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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Milkman, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Stalking and Surveillance
The Personal vs. the Political
Gossip and Rumors
Gender Norms
Summary
Analysis
Following the narrator’s second encounter with the milkman, she starts taking a different bus route and quits running for a week. When she does decide to start running again, she plans to bring third brother-in-law with her. The narrator likes third brother-in-law. They grew up together, and he is a well-respected member of the community. The men respect him because he can fight, and the women respect him because he puts femininity on a pedestal. The narrator thinks bringing third brother-in-law with her will ensure the milkman does not bother her. If he tried, he would become a pariah in the community because third brother-in-law is so well liked.
Getting third brother-in-law to run with her is the narrator’s way of letting the milkman, along with the rest of the community, know that she is not interested in him. Meanwhile, third brother-in-law is another person in the narrator’s life like maybe-boyfriend, who has a different view on gender roles than the average person in the community. His respect for conventional femininity aligns with central tenets of second-wave feminism and thus clashes with the views of many of his fellow community members, who disparage traits that are traditionally considered be “feminine” and view women as second-class citizens.
Themes
On the day of their first scheduled run together, the narrator makes her way to third brother-in-law’s house. There, she finds him warming up outside. They discuss how long they plan to run, and third brother-in-law gives distances that he knows would typically be out of the narrator’s comfort zone. However, the narrator does not put up much of a fight because she is just happy to not have to worry about the milkman.
The narrator does not reveal the true reason she wants to run with third brother-in-law because, even though she likes and trusts him, she does not want to discuss the milkman with him. Her unwillingness to discuss the milkman with anybody becomes increasingly problematic as the novel progresses.
Themes
As the narrator and third brother-in-law are about to depart, third sister comes outside with an alcoholic drink in her hand. Third sister mocks them for running, as do her five friends who show up moments later. It is a ritual that the narrator and third brother-in-law are used to. On her run, the narrator thinks about maybe-boyfriend and his latest used car project.
Third sister barely appears in the novel, so it is difficult to read too much into her behavior here. However, the alcoholic drink in her hand, along with her mocking, suggest that she disagrees with her husband’s interest in physical fitness. One may also read her mocking as disapproval of her husband and the narrator’s dismissal of accepted social norms. Third sister, in other words, isn’t condemning the narrator and third brother-in-law for running—she’s condemning them for engaging in behavior that makes them stick out.
Themes
Last Tuesday, the narrator went to see maybe-boyfriend. Maybe-boyfriend was overjoyed because he recently acquired a supercharger that is worth a lot of money, which he got for a steal. The narrator does not know much about cars, but she appreciates maybe-boyfriend’s enthusiasm and patiently listens to him talk about them. On the Tuesday in question, all of maybe-boyfriend’s male neighbors come over to admire the supercharger and talk cars together. Everything goes swimmingly for maybe-boyfriend until one of his neighbor’s mentions that the supercharger came from a British race car, which likely would have had a British flag painted on it.
The narrator cares enough about maybe-boyfriend to entertain his passions, even though she knows nothing about them. In the narrator’s world, cars are part of the male domain—she knows nothing about them, and she does not care to learn. However, for some members of the community, love of country far surpasses love of cars, which is why the potential of a British flag causes a problem. The threats and harassment maybe-boyfriend experiences as a result of the supercharger shows how in the world of the novel, even innocuous actions can become politicized.
Themes
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The narrator meditates on the current state of Northern Ireland, where everything is a political act. Even what someone decides to name their child could be considered political, and there is a list of banned names. Flags, in particular, are important political symbols that get people riled up, though as one of maybe-boyfriend’s friends points out, there is no flag on the supercharger itself.
Primarily, the Troubles were an ethnonationalist conflict, with Irish Catholics on one side and British-descended Protestants on the other. As such, certain names would indicate whether a child was Catholic or Protestant, which is what the narrator is referring to when she mentions certain names being banned. In her majority-Catholic community, giving one’s child non-Irish name is comparable to committing treason.
Themes
However, the angry neighbor does not care and goes on a long rant about how the British have a long history of oppressing Ireland. He believes it is wrong that maybe-boyfriend would put his love of cars over his love of country. He even implies that bringing the supercharger inside and admiring it is a traitorous act. Additionally, there is a hint of a threat in the angry neighbor’s rant, as he suggests that he may tell the renouncers in the neighborhood about what maybe-boyfriend has done.
The angry neighbor’s beliefs are quite radical and do not necessarily represent the wider beliefs of the narrator’s community. After all, many people admired the supercharger before the flag issue even came up. However, although the angry neighbor’s beliefs are radical, they align closely with the rhetoric of prominent renouncer organizations such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Themes
Maybe-boyfriend, who tries to stay out of politics, does not respond to the angry neighbor. However, one of maybe-boyfriend’s friends quickly gets fed up with the angry neighbor and punches him in the face. The angry neighbor leaves, but not before warning the group that there will be consequences for their actions. As the angry neighbor departs, chef, maybe-boyfriend’s best friend, enters the home. Chef likes to cook, though many people mock his hobby and infer that he is gay. Because of how he is treated, chef gets into a lot of fights. When chef walks into maybe-boyfriend’s home and sees how many people are inside, he immediately declares that he will not cook for everyone. Luckily, most of maybe-boyfriend’s neighbors are looking for a way to take their leave anyway, so the house quickly empties out.
