Spanning a period of ten years, Chapter 3 traces Milkman’s life from age twelve to twenty-two. The chapter begins and ends with conversations between Milkman and Guitar. Milkman works at his father’s real-estate office and likes his job because it gives him more time to visit Hagar at Pilate’s house and to meet people who live in Guitar’s Southside neighborhood.
As the chapter opens, Guitar and Milkman have decided to skip school and “hang out” in Southside. They stop first at Feather’s pool hall, located in a rough part of Southside known as the Blood Bank. At Feather’s, they see several men playing pool, including three awe-inspiring air force fighter pilots. When Feather refuses to admit Milkman into his establishment or sell him a beer because he dislikes Milkman’s father, Guitar and Milkman continue down Tenth Street to the local barbershop, owned by two old men, Railroad Tommy and Hospital Tommy. Hospital Tommy asks the boys why they aren’t in school and then lectures Milkman on how unfair he’ll always be treated, painting a dismal picture of the things he’ll never have, the least of which is a bottle of beer. After the boys leave the barbershop, they continue through the Southside neighborhood. Along the way, Guitar tells Milkman the story of his father’s death and Guitar’s subsequent aversion to sweets.
The narrative then shifts to fourteen-year-old Milkman and the changing relationship between him and his father. Knowing that he can never be like his father, Milkman determines to be as different from him as possible. Meanwhile, Macon is happy to have his son working with him because it relieves him of the job of collecting rents and makes him feel that his son now belongs to him rather than to Ruth. To Macon, Milkman is as much a possession as the rental property he owns.
The story line again shifts, this time to twenty-two-year-old Milkman seated at the dinner table with his family. After Ruth tells a story about her embarrassing behavior at the wedding of the granddaughter of one of her father’s former clients, Macon slaps her. Milkman jumps up to defend his mother, knocks his father to the floor, and threatens to kill him if he ever abuses Ruth again. Later, Macon, who has gained a new respect for his son, tells Milkman the story behind his estranged relationship with Ruth. Overwhelmed by his father’s sordid story concerning how his mother lay naked with her father after he died, sucking his fingers, Milkman leaves the house and heads for Southside, hoping that Guitar can help him sort out his confusing thoughts. Along the way, he begins thinking about his mother and suddenly recalls, in fragments, how she used to breast-feed him even after he was old enough to walk. This new awareness makes him ashamed and adds credibility to his father’s story about his mother’s perverseness.
Milkman finds Guitar at Tommy’s Barbershop among a group of men gathered around the radio, listening to a news report about a fourteen-year-old black youth found stomped to death after whistling at a white woman. A heated discussion among the men about the boy’s murder leads to an exchange of war stories concerning the abominable treatment of black soldiers during World War II. Milkman distracts Guitar from the conversation and talks him into accompanying him to Mary’s bar for a drink. At the bar, he questions Guitar about the origin of his own nickname and tells him about the confrontation with his father. Empathizing with Milkman’s ambivalent feelings toward his mother, Guitar tells him a story about a hunting trip in Florida during which he accidentally shot a doe. When Milkman fails to see the connection, Guitar tells him to try to understand Macon’s reasons for acting the way he does, “but if you can’t, just forget it and keep yourself strong.”
As the chapter closes, the friends’ conversation turns to names and naming. After telling Guitar the story behind his family’s surname, Milkman resolves to ask Pilate about Hagar’s last name, which he believes will help him discover his own “real” name.
