Milkman is just like Antoinette in many ways. Milkman was born into a rather privileged household with a want to always escape but has to live through instead. In order to make his life more peaceful, he tries to make friends with Guitar. He does this because in he does not want to be the part of a household which both the poor blacks resent (because of jealousy for money). Interestingly, this is quite similar the way that Antoinette reaches out to Tia (Tia is from a lower class and is still friends with Antoinette, for a time being). However, the class tensions that are present between these friends are much more pronounced and visible in the case of Antoinette, specifically because she does not even have the option of fitting into any community. Guitar also mentions something similar to Milkman when he says that ‘you do not fit in either communities’. And just like Tia throws a rock at Antoinette (which I feel was done with intent to kill), Guitar tries to hang Milkman.
However, they do have their differences. Mainly, Milkman is a male in a much more modern society (well more modern than that of Antoinette's times) and because of this he does have a shot at actually getting out of the situation he is in, for example, as he so says himself “I’ll buy a plane ticket,” and he does. And while he was stuck there, he was in a relatively comfortable and protective environment. In somewhat of a contrast, Antoinette was a female in an era wher she could simply not leave, and so was stuck (like Milkman) but stuck forever (unlike Milkman) She was made to come of age way too fast for her own good. And as a female in a ante-modern era, she was not able to simply leave. She had to marry, and thus was stuck forever
And, when I was writing this, I wasn’t trying to say that Milkman is like the character of Antoinette, but rather has interestingly quite similar qualities and ideas that are not visible to first-time readers. For example, he also shares certain qualities of Rochester. Milkman enjoyed the sexual part of his relationship with Hagar and then later left her when he got bored of her. He didn’t have a sense of love towards her ever. Similarly, Rochester was also in a much more sexual relationship with Antoinette than a loveable relationship, after which he gave up on her. What is most interesting, however, from these reactions, is the fact that both Antoinette and Hagar go insane upon knowing that what they thought of as their mates, have abandoned them, and don’t have any love or respect for them left.
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