Thursday, February 21, 2013
Cornell West vs Milkman/ Past vs Future
Today at Cornell West's speech he talked about how we must look back to our past in order to understand the future. He said that without our past and the people in it who provided us with love, we would simply not be. Do you see a connection (or contradiction) between what West is saying and the way Milkman sees or deals with his past? How does Milkman's pessimistic view of his family challenge West's view?
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I think that there is a connection with Song of Solomon, in fact Milkman in the story is trying to find himself and to do that he has to deal with his past, that concerns his parents life and Pilate's life. We can see that even if Milkman tries to "escape" from his past he actually can't because it is part of himself too and therefore without it he can't define himself. I think that Milkman's reaction shows West's view, because MIlkman understands who he is in relation of what his parents have done and that is also what make him questioning himself, bringing him to a following spiritual growth.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a contradiction between what Cornel West said and Milkman's past. West said that we must look back to our past in order to understand our future. This comment contradicts Milkman because he is unable to understand his past and therefore can't see his future. Milkman's pessimistic view of his family challenges West's view because after he learns about his parent's past, he is still unable to find a future for himself. Maybe this is because he is ashamed of his parent's pasts.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Milkman does look to his past for answers about his future. Just as West said. He is trying to find his past to know where his future is going. And just as West said, Milkman is trying to find the love that will allow him to be a good person. At the beginning of this novel, MIlkman's family is disorganized and he has no love that he feels. Then as he examines his family's past he finds Pilate. She has become a figure of love in the family for Ruth and Milkman. As he finds more about his family's past he uncovers more love. However, MIlkman does not embrase his past the way West says and he doesnt let go prejudices.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a connection between Cornell West's perception of the past and Milkman's in the sense of how Milkman reacts to the events that Pilate, Macon, and Ruth tell him about. Each time someone tells him something about his past it impacts the way he sees someone else or himself. When Macon tells him about Ruth, Milkman begins to see his mother in a different life. He perception of his father is altered when Ruth tells him about what happened before he was born. His perception of himself is altered by all the information about how weird his family is and it makes him question himself and what he truly knows.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Milkman looks to his past for insight into his future just as Cornell West suggests, but his vision into the past is blurred by multiple retellings of the same story. Milkman constantly looks to the past to see what shaped his family into the people they have become, but after hearing their stories and gaining what he thinks is a good understanding of who his family members are, he tries to escape his past. He hears the difference in the stories of the Doctor's death and the following scenes, and is put off by it. He gets annoyed by the inconsistant retellings of his family's history, and therefore tries to escape it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of you guys. I think Cornell West was right when he said that without our past and the people in it who provided us with love, we would simply not be. I think that this is what Milkman is missing. He doesn´t have a past and people who love him in it, therefore he can´t see his future and keeps looking back. I think he tries to live in the past to find out more and figure out a way how to move from past to future.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. Milkman's lack of love is because he's not looking for it. He only look at the "wrong" part of his past: how his mother is weird, how his father doesn't want him and how Pilate brings shame to his social status. When I read Ruth kneed on the ground to pray for him, I realized that there's love in Milkman's past. "What harm did I do you on those knees?" That is love. Pilate protected him from being aborted. That is love. Pilate covered him up at the police station. That is love. To me, Milkman has a complicated family history. But that doesn't mean there's no love in it. He looks at the negative side way too much.
DeleteBased on my reply on Kristina's comment, I think CW stress on the importance of searching for love, which is exactly what Milkman should do. In a sense I agree with Katie that Milkman tries to so by hearing his family's story. But for most of the time, his family history is forced upon him, not that he actively searches for it. And when he does search for it (recall that he asked Macon II to tell the story of old Macon), he found his father much more emotional and nicer. For me, he is just not looking hard enough.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bruce and Katie in the sense that Milkman searches for things within his past through the stories that he hears from his family members; however, I also think that he doesn't know how to interpret the many different recollections of events that are being told to him. Because of this confusion, he doesn't really have a concrete sense of self, which is what leads him to be even more confused and unsure of his future. I'm not sure he's not trying hard enough necessarily, but maybe that he's tried before and it hasn't given him the results that he wanted (in order to give him the future that he had hoped for), and therefore, he chooses to disregard what he's being told by multiple people.
ReplyDelete