Hagar's Rage
In class we discussed the scene where Hagar attempted to
kill Milkman. I would like to expand and express my own opinions about the
scene.
In particular, I thought the description of Hagar engulfed
in rage was interesting. If you want to read it, it’s page 127 last paragraph.
Morrison describes that Hagar’s “lethargy dissipated of its
own accord”. This lethargy dissipating from Hagar’s body almost resembles a
disease dissipating from the body. It is as if Hagar is rejuvenated and now can
express herself to the truest extent. It is also described that wilderness was
filled in its place: revealing an unrestrained “wild” side of Hagar. This
agrees with the idea that we talked about during class where the characters in Song of Solomon go “crazy” because of
their passions. This crazy side is revealed in Hagar because of her passion for
Milkman. Morrison equates the “wilderness” in Hagar as a flood or an avalanche.
The commonality between these two is that they are both uncontrollable. Once
they start to gain force, they are a momentous driving force: nothing can get
in the way. Additionally, she describes herself as a shark, a witch, and a
queen all violent and ridden with a killing passion. I thought the variety of
descriptions was really interesting. They didn't initially jump out to me as having a clear connection. However, they all exhibit “animalistic passions”
manifested into violence.
This description of Hagar’s passion, to me, seemed different
in its tone compared to the rest of the book. The scattered descriptions of Hagar’s
rage were beautifully chaotic to illustrate the intensity of her passion.
Great post! What I think is really interesting is that throughout the entire time, Hagar does not think that she is doing anything wrong. The entire time she just wants to get Milkman's attention. I think this can be seen as a reason that Hagar could not make herself kill Milkman and instead only lightly stabbed him in the collarbone. I definitely agree that the depictions in the book make the scene a lot more interesting!
ReplyDeleteThe descriptions of Hagar from herself made a lot of sense together. A shark, witch, and queen are all powerful figures that are dominant over others in some way. A shark is a predator, a witch can control magic, and a queen is a ruler of high status. I think this shows that Hagar thinks that her pursuit of killing Milkman is to get back the power he took from her, and that power comes from her trying to kill him.
ReplyDeleteBut for as scary as she thinks she is, Hagar just lives a half-life, occasionally jumping up and grabbing the nearest sharp or blunt object to go attempt to murder Milkman (with little success-- this murdery shark queen can't make the finishing blow, even when he's right there.) We said during 2nd hour a while ago that she's almost a plot device, occasionally driving the story forward but not doing much real damage.
ReplyDeleteHagar's anger being described as animalistic is more from the point of view of Milkman rather than Hagar. Hagar does all this because she wants Milkman attention, not because she actually hates Milkman himself. Nice post, you brought up great points!
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to contrast this scene with Hagar's murderous intentions with the motivations of Guitar in trying to kill Milkman. Hagar is mostly fueled by passion and love, since Milkman broke up with her and she was very emotionally invested in their relationship. Guitar, on the other hand, is motivated by paranoia and what he calls "love" as well (based on his description of the Seven Days and his version of justice). However, I think Hagar is described with such detail and rage because Milkman actually sympathizes with Hagar, but he doesn't understand Guitar's reasoning.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting comparison. I think an interesting similarity that can be drawn is that both times there is a sense that they are doing nothing wrong. Hagar decides to kill Milkman because she loves him so much and as you said Guitar is in a similar mindset. Also, the key to both is passion whether it be for Milkman or for the money. That idea leads to many different possibilities.
DeleteRobert brings up some great points. Hagar and Milkman's relationship is almost nothing like between Milkman and Guitar. It's crazy to think that how mad would have to be at someone to want to kill them after getting dumped. It also shows that Hagar really loved Milkman which is, in my opinion, overlooked.
DeleteYou make good points in describing the different ways Hagar is described and how they are all similar in that they channel animalistic rage. It is interesting that we don't see this from Hagar's perspective though, and only from Milkman's perspective. Perhaps we would see more love and passion-filled descriptions from Hagar's point of view. In the end, Hagar doesn't channel that animalistic rage into anything meaningful, which I think is interesting.
ReplyDeleteI really like this post Albert. I think the description of Hagar's rage is one of the coolest parts of the book. I don't really think any other 20th century book has a description quite this intense. This animalistic rage eventually leads nowhere for Hagar because she really loves Milkman. She can't bring herself to hurt him. Hagar's relationship with Milkman is one of the more interesting aspects of the novel in my opinion.
ReplyDelete