Scott Hardie | December 7, 2001
Why does Toni Morrison have to give her characters similar names? The protagonist of Song of Solomon is usually called Milkman because of an incident in his childhood. His real name is Macon Dead III. His father, Macon Dead II, is usually called Macon, but is sometimes called Macon Sr. because of the similar names. In my previous entry ("Toni Morrison and the Seven Deadly Sins"), I was listing the supporting characters from the book, and I typed "Milkman Sr." when I meant Macon. Wondering why that misnomer sounded so familiar, I suddenly realized that in an essay that I wrote last night for my final exam, I wrote "Milkman Sr." maybe a dozen times. There's no such character as "Milkman Sr." in the book! My teacher has a sense of humor and hopefully he'll realize that I know better and made an error in carelessness. Dr. Walker, if you're reading this, forgive me. :-)


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