Too high to see the ground

I can almost envision it in my head. The gracefully aged Milkman strolls care-free into Tommy’s barber shop on a brisk morning. All the men are discussing various news. Almost as if the world fits comfortably into his hand, Milkman speaks with an air of high class, but he doesn’t seem to grasp the difference between him and the man sitting next to him. This man struggles to live with the burden of society suppressing his dreams and aspirations of a better life, like Milkman’s.
  Mr. Smith of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance knows he will not succeed in his dream of “flying from Mercy to the other side of Lake Superior”, yet he attempts to just that. At first, the descent seems like blatant suicide, but Toni Morrison explains the episode in a different light. Because “the next day a colored baby was born inside Mercy for the first time”, without the sacrifice of this man, Milkman Dead would have never been able live with his many privileges. Mr. Smith was like the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, aiming to abolish the discrimination of America toward African Americans. As time passed and many gave up their lives for the sake of others to come, progress charged onward. As Milkman put it, “this ain’t Montgomery, Alabama.” To him, everything was the way it should be because he lived in luxury to an extent, but Milkman never saw the griefs and sufferings of others not as fortunate to reap the benefits of the work of generations.