Reading Song of Solomon, I noticed another set of parallels; those between Gregor and Milkman. Starting out, neither of them have their own identity. Gregor spends years working at a job he hates to pay off his parent’s debt, and the only other hobby he has is making picture frames. Milkman aimlessly drifts through life, still works for his dad, who Milkman’s helped since he was twelve, going from woman to woman, and generally being bored despite having so much money. It’s interesting how similar the two are despite their different economic classes.
Both Gregor and Milkman’s characters center around their fathers – before the transformation, Gregor’s goal in life is essentially to work for his dad, and do nothing else. Milkman models after his dad for the entirety of Part 1, after which the coming-of-age section begins. Milkman fights the similarity – as he grows up, he tries to do everything the opposite of his father. But at the end of Part 1 he’s been acting and living just like Macon – his main goal is to earn money, he’s entitled and self-centered, and emotionally abuses the women in his life (by ignoring Ruth and Hagar, to the point where she goes crazy).
Despite the similarities between Gregor and Milkman, the circumstances (and perhaps, genre) of their stories lead their development in different directions. Milkman matures while Gregor declines. One person transforms from man to bug, the other grows from an adolescent into a (flying?) man. These paths are pretty clearly going in opposite directions. But Milkman’s maturation doesn’t go as far in the positive direction as Gregor’s goes in the negative. This is because the novels have different goals, and also because of the twist Song of Solomon puts on the idea of the coming-of-age novel. While he is discovering himself and having epiphanies, Hagar is dying. Milkman returns home triumphantly to be locked in the basement by a grieving Pilate. The hero’s mistakes have real consequences, which he has to deal with. This makes his victorious arc much less glamorous. Speaking of glamour, Milkman doesn’t finish the quest and get rich, or become a god, or end up happily married forever. He is fulfilled by leaping (flying?) off a cliff while fighting his best friend. This is a deviation from how coming-of-age novels usually end, and just as ambiguous as the beginning of the book, leaving us unsure how to judge Milkman in the end.
