The End of Something and The Song of Solomon

p. 117—“Annoyed by Milkman’s indifference, he relieved his agitation by straightening up the room. He pulled an empty crate from underneath the straight-backed chair leaning in the corner, and started dumping trash into the box: dead matches from the window sill, pork bones from the barbecue he had eaten the day before. He crumpled the pleated paper cups that had been overflowing with cole slaw and fired them into the crate. ‘Every n----- I know wants to be cool. There’s nothing wrong with controlling yourself, but you can’t control other people.’ He looked sideways at Milkman’s face, alert for any sign, any opening. This kind of silence was new. Something must have happened. Guitar was genuinely worried about his friend, but he also didn’t want anything to happen in his room that would bring the police there.” 

The End of Something:

Nick and Marjorie show us the end of a relationship

"I can't help it," Nick said. "You do. You know everything. That's the trouble. You know you do." (Hemingway 34)

Song of Solomon: 

Guitar and Milkman show us the wariness of a relationship that's about to change

‘Every n----- I know wants to be cool. There’s nothing wrong with controlling yourself, but you can’t control other people.’ (Morrison 117)

What ties it together:

Both stories speak of the end of a relation or friendship

Love Medicine

Outlining:

Intro: In relationships, the one who cares the least is the one who holds the power. The patterns of power that both Marie and Nector’s showed over each other show that love is just as much about attachment and enjoyment of one to one’s partner as much as it is obligation. And that even as that love wears thin, as long as one still desires the other, neither will ever be free. Years had gone by since Marie had found out about Nector’s infidelities, yet her love for him tied her to him. Had she spoken up about what she knew to be true, then she would have risked losing him, something that no one in love could bear. Her love for him was a love that provided and made one stronger. On the other hand, it was Marie’s love for him that gave Nector his power, but when he attempted to give up on Marie and go to Lulu, severing that attachment of love, he found himself ultimately unable to do so because of the power of obligation that Marie held over him.

BP1: Just sufficient love: Nector over Marie

-          “What was mostly our problem was not so much that he was not all there, but that what was there of him often hankered after Lamartine” (239)

-          Nector’s power over Marie came from the fact that she loved him, but it also came from the fact that she knew that the other person of his desire was one who could have brought shame to her. For Marie, her pride was quickly becoming her downfall once again. Nector acted as a father for the children, but that was obligation as they were also the children of his own. It was not that he did not have some inkling of the love he once had for Marie, but the fact that, “what was there of him often hankered after Lamartine” and everyone who saw them knew it (Erdrich 239).

Marie wants to win him back

BP2: Want to keep it love: Marie over Nector

-          “Grandma tried to get me to put the touch on Grandpa soon after he began stepping out.” (232)

Throughout their love, Marie constantly worked to improve Nector as a person and as a father. It was her work that helped him fight off his enjoyment of alcohol which had previously hampered him. The way she loved him was through improving him as a person which made him stronger. She even petitioned to their son to “put the touch on” him, but even he could see that his magic touch was not what their relationship needed (255).

BP3: Obligation trumps all:

“It was stronger than we thought. He came back even after death to claim me to his side.” (255)