Guitar

Despite initially liking Guitar, I haven't liked him much at all lately. Now that I've read chapter 13 though, I don't dislike him quite as much.

Even though his speech to Hagar about Milkman didn't help her in the end, he tried. As far as we know, he has never treated women as badly as Milkman used to. Had Guitar been able to help Hagar earlier on, maybe she wouldn't have ended up dead. Yes, he thinks to himself that she is spoiled, stingy, and greedy, but all of this is true. Guitar understands Hagar, and even though he thinks she is spoiled, stingy, and greedy, he also tries to help her. He tries to make her see sense. Yes, he fails, but Pilate and Reba fail too. He is not the only one. Guitar's redeeming characteristic, in my opinion, is his good treatment of women, especially Hagar.

Ultimately, I don't like Guitar very much. I think his ideas about killing white people for every black person that gets killed are crazy. I don't think that's the way he should be taking action. However, even while I hate his actions, I understand the intentions behind them. His intentions make sense to me, and his actions make sense too, because he has a right to be angry. When people are angry, they act irrationally. We've seen this with nearly every character in this book from Hagar to Macon Dead II.

I can't dislike Guitar as much as I did before though. Even though he tried to kill his best friend (who I feel sympathy for, partly because he is the main character) and is involved in the Seven Days, he tries to help those who need it. He really understands Hagar, and that shows his ability to sympathize with people and to care about people. Guitar was able to love and has loved, but he's been hurt by love all throughout his life. It makes sense for him to understand Hagar, and it also makes sense for him to be tough and irrational about killing white people and even trying to kill his best friend.