How important is it to be able live for yourself? In Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, the egotistical, self-involved Milkman Dead lives passively and without active response to what goes on around him. He lacks consideration for others and seems to live without a care about anything. However, one night’s event turns into a window that opens Milkman up into changing. Soon after, he begins to be active, responsive human with a passion. Morrison’s Song of Solomon illuminates, through a scene of conflict with Milkman, the importance of independence and individuality while expounding upon the themes of the necessity of identity. When Milkman hits his father, he realizes the lack of responsibility he holds in his life, leading him to questions …show more content…
The two are arguing; Macon is more agitated than latter. He aggressively tells her, “You by yourself ain’t nobody. You your daddy’s daughter!” only for Ruth to inform him that she “certainly [is her] daddy’s daughter,” with a grin (119). As Milkman watches, Macon punches her. Acting in quick response, Milkman grabs his father violently and warns him: “You touch her again, one more time, and I’ll kill you” (120). Before, Milkman would have allowed for the instance to pass by. However; the abuse Milkman had seen between his mother and father was, on that day, an act “he would not be able to stand” (120). Afterwards, Macon describes to him the context of the argument, and how Ruth mocks Macon about her father and the inappropriate relationship she had with the man. Milkman suddenly feels burdened with the knowledge, and the event causes him to reflect on the choices he has made in life. Before, Milkman was passive, self-involved, and not caring for the pains and struggles of other people. He refused to accept the responsibility of his life, his actions, and any consequences that would follow because of him. For example, in order …show more content…
After listening to what Macon has to say about Ruth, Milkman realizes he knows nothing for himself. Much of what he learns and knows come from what other people tell him. Having an identity-crisis, Milkman becomes motivated to start living by his own accord and to discover life and who is is for himself. The theme transcends throughout Song of Solomon: identity should only be created by the individual. The feeling of self-discovery is universal, and anyone can feel the want at any time. Most people have asked themselves at least once, “who am I?” Conflict between a person and a society is the common impetus for change, such as how Milkman fought his father. Where some people may accept what other people view of them as their identity, many others will go on great odysseys in order to figure out their identity for
In the first part of the novel, Milkman is his father's son, a child taught to ignore the wisdom of women. Even when he is 31, he still needs "both his father and his aunt to get him off" the scrapes he gets into. Milkman considers himself Macon, Jr., calling himself by that name, and believing that he cannot act independently (120). The first lesson his father teaches him is that ownership is everything, and that women's knowledge (specifically, Pilate's knowledge) is not useful "in this world" (55). He is blind to the Pilate's wisdom. When Pilate tell Reba's lover that women's love is to be respected, he learns nothing (94).
Milkman thought the bag that Pilate had was filled with the dead white mans gold, but when he reaches Pennsylvania he realizes that he is wrong. He found out the truth when he meets ancient Circe. Ancient Circe is a woman he meets and she represents a person who is linked to Milkman’s past. She was living through the Civil War and mid-wifed Macon and Pilates birth. Circe knew his ancestors and she told Milkman that the bones in the bag were her father’s bones. All this is too much for Milkman to believe without actual proof, so he travels to Virginia in hope to find the whole truth.
As Milkman grows up, he recognizes the emotional distance between his father and himself. He goes his own way with a few skirmishes here and there and later he even manages to hit his own father. As Macon and Milkman grow apart and go their separate ways, Milkman doesn¹t even think twice about it and just continues on with his life as if nothing was different.
In Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, men discover themselves through flight. While the motif of flight is liberating for men, it has negative consequences for women. Commonly, the women of Song of Solomon are abandoned by men, both physically and emotionally. Many times they suffer as a result as an abandonment, but there are exceptions in which women can pick themselves up or are undisturbed. Morrison explores in Song of Solomon the abandonment of women by men.
The character Pilate in Song of Solomon is portrayed in the role of a teacher or "guide". She tends to be a spiritual leader as well as a spiritual guide for Milkman and the rest of the society. It could be argued that she is the main cause of Milkman's liberation and better being. She represents the motherly love and gives the spiritual education that Milkman needs, in order to go through the monomyth process. She teaches Milkman the necessities of life not with severity but rather by means of being her own self. Her being connected to her heritage and traditions is also involved in changing Milkman into the hero. Pilate is not the typical teacher that a reader could expect to have in his or her classroom. Pilate is to a certain extent, very mother like and caring towards Milkman. She gives Milkman what he feels he can't get at his rich home, care and affection. When Milkman is alone, it is at Pilate's house that he finds comfort, not only from the people but also from the surroundings of the house. He feels comfortable being in a neighborhood of people that are of lower class than him. Pilate takes on the role of mother to Milkman by showing how a family is supposed to be, which is not divided like his house, but rather caring and loving towards one another, like the environment at Pilate's house. As Joseph Skerrett points out, Pilate does begin teaching Milkman, starting from their very first meeting. Her whole lesson with how the word "hi" sounds like the "dumbest" word and that if someone was to be greeted with a hi, they should "get up and knock you down" seems to get Milkman to notice her. Her role as a parental guide changes to that of one of the teacher and she tries to teach him what is right and wrong. She exemplifies to Milkman how life should be led. She shows him how goals in life should be aimed for and how they should be accomplished. For example, her whole lesson on how to make the perfect egg shows Milkman how even something as little as frying an egg has consequences to it.
