Janet Meenehan’s answer to “How did Nate know Son of Man? When he was stabbing him he said it wasn't his fault.?” > Likes and Comments
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In the chapter The Last Love, Nate has reflections on his past and SON in looking in Nate's eyes "saw beneath the swirling pools of iridescent calm both Nate's past and his own future and the future of the community that they both had left behind and the reasons why." Pages 353 and 354
I missed the reference of SOM being as good as a father to Nate. But then it's another parallel, as Nate killed his father too.
I've been curious about this too and went back through the book looking for clues. On page 202 (The Visit), Nate tells Addie about a memory of watching the South Carolina State marching band: "Lord, when they turned the corner, must've been two hundred of 'em from the colored school there, pounding drums and tooting horns, dressed pretty as peacocks."
That's the exact same phrase Son of Man uses on Dodo. I think that literally or figuratively, Nate and Son of Man are brothers who were abused by their father. Maybe that's why Nate says "it's not your fault" to Son of Man. Or maybe as y'all have suggested, Son of Man is just that part of Nate that never got the help he needed.
Timna, I also thought that SOM may be Nate's brother, but then Nate was supposed to be the last Love, so that didn't seem to add up even if SOM had already left the Row by then. Anyway this was still a little mystery to me.
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Janet Meenehan
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Nov 19, 2023 08:38AM
In the chapter The Last Love, Nate has reflections on his past and SON in looking in Nate's eyes "saw beneath the swirling pools of iridescent calm both Nate's past and his own future and the future of the community that they both had left behind and the reasons why." Pages 353 and 354
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I missed the reference of SOM being as good as a father to Nate. But then it's another parallel, as Nate killed his father too.
I've been curious about this too and went back through the book looking for clues. On page 202 (The Visit), Nate tells Addie about a memory of watching the South Carolina State marching band: "Lord, when they turned the corner, must've been two hundred of 'em from the colored school there, pounding drums and tooting horns, dressed pretty as peacocks."That's the exact same phrase Son of Man uses on Dodo. I think that literally or figuratively, Nate and Son of Man are brothers who were abused by their father. Maybe that's why Nate says "it's not your fault" to Son of Man. Or maybe as y'all have suggested, Son of Man is just that part of Nate that never got the help he needed.
Timna, I also thought that SOM may be Nate's brother, but then Nate was supposed to be the last Love, so that didn't seem to add up even if SOM had already left the Row by then. Anyway this was still a little mystery to me.
