Hey that's the name of the show

I don’t remember exactly which conversation it was, but at some point we were discussing Milkman’s immaturity and I sort of had a flashback to my blog post on how much an individual is responsible for overcoming their circumstances. Much  of Song of Solomon concerns the relationship between past and present. Milkman is forever branded by the name he was given at a young age, the future does not arrive the present extends itself, old incidents from their childhood define the relationship between many of the characters. Milkman is immature because he lives in a house where no one grows up and where they all live in the past. Names are a part of circumstance and Hagar's life bears certain resemblances to the biblical character who Abraham cast out, implying a certain inevitability to aspects of her life, and therefore to Milkman’s. Furthermore the whole topic of overcoming circumstance is incredibly significant when talking about African Americans. Last year we read Invisible Man and Native Son, two books which conflicted over the extent to which African Americans were products of their environments.  
     Last time I kind of felt like I was arguing in circles about exactly how much individuals are responsible for. Both answers are unsatisfying, and if we tried to find some middle ground I think that would also be unsatisfying as saying people are responsible for some aspects of their beliefs but other cultural views are totally inescapable is pointless unless we explain why certain views are inescapable and others are not. Ultimately the question is about whether or not we are able to understand moral absolutes. If they exist and we all have the tools to find these moral absolutes then we are all responsible for not finding them or not acting on them if we did find them. However much of this syllabus is about living in a world in which what has previously been conceived of as absolutes (masculinity, slavery, pre-modern values) have been shattered, creating in the characters a disillusionment. Camus writes at length about we have to cling to the value of life even though it is arbitrary and abzurd, Woolf and Baker seem to be saying the same thing. I think the question of individual responsibility is incredibly relevant to what we have read this year because the importance of being responsible for your own values and beliefs is magnified in a modern world where everything is in question and cultural values are up in the air.