page 229: Milkman smiled and let his shoulders slump a little. It was a good feeling to come into a strange town and find a stranger who knew your people. All his life he'd heard the tremor in the word: "I live here, but my people . . ." or: "She acts like she ain't got no people," or: "Do any of your people like there?" But he hadn't known what it meant: links. He remembered Freddie sitting in Sonny's Shop just before Christmas, saying, "None of my people would take me in."
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• Even though Milkman just walked into Danville he feels more connected there than at his real home. To him, the sense of community is stronger. The people in Danville have stories to tell him about his family and he can actually see where they lived once. At home in Michigan, Milkman feels like he is only connected to Pilate and Guitar. He can’t even rely on his own family at home but here the people seem more hospitable. Even though Milkman’s eyes were still set on gold in Danville he was slowly becoming more interested in finding his family’s origins and becoming more compassionate as time went on.
Milkman has never really felt like he has known much about his people and what there stories are. For once he was happy to find someone who knew something about his own people. Milkman had always felt that many individuals were keeping information from him. When he got to Danville he wasn’t expecting to learn so much about his family, all he wanted was gold. Milkman didn’t know until he got there, that he wanted to connect together all of the missing information about his family. For once he felt like he knew who he was because he knew something about his people and their lives.
-Gillie Jacobi
Milkman is experiencing the links, implications, and good that come with his family name in Danville. He realized that his name carries much weight in this town, and that he can live through it, thus benefitting from the perks of being known. The name, “Macon Dead,” even had the power to excite the residents of the town, as the mention of one of the poor citizens of Danville becoming relatively prosperous gave hope to the people whose entire lives had been spent in the mediocrity of poverty and hard work. Milkman is essentially being taught the value of the Dead name through his visit to Danville, and that those considered to be his people were highly regarded. The high regard creates even stronger links, potential resources to be exploited by any member of the Dead people, and this is precisely what Milkman is discovering in Danville. Though he has little technical family in Danville, Milkman still has links strong enough to denote the presence of “people” in the town. These people, unlike those mentioned by Freddie and various others in doubt of their people, do exist for Milkman's family name and are willing to help him and even take him in.
When Milkman entered Danville there was almost a sigh of relief, he had finally made it to a town that understood his people and the history of his kin. Not only does this town know the history of the "Deads", but it also is a warm and welcoming town that excepts Milkman for who he is. Back home in Michigan Milkman didn't feel really apart of anything other than Pilate's family and Guitar, but in this town he is greeted not as a visitor, but as someone special. Every day spent in Danville he has new visitors that knew his people. The sense of pleasure from Milkman the reader receives in this passage is very powerful. He has finally been accepted somewhere and has never felt better.
For the first time Milkman finally feels like he knows himself. He has started to realize who he is because people have told him who his family was and how he became who he is to this day. Now that he is in Danville he is being told numerous stories about his people and he is being recognized and realizes he hasn't been forgotten. Macon is now understanding that his name is highly regarded in Danville. The people of Danville think of Milkman's people as a successful group. Milkman loves the feeling of being known and now being in Danville he is getting more attention and is well thought of by the citizens.
When Milkman enters Danville heis finally able to be himself. Throughout his life Milkman hasn't been accepted. When he gets to Danville he is more than welcome to be there. The is a relief for him as a person but it also helps him with his research on his family. The people in Danville know about his family history and share it with him. At home he has nobody to talk to about his family history.
Milkman has finally found his links. These people who have grown up with his grandfather and father make him feel right at home. It seems where ever he goes, he can find someone that can tell him new things about his family. Back at home, he could only connect with a few people. In Danville, he is loved by the whole town. He begins his journey expecting to come out with gold. Now he starts a new journey to find out who he is and who he comes from. He has changed his goals of becoming rich in the sense of the real world, to becoming rich in the sense of mind and body--pulling closer to his family roots through his trek.
I agree with Anna- Milkman feels more connected in Daneville than he does in Michigan. I guess he found comfort in the fact that his ancestors made a life there and that he had roots that allowed him to be welcomed by the whole town. He felt important in Daneville because his family was a big part of its history. In Michigan, people respected the Dead family for their wealth and power. However, in Daneville, the family was a beacon of hope. The Dead family represented the fact that people could make something of themselves. If the Dead family could thrive, why couldn't they?
The Dead name provided Milkman with pride when he arrived in Daneville. He was no longer ashamed of the name that was meaningless in Michigan. It actually meant something in Daneville, and Milkman was truly proud of his name for the first time.
I think that the idea of having ‘people’ is one that is very appealing to Milkman. Coming into a town that he had never been to before and being welcomed there was comforting to him. It’s nice to have people accept you and know you without having to earn their respect or approval. I think that this was especially significant to Milkman because he never really loved his family back home. When Milkman tells his people in Danville about life back home, they have pride in his family and think very highly of them. Like Maggie said, in Danville they viewed the Dead family as an example of where determination and hard work could get you. I also think that Milkman liked having his people believe the best of his family and what they had made for themselves, instead of knowing all the dirty gossip about his family like the townspeople in Michigan did.
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