"Hunger"


Milkman comes out of the cave empty-handed, and feels hunger that he has never felt before. This hunger is said to be, “real hunger, not the less than top full feeling.” By the less than top full feeling, Milkman refers to the hunger people may feel if they haven’t eaten in a while. It is clear that Milkman is feeling hunger because he hasn’t eaten as well as not being able to fulfill his desire to fill himself with gold. Because of this he feels delirious, which in turn makes him feel very empty and unhappy. It is unclear whether he is feeling this way just because of his physical hunger, as the quest to find the gold was long and strenuous causing him to be emotionally exhausted. This probably led him to feel even more “hungry” as he had to work hard for no reward.

He mentions not enjoying the greasy food given to him by Mrs. Cooper, and how he was “disgusted” by them. Greasy food often helps in fattening people, which is symbolic to privilege that is given to people.  The fact that Milkman doesn’t like the food shows that he doesn’t wanted to be handed everything in life. Up until now, Milkman was very privileged. He had money, a roof over his head, and was given respect because of his father’s power. It seems as if he doesn’t want to live like that anymore, which might be the reason why he went on the journey to find the gold in the cave. Milkman wanted to prove that he was capable to earn wealth by himself and that it didn’t need to be spoon-fed to him.

The fact that Milkman fails at trying to prove his capabilities is what makes him hungrier, not for greasy food but the satisfaction the greasy food gives him. He is satisfied with wealth and power yet he wants to earn it. The use of hunger on page 253 really shows how Milkman feels about the wealth that was given to him, and how he is “hungry” to earn more by himself.
Related image

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Supposed to Be"

Image
"Supposed to Be" “You’re just a girl” These are four words that I absolutely hate hearing together. So what? What if I am a girl, does that make me any different? Am I not capable of thinking for myself? Am I not supposed to defend myself? Am I supposed to sit and take it all in, and not open my mouth? Sometimes it does feel that way. When I was younger it never occurred to me that boys and girls were “supposed” to like certain things. When I was in kindergarten instead of gossiping about the new American girl doll, or Barbie movie that came out, I would talk about how cool flying dinosaurs were since their bones were hollow unlike our bones. I was immediately labelled as a tomboy. I grew up enjoying things that boys were “supposed” to like. My passion for learning about dinosaurs soon turned into a passion for science and math. In fourth grade, I was searching for a notable person in history that I could pretend to be during our wax museum project. I wanted my pe...
Read more

"Maus"

Image
        In the final flashback of volume 1 on page 157 we are presented with a picture of the entrance to the concentration camp that Vladek will be forced into as his real pain will soon begin. He specifically states that they “knew the stories,” and that “They will gas [them] and throw [them] into the ovens.” They knew that hardships and pain that was in store for them yet they had to quietly obey the orders given, not knowing when they would die. The panel depicting the entrance of the camp is dark and gloomy because of the intentional shading. The shading gives a grayish feel to the sky, which is usually a sign of negativity and gloominess, foreshadowing the suffering yet to come. In this panel everything seems darker, so dark that we can’t even see the officer’s eyes, but there is enough light to see his fangs. Even the dogs’ fangs are more prominent and visible than the little dots they have as eyes. The baring of the teeth of the “people” who ...
Read more

"More"

Image
The story of The Great Gatsby is a prime example of how greed can lead to one’s downfall. Gatsby was very fortunate, he was known as a perfect man, he lived the American dream, yet he still wanted more. He fought to possess the one person who he believed would complete his life, which ended up killing him. This leads to a question: why do people always strive for more than what they already have? Humans want to go faster, further, and just beyond their capabilities in general. And to an extent that is a good thing. It lets us push ourselves to reach our goals. However, many disasters could occur just as we think we have grasped that light in the distance, just as Gatsby had. Imagine sending a space rover to a faraway planet that, in theory, is supposed to contain life. This planet is only aligned at a closer distance to Earth once in every 200 years. The rover makes the year long journey to travel through space, and it has taken many years prior to the j...
Read more