"He. That's a he. The male is the only one got that tail full of jewelry." (Morrison 178).


While discussing this passage in class, I learned that the male peacock is meant to represent Milkman because just like how the male peacock is unable to fly due to his large, extravagant feathers, Milkman is also weighed down by his wealth. On the other hand, peahens are symbolism for Pilate. Female peafowl can fly because their feathers aren't so big; Pilate "has wings" and is free because without a lot of money, she is forced to be independent.

Image result for money puns
This made me think about the current lotteries that are going on- the Mega Million and Powerball. I often find myself just in awe and unable to grasp the concept of just how much money those lotteries are. Curious, I looked up some follow up stories to those who won the lottery. To my surprise, quite a few of these stories are actually super sad. For instance, one average individual named Evelyn Adams won $5.4 million dollars, spent it all on gambling and slot machines, and now is broke and living in a trailer park. How did that even happen? Is it that easy to be careless with money?

I remember my eighth grade english teacher telling me about how her husband was buying lottery tickets but she hoped he wouldn't win. She said that with that much money, he wouldn't be the same man she originally fell in love with.

Let me know how much you think money changes people!! Also, I hope you enjoy the pun:)

Comments

  1. Dhatri MedarametlaOctober 21, 2018 at 6:51 PM

    Sophia, I really enjoyed reading this! It's true that money can change people. Usually, it makes them worse, but a few are unaffected or choose to become better. It's so interesting to me how having a more pieces of valuable paper can translate into a better lifestyle and is looked at as ideal. However, this makes me bring back the saying "money can't buy you happiness". Though it's definitely important to have money, we have to remember to step back and look at what really makes life amazing. Also, I loved the pun:)

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  2. UnknownOctober 21, 2018 at 7:17 PM

    Hey Sophia, I love how you related Song of Solomon to lottery winners because it's is indeed true that many of them end up spending all their money and become worse off than they were before they won the lottery. This is kind of like Macon Senior and Milkman's greed for money. I also loved the Lincoln joke!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Richard LiOctober 22, 2018 at 8:37 AM

    Thanks so much for your post! I agree that the lottery is a great example of excess wealth preventing someone from “flying”. I think that the lottery itself does embody the concept of “too much power for one man”. Indeed, sometimes humans can’t be trusted with too much wealth or power without misusing it.

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