In part two, Milkman goes south to his father's hometown. He is looking for a fortune that his father and aunt had found long before. When he does not find the fortune he begins trying to find where it went. This takes him to where his great grandfather and mother originated. Milkman eventually is led to the town where he is a direct descendant of the town's legend, Solomon. It is in this town that Milkman finds himself and becomes his own m...
Toni Morrison's novel “Song of Solomon" is an evident example of literary work that utilizes the plight of the African-American community to develop an in-depth and complex storyline and plot. Not only does Toni Morrison use specific historical figures as references for her own characters, she also makes use of biblical figures, and mythological Greek gods and goddesses. When evaluating Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon” you can relate each and every character to a specific historical figure or mythological being in history. But to focus on a specific character you would look towards one of the protagonists. Guitar and Milkman can serve as main individuals that can be symbolic of other political and civil rights activist involved in history.
When one is confronted with a problem, we find a solution easily, but when a society is confronted with a problem, the solution tends to prolong itself. One major issue that is often discussed in today’s society that has been here for as long as we’ve known it, is racism. Racism is also a very repetitive theme in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Almost every character has experienced racism whether it be towards them or they are the ones giving the racism in this novel. Racism is a very controversial topic as many have different perspectives of it. In Toni’s novel, three characters that have very distinct perspectives on racism are Macon Dead, Guitar, and Dr. Foster. These characters play vital roles throughout the novel.
After Milkman’s cold hearted letter to Hagar, she takes to watching Milkman from afar in order to soothe her pain and give herself a glimpse of her lost desire, rationalizing her actions by believing “any contact with him at all was better than none, [so] she stalked him” (Morrison 128). Even though Hagar’s needs have boiled down to center solely around Milkman and how she may be able to get him back, she avoids him and keeps herself from confrontation. When Ruth learns of Hagar’s monthly attempts to kill her son, she rushes over to Pilate’s house to come face to face with her son’s near murderer. Once they meet, Hagar recognizes her as “the silhouette she had seen through the curtains in an upstairs window on evenings when she stood across the street hoping at first to catch him, then hoping just to see him, finally just to be near the things he was familiar with” (Morrison 136). This shows how Hagar would watch Milkman from the shadows, leaving him unaware and giving herself a small dose of hope that she may be with Milkman again. The only time Hagar ever actually confronts Milkman in the time after their breakup is during her monthly attempts to kill him because she can not have him in life, therefore she will have him in death. In the views of the neighboring citizens of the town, Hagar, as well as others driven mad by love, were pitied but
ames are one of the first identifiers a person is given, and yet as infants they are given no choice in this identifier that will be with them for the rest of their lives. In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon the use of the biblical names Hagar and Pilate serve as a means to show the importance of defining the path of one’s life for one's self, as supposed to letting one's name define it for them. Through juxtaposition and parallels, Morrison teaches a universal lesson of the importance of self definition.
In fact, community is not only the end of his quest but the means; Milkman makes progress only as he acknowledges community. In the characterization of Milkman's father, Macon, and his father's sister, Pilate, the novel sets up a distinct conflict between individualistic and community values. Her communication with her father's ghost, for example, demonstrates her belief that human relationships have substance; her use of conjure in Milkman's conception has helped carry on the family; and her song, "Sugarman done fly away," becomes the clue to the family's history. Macon, on the other hand, represents the individualism of "progress."
Song of Solomon tells the story of Dead's unwitting search for identity. Milkman appears to be destined for a life of self-alienation and isolation because of his commitment to the materialism and the linear conception of time that are part of the legacy he receives from his father, Macon Dead. However, during a trip to his ancestral home, “Milkman comes to understand his place in a cultural and familial community and to appreciate the value of conceiving of time as a cyclical process”(Smith 58).
How often does one question the importance of geography, as it directly or indirectly influences their culture and upbringing? One could argue that it is a privilege granted to few to truly know the origin of ones race, identity, etc. In Toni Morrison’s seminal work titled, Song of Solomon, she weaves this question of identity on an individual and national level throughout the text. The desire to know oneself is the driving force for many of these characters especially the main protagonist, Milkman, as he begins his journey through the country. He travels from the north of Michigan to the South, ending in Shalimar, Florida. The question of whether these lines of North and South are arbitrary, or if they serve a greater purpose are answered within the text as Milkman travels and ultimately fulfills the Song of Solomon. Guitar and Pilate act as guides for Milkman on his quest for identity, and are two characters deeply concerned with geography. Arising out of both the blues tradition and a magical African folktale, Morrison's Song of Solomon illustrates the obligation to be an active witness to the past in order to connect the hearts of a people.
...ers to and rides the air, and whether he reenacts the suicide of Robert Smith or delivers himself into “the killing arms of his brother,” Milkman escapes through flight (Morrison 337).
Milkman chooses to jump and “surrender”, killing himself and letting go of all of his vanity in order to fly. In surrendering himself to the air, he dismisses everything that is keeping him a prisoner on the ground, so that he can finally reach the sky. Morrison uses Milkman’s surrender to prove that vanity keeps one stuck on the ground, and the only way up is to release it. Milkman doesn’t even “wipe away the tears” or “take a deep breath”, emphasizing that he has left all of his emotional belongings behind so that he can finally fly. Thus, in the use of the motif of flight through Milkman, Morrison argues that once one leaves all that is holding them down, they may