Milkman's transformation in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, the character Milkman gradually learns to respect and listen to women. This essay will examine Milkman's transformation from a boy to a man. In the first part of the novel, he emulates his father, being deaf to the wisdom and needs of women, and casually disrespecting the women he should respect most. He chooses to distance himself from his father's example and leaves the city to obtain his inheritance and become a self-defined man. From Circe, a witch figure, she draws inspiration from reciprocity, and through her fight for equality with men and then women, she begins to find her legacy, which is knowing what it means to fly, not gold. Ultimately, he acts kindly and reciprocally with Pilate, learning from his wisdom and finally accepting his responsibilities towards women. By accepting his true inheritance from women, he becomes a man who loves and respects women, who knows he can fly but also knows his responsibilities. In the first part of the novel, Milkman is his father's son, a child who has been taught to ignore the wisdom of women. Even when he is 31, he still needs "both his father and his aunt to get him out" of the trouble he gets into. Milkman thinks of himself as Macon, Jr., calling himself by that name and believing that he cannot act independently (120). The first lesson his father teaches him is that property is everything, and that female knowledge (particularly Pilate's knowledge) is of no use "in this world" (55). He is blind to the wisdom of Pilate. When Pilate tells Reba's lover that women's love must be respected, he learns nothing (94). In the same episode he begins his incestuous relationship with Hagar, leaving her 14 years later when his desire for her fades. Milkman's experience with Hagar is analogous to his experience with his mother, and serves to "[extend] his carefree childhood for thirty-one years" (98). Hagar calls him into a room, unbuttons her blouse and smiles (92), just like her mother did (13). Milkman's desire for his mother's milk disappears before she stops milking him, and when Freddie discovers the situation and notices the inadequacy, she is left without this comfort. Similarly, Milkman ends the relationship with Hagar when he loses desire for her and recognizes that this relationship with his cousin is not socially approved, leaving Hagar coldly and knowingly, with money and a letter of gratitude..