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He Peed On Me


“After you peed on me, I wanted to kill you” (Morrison 213). 

At the end of chapter 9, Lena is talking to Milkman about how he has peed all over his family.  Now, Milkman is quite drunk, so he does not truly understand what Lena is getting at, but she tells him the story of when she took him to the woods, and he peed on her.  Lena explains to Milkman that he was born with all his needs catered at his every whim and that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.  Their entire life, their worlds revolved around Milkman’s.  Lena states that, “As surely as my name is Magdalene, you are the line I will step across” (Morrison 214).  She means that she is finally standing her ground and is physically and mentally exhausted of carrying this weight on her back.  For everything that his mother and sisters have done for him he has peed on them in return.  “When you slept, we were quiet; when you were hungry, we cooked…” (Morrison 215).  This may be obvious, but I noticed a repetition of “you.”  Throughout his entire life, everything was about him.  He never asked or cared to know how his sisters and mother were doing or if they were tired.  But instead, he judged them cared for them with fake love.  The last time we see Milkman pee on his family was when he secretly told Macon about Corinthians relationship with Porter.  In result, she is forced to quit her job and never see Porter again.  Because he peed on Corinthians one more time, Milkman destroyed her life and a chance to escape the velvet rose petals.

Comments

  1. Jessie ZhouOctober 27, 2019 at 10:13 AM

    I feel like Milkman didn't have bad intentions when he told Macon about Corinthians secret relationship with Porter. Since Milkman found out that Porter is one of the Seven Days, he didn't want Corinthians to be involved with him. Maybe Milkman did it to protect Corinthians, but he executed it pretty badly... because he didn't really tell her why she couldn't be with Porter. I guess this just shows that there is more to the story...

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  2. BrennaOctober 27, 2019 at 10:16 AM

    I really like what you're getting at here Julia! I think the metaphor/motif of peeing means a lot more than meets the eye. Morrison doesn't always just mean literal peeing, but Milkman acting as a "damp"er and ruining their lives. Whenever Milkman pees, it does cause some catastrophic thing to happen to another family member or character, sort of like an aftermath of his peeing. After he stole the sack from Pilate's for example, he also took a pee break, and then him and Guitar ended up getting arrested.

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  3. Grace DalyOctober 27, 2019 at 12:33 PM

    I really liked your blog and I think you picked a great topic to talk about! I also agree with you that the motif and repetition off pee throughout Morrison's novel definitely means something! I think it may signify selfishness within certain characters such as Milkman and Porter. Hopefully we come to a final conclusion in this last chapter!!

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  4. Shreya PawarOctober 27, 2019 at 6:42 PM

    I really liked your analysis of the pee motif. I think that Milkman doesn't understand the magnitude of his actions and he simply just acts impulsively. I don't think he is purposely trying to harm other people; he just doesn't empathize with other people. In the beginning of the book, Milkman took a lot of people's love for granted (Hagar, Ruth, Lena, Corinthians) and wasn't able to understand their feelings. However, I feel like as the novel goes on, he is becoming more understanding about other people and the world; he has gained a lot of insight on the racial divide.

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