1.1. Circe
After his arrival in Pennsylvania, Milkman meets several persons and understands that he depends on their knowledge and wisdom. The first significant woman he meets is Circe. During a conversation with Reverend Butler, Milkman hears about Circe, who works as a midwife who already his father mentioned in his narratives. Reverend Butler tells him that Circe also helped to birth Macon and Pilate. Furthermore, he tells Milkman that Circe worked for the Butler’s, the family who greedily killed his grandfather Macon Dead I, and helped to hide Macon and his sister caring for them after the loss of their father. Milkman personally gets to know Circe in Danville, Pennsylvania after Reverend Cooper directs him to the Butler’s mansion. According …show more content…
She challenges him to give up his trust in knowledge and thought that seemed right to him by sensitizing him that his knowledge does not help him to get ahead in his journey. By making him realize that she stays at the Butler’s mansion because of vengeance and not love, she shows him the importance of listening to her to understand the happenings. The farewell scene is crucial since it is the first time that he respects a woman’s opinion indicating that Milkman indeed learned something new. When he is about to leave, he says: “I wish you’d let me help you” (Morrison 309). As response she makes him clear that she will stay out of revenge and he accepts her desire. Shortly after saying goodbye, he returns to Shalimar and starts reflecting on how he treated people in general, but especially his mother and sisters as inferior. As he thinks of being treated unfair since he travelled South, he interrupts himself, thinking, “It sounded old. Deserve. Old and tired and beaten to death. Deserve. Now it seemed to him that he was always saying or thinking that he didn’t deserve some bad luck, or some bad treatment from others” (345). His thoughts are one of the first indications of Milkman’s maturity throughout the novel since never before, he has called himself, his personality or the impact of his behavior on others into question. Milkman realizes, “[a]pparently he thought he deserved only to be loved–from a …show more content…
After a hunting trip where he changes his Northern clothes against appropriate clothes and therewith finally becomes part of the Southern community, he is directed to Sweet. Sweet is a prostitute with whom he has a brief relationship but in contrast to Milkman’s previous affairs, this relationship points to Milkman’s growing awareness of dealing with women.
He soaped and rubbed her until her skin squeaked and glistened like onyx. She put salve on his face. He washed her hair. She sprinkled talcum on his feet. He straddled her behind and massaged her back. She put witch hazel on his swollen neck. He made up the bed. She gave him gumbo to eat. He washed the dishes. She washed his clothes and hung them out to dry. He scoured her tub. She ironed his shirt and pants.
After his arrival in Pennsylvania, Milkman meets several persons and understands that he depends on their knowledge and wisdom. The first significant woman he meets is Circe. During a conversation with Reverend Butler, Milkman hears about Circe, who works as a midwife who already his father mentioned in his narratives. Reverend Butler tells him that Circe also helped to birth Macon and Pilate. Furthermore, he tells Milkman that Circe worked for the Butler’s, the family who greedily killed his grandfather Macon Dead I, and helped to hide Macon and his sister caring for them after the loss of their father. Milkman personally gets to know Circe in Danville, Pennsylvania after Reverend Cooper directs him to the Butler’s mansion. According …show more content…
She challenges him to give up his trust in knowledge and thought that seemed right to him by sensitizing him that his knowledge does not help him to get ahead in his journey. By making him realize that she stays at the Butler’s mansion because of vengeance and not love, she shows him the importance of listening to her to understand the happenings. The farewell scene is crucial since it is the first time that he respects a woman’s opinion indicating that Milkman indeed learned something new. When he is about to leave, he says: “I wish you’d let me help you” (Morrison 309). As response she makes him clear that she will stay out of revenge and he accepts her desire. Shortly after saying goodbye, he returns to Shalimar and starts reflecting on how he treated people in general, but especially his mother and sisters as inferior. As he thinks of being treated unfair since he travelled South, he interrupts himself, thinking, “It sounded old. Deserve. Old and tired and beaten to death. Deserve. Now it seemed to him that he was always saying or thinking that he didn’t deserve some bad luck, or some bad treatment from others” (345). His thoughts are one of the first indications of Milkman’s maturity throughout the novel since never before, he has called himself, his personality or the impact of his behavior on others into question. Milkman realizes, “[a]pparently he thought he deserved only to be loved–from a …show more content…
After a hunting trip where he changes his Northern clothes against appropriate clothes and therewith finally becomes part of the Southern community, he is directed to Sweet. Sweet is a prostitute with whom he has a brief relationship but in contrast to Milkman’s previous affairs, this relationship points to Milkman’s growing awareness of dealing with women.
He soaped and rubbed her until her skin squeaked and glistened like onyx. She put salve on his face. He washed her hair. She sprinkled talcum on his feet. He straddled her behind and massaged her back. She put witch hazel on his swollen neck. He made up the bed. She gave him gumbo to eat. He washed the dishes. She washed his clothes and hung them out to dry. He scoured her tub. She ironed his shirt and pants.