It Only Takes One

People are like dominoes, they will stay the way they are until someone pushes them to change. Dominoes will only fall if something makes them. A lot of times people are unable to change on their own. Its not because they're physically incapable, but rather that they cannot see that what they are doing needs to be fixed. They are to caught up in themselves as humans naturally are. They need someone to give them a wake up call or intervention so they can finally realize what they are doing needs to cease to continue. Toni Morrison illustrates this through Milkman's conversation with Lena. Milkman is so used to thinking the world revolves around himself that he can't see how his actions are affecting others negatively. Lena provides the much needed wake up call by enlightening him on the many reasons he has caused pain for everyone in his life and why he needs to straighten up. She shares with him how his whole life everything has been done for him. "When you slept, we were quiet; when you were hungry, we cooked"(Morrison 215). Everyone did things for him to make sure he got everything he wanted, but now everyone is done catering for his needs. This sets Milkman on the path to correct his behavior. "It was good advice, he thought. Why not take it"(Morrison 216)? All it took was for someone to make him see that he needed to change for him to do it. He took Lena's advice and began to change himself a little bit at a time.

Comments

  1. Sawyer DarishOctober 27, 2019 at 3:54 PM

    I really liked how you connected the conversation between Lena and Milkman to dominoes. Also, I completely agree that people have such a hard time changing without a push because, most of the time, we are only concerned about ourselves.

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