Throughout the entirety of the present tense story of Song of Solomon, Macon Dead the second seems to be a pretty nasty guy without an abundance of redeeming qualities. He tries to justify his abuse of Ruth by explaining to Milkman about Ruth’s inappropriate relationship with her father, but this is certainly no excuse and doesn’t seem to convince Milkman to be sympathetic towards his father, only alienating him. In general, Macon Dead is portrayed as being greedy, cold-hearted, and abusive. It is made clear that the entire community sees him as such and have a dislike for him exemplified by Milkman being disallowed to drink in the bar and Guitar’s description of Macon as a “kicker.” The only time in Michigan that we get an even slightly sympathetic depiction is when he opens up about his past to Milkman and describes Lincoln’s paradise and working alongside his father, and this momentary sympathetic portrayal is short lived.
When Milkman travels to Pennsylvania however, we get a totally different depiction of Macon through the locals who remembered him. Macon and his father are held up like legends in the community, as examples of good, hardworking people who experienced the success they deserved but were not greedy or cold-hearted. Either people misremember Macon or conflate him with his father, or Macon has been transformed from a good son who liked to work alongside his father to a greedy, coldhearted, and abusive man. I think this second alternative is more likely, and I think it is interesting to contemplate what all contributed to this transformation.
Macon the second, even in his transformed state, is clearly not completely different from his father. Many of his detestable traits are a different expression of traits that were admirable in his father. While his father coveted land ownership as a symbol of freedom, Macon covets land ownership because of his greed. It seems likely to me that the root cause of both of their desires to own property is the same, and these desires are just expressed differently because of different circumstances. Macon the first became his own man in a very liberating manner: he moved from an oppressive, racist South, to a supposedly free north where he had the rights to own his own land. Macon the second however became his own man in a manner that was anything but liberating. Macon’s father was shot by white people who wanted to take away what he had, convincing Macon that true freedom was not something that could exist for a black American. Because of this, Macon turns this drive for property away from a freedom that he feels is impossible and turns it towards climbing his way up the cold and oppressive hierarchy of the industrial north. If he climbs high enough, then no rich white man can come with a gun and shoot him dead for his property.
