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CONFLICT

PROTAGONIST

Milkman Dead is the protagonist of the novel. He is a young man who is raised in the privilege of an African-American upper-class family as the only son. Bored, he thinks he must escape his familyÂ’s pressures and tragedies with a search for gold.

ANTAGONIST

The history of slavery and Reconstruction in the United States, a history that loosened the ties of African-American families and threatened the identity of the people.

CLIMAX

Milkman steals what he thinks is his aunt PilateÂ’s stash of gold. Because it isnÂ’t gold, he leaves the city of his birth and begins a search for gold, a search that leads him to his familyÂ’s history.

OUTCOME

Milkman finds some of the answers to his questions about his familyÂ’s past, linking him to a past of resistance, liberation, and loss, and implanting in him a desire to live and to connect with people.

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