Song of Solomon | Milkman Dead

Milkman Dead is the son of Ruth Foster Dead and Macon Dead. Milkman acquires his name when his father's employee, Freddie, catches Ruth nursing him when he is four years old. Later, we find out that Ruth nurses her son in part because she has been sexually deprived after a rift between her and Macon. Macon, who has come to her as a result of his sister Pilate's spells, tries to end Ruth's pregnancy before Milkman is born and afterwards speaks to him only "if his words held some command or criticism." Milkman grows up cowed by his father, and disobeys him for the first time only after he...

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