Macon Dead Jr.'s Mindset
The Song of Solomon is filled with interesting characters worth analyzing, but today I want to take a closer look at the mindset of Milkman's father. His father is not obsessed with money or an extreme cheapskate. Macon Dead Jr. is obsessed with ownership. In his mind having money and wealth will give him the freedom and respect that he's denied because of his race. Macon's obsession with ownership isolates him from the community around him. He has no "people" in Michigan, as shown by the Macon's hearse, "Others watched the family gliding by with a tiny bit of jealousy and a whole lot of amusement, for Macon’s wide green Packard belied what they thought a car was for," and how he collects rent from Porter in the beginning of the novel before ruining him later on.
Despite the isolation, cruelty, and overbearing nature that Macon's mindset brings him, Toni Morrison doesn't completely reject the validity of Macon's ideas about money. When Milkman and Guitar are pulled over by the police Macon tells his Milkman,
In this scene Macon's view on money is justified as it helps set Milkman and Guitar free. But it is not the only worldview that is validated, Guitar's views on the racism that Milkman never experienced are also validated, and he sees Pilate, the women he respects, made weak when Milkman has only ever seen her as strong. A juvenile Milkman is confronted with the idea that his worldview is wrong and he must change his or adopt someone else's.
Thankfully, Milkman does not take up his father's worldview. In the end of the novel he reflects on his father's mentality. Macon is proud of his father and he is proud of the land he worked so hard to achieve. The land Macon had so many fond memories of was the very same land that his father was martyred over. Macon's obsession for property comes from his pride in his past. He just has a very poor way of expressing it. Overall, I just have had a hard time seeing Macon as just a greedy patriarch throughout the novel and I'm glad there's something more to him.
I'm glad you made this point. Macon isn't evil. He may have abusive and controlling tendencies, but it comes from something deeper: A drive for freedom and respect, and adoration of his father.
ReplyDeleteYeah. Macon felt very one-dimensional to me for the entire first half of the book, but as we discover his family's history with him, it is shown that there is a reason for the way that he behaves, and he also realizes this and makes an effort to change.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying about only seeing one side to Macon Dead. Throughout the entire first half of the book, he is painted in such a negative light which has some truth to it but it leaves the reader wondering if there's another side to this man. As we finish the book we learn that Macon has had a rough past that molded him into who he is today. I am also glad we got to learn about Macon's background to gain a better understanding of his character. Great post!
ReplyDeletePart 2 of the book really changed my perspective on Macon. His obsession with success and land suddenly made a lot more sense and it stems from his father's story. I think Macon is also trying to live up to his father's legacy and make something of himself and be successful.
ReplyDeleteYou make a great point. This ties in well to the father and children theme we have been looking at in class throughout this book. In Pennsylvania when Milkman meets all of the people who knew his father and family, we see him garner a sense of pride for his fathers accomplishments. This is after hearing them gush about the first Macon Dead and his accomplishments. I think you can make a connection with the behavior of Macon II with how his father raised him and what happened to him. I think maybe he is so stuck on obtaining things because his father was murdered so that white people could take what belonged to him.
ReplyDeleteI think that your point is even clearer when you look at Macon's reaction to Milkman's stories about how the people in Pennsylvania remember him and reacted to the news of his wealth, and how he seems really pleased that people remember him and are impressed with his wealth.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting: the concept of land ownership as a profound value and embodiment of freedom makes perfect sense when we think of Macon I, a man who was formerly enslaved, clearing and tilling his own soil in the free commonwealth of Pennsylvania. No one would criticize Macon I for wanting to "own things." But shift the context from a rural setting to an urban setting, and the source of the wealth from a farm to a bunch of cheap rentals in a slum, and the picture doesn't look quite the same. There is a predatory or at least exploitative aspect to being a landlord, and no one LIKES Macon Dead for good reasons: we see him almost taking pleasure in evicting young Guitar and his mother, and he seems to really enjoy himself yelling up to Porter about how he can go ahead and kill himself, as long as Macon gets his rent money. It definitely deepens our view of Macon's character to grasp this deeper familial meaning to wealth and ownership, but it's also simply true that being an owner and a landlord doesn't have the same aura as being a self-reliant farmer. Macon I taps into longstanding American traditions about self-determination and opportunity; his son just seems like a slumlord who exploits his tenants.
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