What is Milkman to Ruth? What's his function to her? To Hagar? To Macon? To Guitar?

Milkman Dead filled different voids for many people. He used people, and was, simultaneously, used himself! He, undeniably, had an effect on every individual he encountered within the text. He was either loved, or hated, by everyone with which he came in contact.
Milkman’s mother, Ruth, originally used him as a parachute to save her failing marriage. She felt Milkman’s birth might bring the very love that was absent between her and her spouse, Macon. Milkman is, essentially, all that Ruth feels she has. She loves him, and he is the only thing that brings her joy, following the death of her father. Ruth took so much pleasure in breast-feeding Milkman, due to the fact that it made her feel needed. She thought of it as giving life. It fulfilled her need to provide.
Milkman’s function to Ruth was to fill the emptiness left in her after her father’s passing. She wants love that her husband refuses to show her. She considers Milkman a reason for living. He’s the only th...