Milkman's Journey
In the Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison, we follow Milkman on a journey to find a bag of gold. However, instead of finding the gold, he is able to grow up and realize his flaws. Milkman realizes that he only thinks of himself and not of the ramifications that his actions have on others. The word Milkman uses is "deserve". He says that he did not "deserve Hagar's vengeance", and didn't "deserve his family's dependence" (Morrison 276). This realization that he was looking at his situation wrongfully, shows his development. He starts looking at his situation from other's perspectives and sees that he is not always correct. This passage made me think of every time I thought that the world was unfair or every time I thought I didn't deserve something. I realize that by using the word "deserve" I shift the blame for my situation to someone else besides me. This might be the same feeling that Milkman has. By saying that he did not deserve to have Hagar try to kill him is the easy way out. He places the blame on her for being crazy. However, if he tries to understand why she is trying to kill him he can realize that "he'd thrown [her] away like a wad of chewing gum after the flavor was gone - she had a right to try to kill him too" (Morrison 277). This awareness can lead him to make better decisions in his relationships and treat everyone fairly. I believe that by taking responsibility for our actions, and not shifting the blame by thinking that we don't "deserve" something, can help us be better people.
woah I feel this blog post so much. I definitely have gotten angry before and told myself that I didn't "deserve" what happened to me. I feel like it's especially hard since once we get stuck in this mindset, it's almost like a confirmation bias where everything else you view is through that selfish "I deserve this" lense. This blog post really opened my eyes to the idea of shifting blame and is definitely inspiring me to consider more perspectives and be more empathetic before I jump to conclusions.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really eye-opening way to develop even more of Milkman's development! Even when something completely unpreventable happens to me, now I feel like if I say, "I didn't deserve for that to happen to me!" is wrong. That would mean that I don't deserve it, but someone else does. Instead I have to accept the situations that I encounter and move on from it.
ReplyDeletehaha u could say that shifting the blame onto another person or thing by using the word deserve is an association fallacy :)))))
ReplyDeleteIt's like how "This is Water" told us to think from others' perspectives, but now here we're told to think from the world's, a third-person perspective? Everyone's actions leads to consequences, and so when something bad happens to someone, they should think about whether it was related to something they did (karma!). Often it is partially their fault, but other times, it's just pure bad luck, maybe someone always pays attention while driving but then got in a car accident, do they really deserve that?
ReplyDeleteLmao that's so true I know a lot of people who complain about how unfair tests are or how unfair teachers are by taking off points but the world isn't always going to be in your favor. In fact, most times you don't "deserve" anything to happen to you but it does anyways because the world is unfair and cruel and doesn't care about you. By shifting the blame and blaming other people for mistakes allows people to remain ignorant to their own mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI like how you truly made this blog post your own by connecting it to the real world. I wholeheartedly agree that a lot of times we just push away our problems or ignore the consequences just to make our lives more fair. Fairness is just an illusion and all depends on perception. So if we really want to make our lives more fair, then we should just accept responsibility and do the best we can with the cards we are dealt instead of blaming the cause of our inconveniances on someone else.
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