a hassle to buy presents and it
feels like to Milkman doesnt really want to buy presents and the
way he uses and makes me feel like he almost forgot or buying
the presents was not really important.

Chapter 5

Pay attention Guitars voice was low. Pay attention when Im

telling you something Finally Guitar talks to Milkman about his
attitude. He is telling Milkman that he doesnt pay attention to
anyone when they are talking and Always interrupts every 2
seconds because him talking is more important. Maybe because
Guitar was a lower social class so Milkman thinks he is allows
speaking over him. And he interrupts every 2 second because
other peoples conversation is not important and he doesnt want
to listen to them talk rather; he wants to hear himself talk.
Guitars tone was felt like he was being bold and straight
forwards because he is finally giving Milkman a lesson he needs
to learn and change because of his bad attitude.
When Milkman was having a conversation with his mother at the
cemetery, she was calm and collected and she shifts throughout
the conversation as she gets more depressed when she talks
about her father because he side of the story makes Macon Jr
sound like a bad person and how no one actually cares for her
and thats why she did the things in the past. Then the tone
changed once Ruth talked about Macon and it felt like she hated
him and she was angry at him.

Chapter 6

They killed us first and then tried to get some scientific proof
about why we should die. The tone coming from Guitar is angry
and frustrated. This also explains why he is in the seven days
and not seeing moral values because he has come to the
extreme where he is going to kill white people to let out his
anger of white people.
Milkman was on the passive side or I think in the Dr. King side
where he wants to take things in a peaceful way while Guitar is
taking the aggressive side where he wants to hurt and use
violence to speak out his thoughts about white people which is
the Malcom X side.

Chapter 7

He turned to his son full face and licked his lips. Macon get it
and you can have half of it; go wherever you want get it for both
of us. Please get it, son. Get the gold. Macon is telling Milkman to

steal the gold for the both of him but obviously he wants to gold
because he is selfish and money hungry. Also stealing the gold
means taking revenge to Pilate because he was betrayed by her
so he is taking the gold to ruin her too. Macons desperate tone
comes to a conclusion that he is extremely greedy and it reveals
that he would do anything for more and more wealth and in my
opinion I feel like Macon is a lost character that will always care
for his wealth.
Milkmans argument was weak because he unintentionally told Macon
about the green sack. He had no purpose nor did he know it was gold.
All he said was it was a green sack that had rocks and it bumped him.
But the green sack was most important because that was the only hint
Macon needed to find the gold.

Chapter 8

F**k you. What difference does it make why I want it. The tone is
coming to the point where they both are on the greed side and that is
breaking the friendship, communication and the trust bond. The way
Morrison describe wealth is like something evil to have if you want
more and more wealth.
An act of white supremacist terrorism. The explosion at the AfricanAmerican church, which killed four girls, marked a turning point in the
United States 1960s Civil Rights Movement and contributed to support
for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the early morning of
Sunday, September 15, 1963, Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton,[1]
Herman Frank Cash, and Robert Chambliss, members of United Klans
of America, a Ku Klux Klan group, planted a box of dynamite with a
time delay under the steps of the church, near the basement.

Chapter 9

it was just a mistake, said the father. One little mess-up. That dont
mean we have to pull it out Macon is becoming more and more
desperate that he is so angry at Milkman for not finding it. He is
becoming more and more obsessive about the gold. At this point all
hope is lost for Macon to change and he is too far drown in the power
off wealth

Yes I saw some extreme racism in in that chapter with the cops
because they stopped Milkman and Guitar for no good reason
and the only reason why they stopped him wasnt because they
had the green sack but because they were African American.

Chapter 10

The story started out with a fairy tale of Hansen and Gretel to reinforce
the idea that Milkman is experiencing the same fairytale because
Milkman was lured to Circe, same with Hansen and Gretel by the witch.
I also think Morrison started out the story with a fairytale to
foreshadow or at least give us the idea that throughout the novels part
2 there will be more fairytale like or folktale Milkman will experience
and he will start to believe in what the readers called magical realism
Milkman turned around and sat on the sillI hope it is a rainbow, and
nobody has run off with the pot, cause I need it. The visual imagery it
gives is the pot of gold in the ends of the rainbow and finding
happiness once you reach the gold. I feel like Milkman is trying to
escape the horrible town and his family with the gold to find his own
happiness

Chapter 11

Guitar left the message Your days has come The syntax shows that
Guitar is being serious and straight forward as always that he is
planning to kill Milkman in my opinion and this also shows that
Milkman and Guitars friendship is completely over at this point.
The syntax usage was weird because both Sweet and Milkman were
doing favors to each other as a reciprocal couple. Morrison is wrote this
paragraph to show that Milkman is becoming a real man where he
takes care of his woman too and appreciate other people in the society.