It is unclear whether the angry neighbor is a renouncer himself, though his threat suggests that he at least supports their cause. Although the supercharger seems like a minor issue—especially since the flag is not actually on it—it will remain a thorn in maybe-boyfriend’s side throughout the novel. Meanwhile, the community treats chef poorly because he falls outside their idea of what a man should be. Because he likes cooking and baking—which the community views as traditionally feminine skills—the assumption is that he must be gay rather than someone who simply has a different set of hobbies than the average man.
Themes
Chef starts cooking while maybe-boyfriend and his friends move the supercharger. Meanwhile, the narrator thinks about maybe-boyfriend’s recent suggestion that they move in together. The narrator is unsure because their relationship status is already strange, and she does not want to leave her mother alone to raise her younger sisters. Additionally, maybe-boyfriend lives in a neighborhood where people would negatively judge a couple who lived together before marrying. Previously, when the narrator brought up this last concern to maybe-boyfriend, he suggested they move into an apartment on the red-light street, where lots of unmarried couples live together.
The narrator’s worry about leaving her mother alone implies that her father is dead. However, the rest of her family structure is hazy and will remain that way for most of the book. The narrator mentions her various siblings casually, but she never provides a full list all at once. The reader must piece together the family structure for themselves. Also, maybe-boyfriend’s desire to move to the red-light street is unlikely to sit well with the narrator’s mother, who has traditional views on sexuality and marriage.
Themes
Ultimately, the narrator decides to reject maybe-boyfriend’s offer to move in together. She realizes now that she has conflicting thoughts about maybe boyfriend. On the one hand, she wants to be closer to him and does not like that he does not take their relationship as seriously as she does. However, whenever he tries to take the relationship more seriously, she rejects him. Secretly, she worries that maybe-boyfriend is not manly enough for her. Like chef, maybe-boyfriend enjoys cooking and does not like football. Still, the narrator likes having sex with maybe-boyfriend and always spends time with him when she gets the chance. In fact, the evening she goes running with third brother-in-law, she and maybe-boyfriend plan to watch the sunset together.
Although the narrator is generally more progressive than her broader community—especially when she is writing in retrospect—she still falls into some of its traps when it comes to gender expression. But this is not necessarily because she believes in these gender norms. In the narrator’s world, it’s dangerous to behave in any way that could set one apart from the broader community, leaving them vulnerable to harassment, threats, and possibly even physical intimidation. It’s not the habits themselves that the narrator takes issue with—it’s the safety risks those habits pose for maybe-boyfriend and, by extension, for the narrator.
Themes
Thinking about maybe-boyfriend leads the narrator to contemplate a recent conversation she had with her mother. The narrator’s mother is constantly worried about when the narrator will get married—a fear she shares with all the women in the neighborhood. In particular, the narrator’s mother wants to make sure she marries someone from the right religion. The narrator’s second sister married an English man and had to move overseas because she was no longer accepted in the community. Later, second sister’s husband died from an illness unrelated to the Troubles, but she still is not allowed to return home.
The narrator’s mother has her biases and traditional tendencies, which often do more harm than good. However, her reasoning is not devoid of practical consequences. She has already lost one daughter to religious conflict, and she will do everything she can to avoid losing another. Notably, this is not an irrational fear of hers, but rather one she shares with the women of the community, who know from experience what can happen when someone marries outside of their religion. The mother’s concerns reinforce the novel’s broader focus on the intersection of the personal with the political. In the fraught political atmosphere of the narrator’s world, even love becomes a political statement.
Themes
Recently, the narrator’s mother wanted to talk with her because she heard from the broader community that the narrator is romantically involved with the milkman. She expressed her disapproval to the narrator because the milkman is already married, and he is paramilitary. The narrator’s mother also mentioned that the milkman’s job is to work reconnaissance. The narrator told her mother that she is not involved with the milkman and details both of their interactions. However, her mother did not believe her and asked her to consider what her father would say.
Although the narrator’s mother’s primary concern is adultery, her disapproval of the milkman’s renouncer status suggests that she does not wholeheartedly support the conflict—or at least not the violent way the renouncers are carrying it out. Her reasons for being wary of renouncers will continue to grow as the narrative continues and Burns reveals more about the narrator’s familial history.
Themes
Remembering her mother’s provocation leads the narrator to thinking about the last thing she heard her father, who is now dead, say. On his deathbed, the narrator’s father, who was not in his right mind, told her and her two youngest sisters that an unidentified man sexually abused him repeatedly as a child. This revelation deeply disturbs the narrator, though her three younger sisters (who she refers to collectively as “wee sisters”) are too little to understand what their father is saying. In this flashback, the narrator also provides herself with a name akin to the ones she given the rest of her family: middle sister.
