“You think because he doesn’t love you that you are worthless. You think because he doesn’t want you anymore that he is right–that his judgment and opinion of you are correct. If he throws you out, then you are garbage. You think he belongs to you because you want to belong to him. Hagar, don’t. It’s a bad word, ‘belong.’ Especially when you put it with somebody you love. Love shouldn’t be like that. Did you ever see the way the clouds love a mountain? They circle all around it; sometimes you can’t even see the mountain for the clouds. But you know what? You go up top and what do you see? His head. The clouds never cover the head. His head pokes through, because the clouds let him; they don’t wrap him up. They let him keep his head up high, free, with nothing to hide him or bind him. Hear me, Hagar?” He spoke to her as he would to a very young child. “You can’t own a human being. You can’t lose what you don’t own. Suppose you did own him. Could you really love somebody who was absolutely nobody without you? You really want somebody like that? Somebody who falls apart when you walk out the door? You don’t, do you? And neither does he. You’re turning over your whole life to him. Your whole life, girl. And if it means so little to you that you can just give it away, hand it to him, then why should it mean any more to him? He can’t value you more than you value yourself.” (Morrison, 495-496)
This lecture is actually between the two main antagonists of the story, with Guitar telling Hagar that her love for Macon is hollow, and that she shouldn't fall apart just because he dumped her. Sadly, this lecture falls on deaf ear, with Hagar nearly killing Milkman in an effort to reconcile her worldview with the way the world actually is.
I chose this excerpt because it shed an interesting light on the various actions of the two people who actively try to harm Milkman. In many ways, this paragraph strips Hagar down to the basics of her character- the problem being, that she doesn't really have one. As Guitar put it, she feels like she is nothing without Milkman. Despite this, Hagar is not a flat character. Indeed, her problem is one of the main points of story- women who love men too much will end up used, abused, or abandoned, depending on the man. Though not a very pleasant message, it is in keeping with most of the female characters in the story who suffer various forms of abuse and neglect.
The other character this text sheds light on is Guitar, the one who is speaking. By giving a clear summation of the situation, he shows himself capable of clear thinking. However, most of his antagonistic qualities come from the irrational hatred he has of all the white men of the setting, seeing them all as personally responsible for the poverty he grew up with.
As the story continues, it becomes more and more obvious that both Hagar and Guitar are victims of the society that shaped them, unable to extricate their identities from the Blood Bank where they were raised.
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