As I read chapter 11 for the first time, I was confused by the constant references to Hagar. I realized that Morrison kept referencing her for a reason, but I couldn’t figure out why. The scene in which Milkman sees her in a provocative position right before he believes he is going to die baffled me. After presenting today in class, I realized (with a lot of help from Mr. Mitchell) that Hagar was presented as an important image in this chapter for a very good reason: Hagar is a very real example of Milkman’s selfishness. Up until now, Milkman has only ever thought about himself, and this destroyed Hagar. She legitimately cared about Milkman, while he just enjoyed the steady, reliable sex she provided. She was his back up; if he couldn’t find anything to do, he would go have sex with her. While he pretty much used her as an object, she wanted a real relationship with him. This culminated in his getting bored with her and nonchalantly dumping her, which broke her; it made her homicidal. This mirrors how his nonchalant manner of being a dick gets him in trouble down South. He doesn’t bother to be nice or ask anyone’s name, he doesn’t bother with customs, he just worries about himself, his comfort, which causes him to get his ass beat. Because of this, when he reflects upon himself, Hagar comes up as a prime example of his poor actions. Also, the image of Hagar as Milkman thinks he is about to die ties in with the “tradition” that one sees their life flash before their eyes. Milkman’s life has been nothing except selfishness and vanity, and this is summed up by his relationship with Hagar. Thus, an image of Hagar actually sums up his entire life. Pretty eye-opening, right? Anyways, I find it interesting that after all of this reflection on the part of Milkman, he goes to Sweet and immediately treats her in a total opposite way. As he is starting his new life, straightaway he enters a short relationship in which he gives instead of just taking and taking.
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And while some readers would dismiss it as too little, too late, Milkman does, in the midst of his Shalimar epiphanies, come to a number of these same realizations himself (perhaps spurred by this dying image): "Why did he never sit down and talk to her? Honestly. . . . He had used her--her love, her craziness. . ." (301). In a remarkable moment of self-awareness, he even admits that he sort of wore her murderous pursuit of him as a perverse badge of honor--he must be "one bad dude" to make a woman so crazy over him.
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