Antoinette = Milkman?

As I was writing the previous blog entry, I had one final thought that relates to Song of Solomon.  Milkman, just like Antoinette, was born into a privileged household with history that he wants to escape but has to live through instead.  He tries to make friends with Guitar, because in some ways he simply does not want to be part of a rich household which both the poor blacks resent and the whites resent (if they are racist).  This is very similar to how Antoinette reaches out to Tia.  Yet the class tensions between the friends are much more pronounced in Antoinette's case, because she does not even have the option of fitting into any community.  And just like Guitar tries to hang Milkman, Tia throws a rock at Antoinette.

Yet Milkman, as a male in a modern-day society where he therefore has more mobility, has some chance of escaping his situation.  He can buy a plane ticket and fly away.  Though he was protected and stuck in his situation for a long time as a boylike 30-yr-old and wanted to get out, this would have probably been preferable to Antoinette's scenerio.  She was made to come of age way too fast for her own good.  And as a female in a ante-modern era, she was not able to simply leave.  She had to marry, and thus was stuck forever.  Milkman was therefore more resentful of being stuck in the situation than the situation itself, because he knew he could escape if he could be given the chance to fly away.  Antoinette, on the other hand, was resentful of the situation itself rather than being stuck in it, because never would have expected any sort of chance to fly away.  This could explain why it never occurs to her to actually leave, even though she could easily get out of the room at night.