Chapter 12

He ran back to Solomons store..He was grinning The visual image

of Milkman smiling and happy was a first to me and it also shows that
Milkman is finding this happiness and himself during this journey
and with this adventure he is taking, he is changing for to the good
side of him
Some color imagery came like the dark sea and other dark imagery
and in my opinion these dark imageries represent the unknown
knowledge that Milkman needs to discover and also what Milkman
sees his past, all dark because he hasnt uncover the mysteries in his
family history.

Chapter 13

The wet ripped hose, soiled white dress, the sticky, lumpy face
powder This awful visual imagery of Hagar shows that she has
finally lost herself. Losing herself as in the common sense about not
cleaning herself up correcting and becoming obsessed with beauty and
Milkman and this in the end resulted her death.

I feel like Guitar was advocating black pride because it was Guitar that
was explaining how black should be respectful to themselves and how
every Negro deserves what white people should have like respect and
pride.

Chapter 14

but Susan Byrds house looked different. The visual image that
Milkman gave seems to be in another perspective like he has changed
so much that his viewing on things has changed too.
The larger flight motif represents a lot of things like freedom and
expressing yourself by being free. Being yourself. Morrison develops
this flight motif by giving Milkmans ancestor history. When Susan
explains that his ancestor used to fly carrying their child, Milkman
believes it. A lot of Milkmans ancestry history involves folktale actions
like flying.

Chapter 15

When Milkman finally acknowledge everything of his wrong doings. He

accept his consequences like getting beat by Pilate and accepting
Pilates consequence item of Hagars hair with his motto a life for
another life so Milkman has to carry the burden for Hagars death but
he also came back trying to help Pilate by saying the green sack with
her fathers ashes so he did come back with a mindset of helping his
people.
In my opinion this is a happy ending because Milkman has finally
complete his journey and changed into someone completely better
than himself back in the beginning of the story. He became the person
he always wanted as in kind, caring, and thoughtful. His death was
extremely sad because Guitar killed him but the whole entire story
revolves around Milkmans revolution and after Milkman completes his
life goals, I dont think there was much left of him too.

Motifs
Responsibility vs Escape

I will take off from Mercy and fly away on my own wings pg 1 I think
he is escaping the responsibility and the weight of a black man that
they have to face in that time period and just leaving everything
behind.
If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it (337) Milkman literally
flew away to save himself from Guitar and this escape was a good
escape because Morrison said Milkman doesnt die so he actually flew

off and escaping Guitar and the world to and flying away for his own
happiness.
He wasnt running away, he was flying away pg (322) either way
from flying to running away, Solomon abandoned Ryna and his kids
escaping the responsibility.

Heritage/Our Past

Aint no law for no colored man except the one sends him to the chair
pg 82. This explains that blacks were treated the way they actually
described, unfair and injustice.
Four colored girls had been blown out of a church (pg 173) This
even actually happened in real history of the 1963 Baptist church
bombing. This explains the importance that in real history there are
some cruel people like the KKK that takes extreme measure to kill
black people and the racial discrimination they had back then and in
the story too.
It is important to find your own people pg 292. Milkman wants to
uncover his past and family past because he was to discover and learn
what his heritage and ancestor was like so he can have a clear view of
himself.

Difference between Men and Women.

She was the third beer.because it cant hurt pg 91 The way

Milkman treats his women and especially Hagar is like objects and
Milkman doesnt care he takes advantage of them.
He wet on me, he wet on me Mama pg 35, This foreshadows the way
Milkman treats his family and especially his sisters a literal term of
Pissing all over them and he doesnt respect them at all.
Who baby..Who dont like your hair..Milkman. Pg (315) The
difference for women back then is that they have to try very hard to
please the men and it is unfair for the men to treat women and force
the women to become the unstable state like Hagar.

Materialism vs Spiritualism

you been carrying your fathers bones pg (333) Milkman explains to

Pilate that he was been carrying his dead fathers ashes and because
Pilate respects that everyone carries a life after another life she uses
the bones for a spiritual carry of the dead person Macon killed which
was her fathers.
One dived into the new grave and scooped something shiny (pg 336)
The birds scooped Pilates earrings and in my opinion the material that

the bird scooped meant that Pilate has reincarnated as something else
since it is Pilates most precious item.
one little mess-up that dont mean we have to pull out Pg(203)
Macon has drawn too much on the material which is gold and the gold
represent the wealth and forgetting that he killed someone for it and
how he only sees the gold as a material to accumulate more of his
wealth and not the spiritual terms that Pilate sees too.