page 67Macon didn't wait to put his fork down. He dropped it on the table while his hand was on its way across the bread plate becomming the fist he smashed into her jaw.Milkman hadn't planned any of it, but he had to know that one day, after Macon hit her, he'd see his mother's hand cover her lips as she searched with her tongue for any broken teeth . . . and that on that day he would not be able to stand it . . . "You touch her again, one more time, and I'll kill you."Macon was so shocked at being assaulted he could not speak. He had come to believe, after years of creating respect and fear wherever he put his foot down, after years of being the tallest man in every gathering, that he was impregnable. Now he crept along the wall looking at a man who was as tall as he was -- and forty years younger.
Questions:1) Shortly after this incident Macon offers Milkman reasons for his violence. Do you think he is lying to Macon to justify his actions?2) Even if Macon is telling the truth (about why he feels such hatred and contempt for his wife), are his actions justifiable?
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• Macon is trying to justify his actions to Milkman but not through lying. It happens to be that Macon was deceived by the truth and he twists it in his own mind. In a way that can be lying, but Macon’s perception is what he saw and believes to be the truth. The information about Dr. Foster not liking Macon is true but the information about Ruth and her father was twisted in Macon’s mind. We learn later what really happened between Ruth and her father when Milkman confronts Ruth at the cemetery.
Macon’s actions are not justifiable. A man should not abuse his wife. Macon should have sat his wife down and had a conversation with her years back to get the facts straight and to understand the relationship between Ruth and her father. The relationship between the parents will always be filled with tension. Even if Ruth were to confront Macon and try to tell him what happened he would not have the patience to tolerate it and would probably commit another unjustifiable act.
Macon is not lying, but is trying to justify his actions. There is a background story to everything that can change the way one sees any situation. Milkman had no clue about his mother's or father's relationship with Ruth's father. Macon felt led to give him the background information to justify his actions. There are also two sides to every story. Each person is going to give the details that enhance their side and leave out the details that bring down their point. Unless the story is told by an outsider who witnessed the scene, the reader may never know what really happened. Macon is not lying. He is simply telling his side of the story.
Macon's reasons do not justify his actions. Domestic violence is wrong. It is wrong for a man to hit his wife. When most people think of the family dinner table, they think of family bonding, the father hitting the mother. Parents are supposed to set teach their children how to be successful men and women. They should lead by example. Hitting your wife in front of the children at the dinner table is sending the wrong message.
Macon is generally doing more editing of history than blatantly lying. He leaves out parts of the story that are unflattering towards himself and only tells Milkman what he thinks will change Milkman to see his side. Macon isn’t specifically trying to justify his actions, but is trying to explain the origin of his feelings towards Ruth. Later, Ruth provides insight to the fact that she holds Macon responsible for her father’s death, which may indicate a possible lie on the part of Macon, depending on which party is being more honest. Macon’s revisions and deletions of history both serve the purpose of having Milkman see his side more so than they do having Milkman agree that his mother deserves to be punched. Macon is telling the truth about his feelings, however, and is genuine in describing all of his emotions. It is the origins of his emotions and their validity that are unclear, a flaw that plagues Macon’s character throughout the novel. The actions and opinions of Macon based on these emotions are generally extreme enough to cause a reasonable doubt that he would describe either of them accurately. He oftentimes has off-the-wall feelings towards something based on a twisted perception, and this is definitely the case for the way he handles Ruth and tries to explain himself to Milkman. In any case, Macon’s actions are not justifiable at all. Milkman recognizes this, and knows that his father is out of line. He sees that the man of the house is supposed to protect the family, not hurt those that he knows he easily can. Of the many actions Macon could have taken to solve his marital problems, beating Ruth is not justifiable by anything, true or not, that Macon might say.
1. Macon is justifying his actions, but he isn't lying. He believes that Ruth and her father are more than just kin, when in fact he is wrong. Macon seems to build on small things and twist them up into his own beliefs. The thing I thought was interesting was Milkman knows that what his father told him wasn't true. He calls it Macon's "way-out tale."
2. Macon's actions are not justifiable. He is a grown man and to overpower a woman because of something that happened in the past is a bad example on the children and is just flat out wrong. I agree with Anna's point that if he was so uptight about it he might as well try and reason with Ruth before things like punching her in the face occur.
You cannot justify hitting a woman. It's just wrong. I think Macon is is scared and shocked that Milkman stood up to him. When Macon is trying to convince Milkman that he did it for a good reason is just cowardly.Macon is not lying about what he is telling Milkman but trying to justify hitting is wife, but there is really no point in trying because the fact is no man should ever lay a hand on their wife its just wrong. Also it is setting a bad example for the children. I really dislike Macon just for this, because this shows how much of a coward he really is.
