In chapter three of Song of Solomon, Milkman learns about the repulsive and shocking story of his mother, Ruth, having a sexual situation with her dead father. At hearing the story of how his own mom sucked on the fingers on her dead father whilst lying beside his corpse in the nude, Milkman left his house in confusion and anger.
Based on Milkman's actions, it is clear that he has suppressed memories and is somewhat traumatized by what he found out about his mother. He is put into an almost detached state of reality as he just stands in the busy trafficked sidewalk contemplating everything he had just been told. This almost seems as a sort of symbolism of Milkman’s life. Milkman in a sense had been at a standstill or not part of the flow …show more content…
He goes back and forth with himself as he tries to make sense if his father was telling the truth about Ruth and her moment with her dad. In short, denial is when you say something isn’t true, whether or not the subject you are talking about is true or not. For example, if someone were to lie to you about stealing someone, you can deny what they are telling you and choose to believe what that person is telling you is not true. Milkman is hesitant to make a true decision of what he believes most likely because usually people do not want to think badly of the ones who raised, especially if they didn’t have a bad childhood. This means that by the way Milkman was raided, it has affected him in the future. A major aspect of psychology is how one's environment and interacting with people and their environment molds and shapes a person. From the text, we can assume that Ruth was a loving mother towards Milkman, and that he has no reason to hate her (besides being the reason for his embarrassing nickname). Because of that, Milkman does not want to see him mom a necrophiliac and as a woman who wanted to engage in incest with her own father. Milkman doesn’t want the image he has of his mother figure, which whom he grew up loving ,to be tainted with images of disgusting behavior, and this causes him to have the breakdown depicted in chapter
Based on Milkman's actions, it is clear that he has suppressed memories and is somewhat traumatized by what he found out about his mother. He is put into an almost detached state of reality as he just stands in the busy trafficked sidewalk contemplating everything he had just been told. This almost seems as a sort of symbolism of Milkman’s life. Milkman in a sense had been at a standstill or not part of the flow …show more content…
He goes back and forth with himself as he tries to make sense if his father was telling the truth about Ruth and her moment with her dad. In short, denial is when you say something isn’t true, whether or not the subject you are talking about is true or not. For example, if someone were to lie to you about stealing someone, you can deny what they are telling you and choose to believe what that person is telling you is not true. Milkman is hesitant to make a true decision of what he believes most likely because usually people do not want to think badly of the ones who raised, especially if they didn’t have a bad childhood. This means that by the way Milkman was raided, it has affected him in the future. A major aspect of psychology is how one's environment and interacting with people and their environment molds and shapes a person. From the text, we can assume that Ruth was a loving mother towards Milkman, and that he has no reason to hate her (besides being the reason for his embarrassing nickname). Because of that, Milkman does not want to see him mom a necrophiliac and as a woman who wanted to engage in incest with her own father. Milkman doesn’t want the image he has of his mother figure, which whom he grew up loving ,to be tainted with images of disgusting behavior, and this causes him to have the breakdown depicted in chapter