Peacocks... The Great and Mighty Presto is quite dissatisfied with anything of avian descent...

As already conveyed by the title, The Great and Mighty Presto has a rather... Troubling track record when it comes to avians, you can never trust them. Though, in the novel of recent discussion, Song of Solomon, one is used to draw connections between itself and Macon Dead. This white peacock first appears, strutting around pridefully, and sparks an interest in Guitar and Milkman, who are actively discussing their plans to steal what they had assumed to be a bag of gold from Pilate. To start with, one observation that The Great and Mighty Presto has made, is that if the peacock is indeed used in relation to Macon Dead, then it would make sense, as an avatar of himself in the form of the bird is manifested and present throughout Guitar and Milkman's conversation, reflecting his manipulation of the two men, and also seeing as how an argument could be made to relate Macon Dead to the theme of greed could be made, it could also show the presence of greed that has infected the two while thinking of the gold. There is also a reference to the motif of flying, and reference to Macon Dead being unable to, after Milkman inquires as to why the peacock cannot fly well, Guitars response is " Too much tail. All that jewelry weighs it down. Like vanity. Can't nobody fly with all that shit. Wanna fly, you got to give up that shit that weighs you down.". Seeing as how Milkman compares his flight to freedom in part two, The Great and Mighty Presto deems that this is meaning to say that Macon Dead is unable to experience true freedom, or relief from stress. His vanity metaphorically weighs him down, and his unending quest to acquire more wealth leaves the rest of his life empty and weighted.

Alright, haven't we already discussed this?

So, it seems that you mortals have not learned sufficiently from The Great and Mighty Presto's last lesson on racism, the only difference this time is what group it is. So, the novel 'Song of Solomon' has recently brought a topic to The Great and Mighty Presto's attention, there is a group called "The seven days" within the novel, who for each crime committed against an African American, proceed to reciprocate this crime upon a random white person. Do these mortals not realize how much hypocrisy lies within this idea? It harkens back to the era in civil rights in which militancy took hold in the movement, specifically after a mortal known as Medgar Evers was assassinated by the KKK, his brother and mississippi NAACP Field Director, Charles evers spoke on the matter, saying "that if a white man shoots at a Negro in Mississippi, we will shoot back" this eye for an eye approach, very much is mirrored by the days. Though, the issue with the days specifically, is that they do not care for seeking justice, they could care less about punishing the actual culprits, no, what they seek is simply vengeance. They "select a similar victim at random, and they execute him or her in a similar manner if they can", this is not justice, this is petty, and hypocritical in the most direct sense, especially when Guitar states "What I'm doing ain't about hating white people. It's about loving us.". Guitar, though is clearly either lying or in denial here though, as he states that any white mortal would "join a lynching party just for the hell of it", whereas in his opinion, not a single black man would. He obviously feels horrendous spite against the white race in general, a white man being responsible for his father's death in his youth likely having sparked this. Though what people such as Guitar, who begin hating all whites due to the actions of a few bigots who are for the most part ostracized by even the rest of their own race, they become bigots in their own right. Speaking against the point even that this could help create balance, and betterment for blacks quality of life somehow, this way of thinking is also misguided, even the mortal who is probably the most well known and respected advocate of black rights, Martin Luther King Jr., would have been appalled by this style of thinking. He realized that violence towards whites as consolation for violence and lack of justice dealt to blacks, only spread the cycle of this violence further, and thusly why he partook in strictly peaceful protest. Militancy and violence can only go so far, and even if they were used in a manner which somehow could gain ground for blacks, it still wouldn't justify the fact that in the process, they transform themselves into exactly the bigots they were fighting against. Now, The Great and Mighty Presto, would like for this to be the last time he has to speak to you Mortals on this topic, again though remember, submitting to the will of the greater being known as The Great and Mighty Presto, would solve these issues...

It seems with you mortals that the silliest things have such value...

Well, you mortals wise enough to hear The Great and Mighty Presto, it is now time to once more change topic, now moving on to a novel known as "Song of Solomon". Now, The Great and Mighty Presto will admit, this novel was quite an... experience, to read. There were plenty of rather... strange occurrences, but there was also something else The Great and Mighty Presto has discerned from reading this. Now, it's no surprise that you mortals have plenty of strange habits, but one that The Great and Mighty Presto has discovered is how you mortals place oh so much value in the concept of names, unlike The Great and Mighty Presto of course, such a small matter as a name could never be worth the time of one so great. One good example of this, is the boy now known as "milkman", due to the incident with Freddy catching his mother breastfeeding the boy at an uncomfortably late age. This name that Freddy thought up, ended up spreading like wildfire, for one due to the man Freddy being known as a sort of "town caller", and the other lies in something related to the nature of mortal men. Once Mortals have seen one of the others as a namer, it is quite hard for them to change their viewing them as such, thing back to The Great Gatsby, where Nick continues to call Gatsby by his invented name, regardless of his knowledge of Gatsby's true name, for that is how Nick knew him. Though, names seemingly don't hold power to merely others, but their owner themselves seem to use them as a sort of definition for themselves. This is shown when Pilate tells Milkman "Ain't but three Deads alive", and milkman becoming defensive over it not quite knowing why "Even while screaming he wondered why he was suddenly defensive-so possessive about his name. He had always hated that name, all of it". Mortals seem to take great investment into their names, even when they have reason for distaste in them, because not only others use their name to perceive them, but they do as well, and without a name, what are they to call themselves, how are they to know themselves, are they even a person at all? The Great and Mighty Presto, as previously stated though, has no more time to ponder on such unimportant topics, and so you know, just due to the fact The Great and Mighty Presto know names are truly meaningless, only given meaning by pitiful mortals, doesn't mean you are allowed to call him by others names, that would be disrespectful to The Great and Mighty Presto, and thusly heresy!

The death of the American dream

Going once more to the Great Gatsby, The Great and Mighty Presto wishes to describe another phenomenon that he witnessed in the novel. The mortal Gatsby, seemingly mimics the concept of the American dream that was so strong with American Mortals during the 1920s. The idea that any of you could become successful with enough determination(laughable that mortals would have that no?) was the dominating principle during that time, and Gatsby mimics this exactly. Gatsby decides that to achieve what he wants in life, he must acquire large quantities of wealth, and so he does. Ironically this is done through bootlegging, but this only serves to further his perception as a 1920s American dream ideal, after all though the sale and consumption of alcohol were illegal during the time, very few of you mortals actually cared... if anything you actually drank more through the twenties, there wasn't even any sort of real punishment handed out, the alcohol itself would just be thrown out. Through that it becomes obvious, even to you mortals that Gatsby is a very distinct symbol of the 1920s American dream. Though, just as the American dream did in 1929 with the stock market crash, Gatsby is murdered late into his novel, largely due to the actions of Daisy and Tom. These two mimic the citizens of 1920s America, irresponsible to anything besides themselves, and rather carefree, and similarly to Daisy and Tom, due to their financial irresponsibility they were largely responsible for the market crash. Daisy and tom similarly created the scenario required for myrtle's husband to seek retribution against Gatsby, regardless of his blatant innocence. So as even you mortals can see, Gatsby and the American dream have some striking similarities, and seeing as how The Great Gatsby is exemplary of a piece of modernist fiction, this sort of critique and symbolism within Fitzgerald's novel would be no surprise.