After having completed the novel, one knows that Macon hadn't outright lied, but had simply exaggerated the truth. He hadn't done this knowingly, I believe, because he somehow fabricated parts of it naturally in his mind. I believe he did this because he had an awkward relationship with his father-in-law, and he felt intimidated because his wife was always against him when it came to matters with her father, so it is also natural that he wouldn't like him. In telling Milkman the reasons for his violence, I don't think he lied to justify his actions. He not only left parts out of the story that were critical towards himself, but he made himself seem like a victim. In Macon's mind, that is what the truth had come to, and that's why he held an underlying hatred for his wife.
Even if what he told Milkman was the truth, his actions are not justifiable. A man should never hit his wife under any circumstance. Even if their children are adults, it sets a bad example for them and could emotionally harm them. Macon needed the aid of patience and self control, yet he lacked it due to the stress caused by the situation he was under.
Pride Snow
1)Lying is a harsh word, suggesting that the words coming out of Macon’s mouth were completely fictitious fabrications. As Macon attempts to justify his past actions, it shows you that he possesses the ability to fear intensely, and gives you insight to the fact that, all these years, he has had this hot blooded emotion bottled up inside of him, distracting himself from the things he was scared of by building himself up in his mind. The more he hit his wife, the easier it was to fool himself that he had nothing to fear. The only person he is lying to is himself. When it comes to Milkman, he is simply repeating what he’s been telling himself all these years. Any man who could touch his own family like that, despite his background and what influenced him to do such things, must deal with his own conscious. For years he has been justifying his actions. This is his chance, whether he knows it or not, to open up and tell his son what he’s been battling with for all this time. He is simply telling his son what he truly believes. Most abusive fathers and husbands do believe they’re justified in what they’re doing. I think Macon really does believe what he is saying, although the words coming out of his mouth are mere echoes of his own thoughts and conscious self conflicts.
2 )Hurting another living creature is not, and will never be, justifiable by any definition of the word. Regardless of who they are, their social stature, their relation to you, or what they’ve done to “deserve” being abused by someone, it is never okay. Is it sometimes understandable? Yes, in some situations it’s easier than others, but that doesn’t make it alright or socially acceptable. Domestic violence has always been and, unfortunately, will continue to be an issue in society, but it’s the shame of the century. Lots of people carry immense hatred for certain political figures, and even for fellow coworkers, but they don’t hit them. Part of being a man is being able to hold back your anger and have a conversation, and there are no amount of words in the English language to justify Macon’s actions.
I do not believe Macon was lying to Milkman. He was telling Milkman, after years of imagination engulfed by hatred, his altered side of the story. When he confronts his mother in the cemetery he hears her side of the story as well. Just like any other disagreement, their sides are not the same. Milkman was not born in time to witness any of this problem. He should not be troubled with this issue because it happened so long ago. It should be left in the past.
^^^Macon’s actions of striking his wife are not justifiable. There are other ways of settling problems without violence, especially when it comes to women. Macon needs to forgive and forget. He is tearing the family apart while he holds onto these dark memories.
Macon is trying to justify his actions but unkowingly lies to Milkman pr at least doesn't know the whole story and leaves parts of the story out that throw a shadow over him. Macon is right in some aspects of the story but doesn't know the whole story on some parts and continues to tell Milkman his version that isn't the truth but it is what it seemed to be the truth in his eyes. He doesn't mean for this but is still trying to justify his actions.
No, his actions are not justifiable. His feelings may be a little justifiable from his point of view but his actions are not. He should have tried to get the story straight and confronted her in a different way. If he knew the whole story he might have felt differently and wouldn't have proceeded to strike his wife.
Macon isn't lying to Milkman, although he is trying to justify his actions. He had something in his head that he believed was true but in reality he had gotten it all twisted in his mind. He believed what he wanted to believe and wanted Milkman to believe this too so that Milkman would understand things from Macon's point of view better and perhaps take Macon's side and not judge him but judge Ruth instead for the actions that Macon took.
2. Macon's actions are in no way justifiable. I believe that things aren't justifiable. He commited the action of hitting his wife and he should take responsibility for this rather than making up an excuse to make it seem more like her fault for the things that he did.
I don’t think that Macon is lying to Milkman, but he’s certainly not telling the whole truth either. Lots of details from Ruth’s story about her father’s death don’t match up with those from Macon’s story. I think that both Macon and Ruth changed or left out small details in their stories so that Milkman would sympathize with them. I think that Macon always knew that hitting Ruth was wrong, and only felt the need to try and justify himself once someone else noticed what he was doing was wrong. I also have a feeling that Macon was an abusive husband before Ruth’s father’s death. If they had a good relationship, Ruth would have felt comfortable coming to Macon after he caught her in the room with her father and would have been able to explain her side of the story. Only letting Milkman in on an isolated event in his and Ruth’s marriage is giving a skewed perspective.
Even if Macon is telling the truth, his actions are definitely not justifiable, and Macon knows it. If Macon thought that his actions were justified, he wouldn’t be trying so hard to prove it to his son. Violence is generally not okay, and by hitting his wife at the dinner table in front of his kids for smiling a certain way is just breeding a new generation of wife beaters and dependent women.
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