Enlightenment

We discussed in class how Marlow from Heart of Darkness seemed to experience three stages of self throughout the novel. The first was while he was experiencing everything - before the book, and before his recollection. The second, was while he was talking about what happened to him. The final and third stage was when he became quite, and stopped talking. He reached "enlightenment" of a sort. Things made sense to him. In other words, he was like Buddha.

Buddha experienced the same thing. He didn't like the way his life was going, so he set out to learn new stuff. Later on, after that all didn't exactly work for him, he meditated underneath a tree, - voila! - he became enlightened.

I believe this pattern can also be seen in Milkman's novel, Song of Solomon. First of all, he is not really enjoying his "life" at all, if you can even call it that. So, he goes out to seek his fortune, but gets rapped up in finding out about his past. In other words, he wanted to know more about himself, because by learning your past, in a way, you can then identify who you are as an individual. Therefore, he tries to learn more: Why is this happening? Why did this happen? What does this mean?

The final stage is when he actually becomes one with the earth - enlightened. Right after Pilate is shot, on page 337.

"Milkman stopped waving and narrowed his eyes. he could just make out Guitar's head and shoulders in the dark. 'You want my life?' Milkman was not shouting now. 'You need it? Here.' Without wiping away the tears, taking a deep breath, or even bending his knees - he leaped. As fleet and bright as a lodestar he wheeled toward Guitar and it did not matter which one of them would give up his ghost in the killing arms of his brother. For now he knew what Shalimar knew: If you surrenedered to the air, you could ride it."

After that. All I could think of was "wow." The first part was when he "stopped waving and narrowed his eyes." That shows that he stopped trying so hard, and stopped acting with movements, but started working on the inside. "You want my life? You need it? Here." He asks two questions, and then responds. It seems that he found out that no matter how many questions you ask, no one will answer, so you have to figure out what should come next by yourself. By simply saying "here", he "surrenders" himself. Gives himself to whatever force there is. Because Morrison took the time to say "without wiping away the tears," I think that this has a huge significance. First of all, it means he didn't stop to contemplate what would be the result of whatever he was about to do. He just did. Seconly, the fact that he was crying shows that he was really living, not just going through motions, as before. Honestly, this is the first time Milkman has really showed that much emotion. So this proves that he reached a point where he became a feeling something. Whether he became something else in that moment, an enlightened Buddha, can be debated, but one thing is for sure, a change occured. Also, we don't know if he died. He did not just leap. The air lifted him, and so he soared over to where Guitar stood. This represents his courage to face the opposition. His final choice to surrender, yet act at the same time.