This is one of the few tidbits of information the narrator provides about her father, who was evidently a victim of sexual abuse. Because only the narrator and wee sisters are with her father when he reveals this part of his life, it is a secret that perhaps only the narrator knows. It’s probable that this childhood trauma was a major source of pain for the narrator’s father, and it seems unlikely that she shared it with his wife, perhaps out of shame.
Themes
Middle sister brings her thoughts back to the present, where she is running with third brother-in-law. She is happy that she does not see the milkman anywhere, though she knows he could be hiding and watching her. After all, his job is reconnaissance, and he seems to know her schedule. While running, third brother-in-law asks middle sister if they can have a chat. His request sets off alarm bells in middle sister’s head, who assumes he will want to discuss the milkman, even though he is normally above such gossip.
Middle sister often narrates flashbacks within flashbacks and jumps back and forth in time, giving the narrative a deliberately opaque chronology. In these flashbacks, the milkman temporarily fades away from the forefront of the narrator’s mind. However, as soon as she returns to the present, he is all she can think about. This reinforces how heavily his harassment weighs on her—despite the fact that he has not physically touched her nor made any clear, obvious threats against her.
Themes
However, third brother-in-law has a different concern. He is anxious about middle sister’s habit of reading and walking. He thinks she is making herself vulnerable and worries that someone could attack her at any minute. Middle sister finds it ironic that third brother-in-law is worried about her because, according to her, he is completely ignorant of the current political situation.
Third brother-in-law’s worry is not simply the paranoid concern of a loving relative. Both the renouncers and the state defenders have killed many civilians during the Troubles—in fact, almost as many civilians as soldiers. Although women and children were not the usual targets of either side, many did die as a result of the conflict.
Themes
Although middle sister tries to keep herself out of politics, they are seemingly impossible to ignore altogether, so she is reasonably informed. However, she thinks third brother-in-law has somehow managed to block them out altogether, to the point that others might think him insane if they questioned him on the matter. Yet, when middle sister brings this point up to third brother-in-law, he immediately shows himself to be much more informed than she realized. He tells her that he is not nuclear boy—a reference to a member of the neighborhood who would not stopping fretting over the Cold War, even after his brother got his head blown off as a result of the Troubles. Coincidentally, nuclear boy is also brothers with Somebody McSomebody, a boy middle sister’s mother thinks would be good for her to marry.
Here, middle sister begins to articulate one of the novel’s central concerns: whether it is possible to exist in a community, particularly like the one middle sister lines in, and not have your actions judged as political. Middle sister tries to keep out of politics, but she does not realize that in such a fraught political atmosphere, even staying away from politics in itself becomes a political act. Meanwhile, nuclear boy represents the opposite end of the spectrum. He is someone so consumed with politics that even deaths in his family seem less important than his political interests.
Themes
Although middle sister does not like third brother-in-law questioning her habit of reading while walking, she appreciates that he does not bring up the milkman. She also does not feel the need to bring it up to him because the milkman has not done anything to her physically. In a time where physical violence occurs daily, middle sister does not see how she could ask someone else to worry about her problem with the milkman—who has never laid a finger on her— because it seems so small by comparison.
Third brother-in-law likely knows about the milkman, as he is someone who often knows more than he says. However, out of respect for middle sister, he avoids the topic. Still, the milkman is constantly on middle sister’s mind as she struggles with figuring out why she feels so violated even though the milkman has done nothing to physically harm her.
Themes
Third brother-in-law’s criticism leads middle sister to reflect on why she walks and reads. She maintains it is “a vigilance not to be vigilant,” a sort of protest against—and necessary release from—the violence that occurs around her. She does not agree to stop reading while walking, but she also respects third brother-in-law and does not hold the criticism against him.
Again, middle sister does not see herself as participating in a political act, but what is a protest if not a political act? Even if the act is not political, those around her interpret it as such—similar to maybe-boyfriend’s supercharger—so the consequences remain the same.
Themes
While middle sister and third brother-in-law are running, middle sister hears someone take a picture of them. She has already been secretly photographed several times since her second encounter with the milkman, and she worries that she has gotten third brother-in-law involved in something dangerous. However, third brother-in-law ignores the sound of the photograph. When middle sister asks him why he is not more concerned, third brother-in-law shrugs, says he is used to it, and suggests that they cannot do anything about it anyway. With that, middle sister drops the topic, and they return to their typical running conversation, which revolves around discussing exercise.
Third brother-in-law’s indifference to the sound of the camera implies that he has heard it many times before, so much so that he has grown used to it. Like many members of the community, third brother-in-law lives his life assuming he is under constant surveillance. Meanwhile, middle sister did not feel that way until the appearance of the milkman. Even if the state was surveilling her in the past, it felt distant and relatively unimportant because she did not feel she had done anything wrong. While she still has not done anything wrong, the milkman’s surveillance feels significant and unsettling, even though hypothetically he is on the same side of the conflict.
Themes
