Q1. Throughout the whole novel Toni Morrison uses irony to illustrate the negative effects of materialism
A1. It is ironic that the greed of Guitar exceeds the greed of Milkman. It relates to the theme of understanding oneself. It helps one realize who they are and what people really mean to them.
Q2. “Float those dollars down here, nigger, then blow yourself up” (Morrison 25).
A2. Milkman tries to be as different as possible from Macon but his desire for money and wealth brings Milkman to be more similar to Macon. Ths relates to the theme of finding yourself. If one tries too hard to be something they’re now, the outcome will most likely be negative.
Q3. Macon only uses his loving tone towards Milkman to fulfill his greed of wealth (Morrison
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This is significant to the theme of love. Love is something that should not be taken for granted. Using love to have your son fulfill one’s need for wealth is selfish and a misuse of the emotion. Milkman is deprived of love and seeks love from his father.
Q4. “Never mind that he probably didn’t deserve their honor—they knew what kind of man he was: arrogant, color struck, snobbish. They didn’t care about that (Morrison 329).
A4. This is significant because it shows that even though someone can be rude and arrogant, if they have money they will be respected. It shows the materialism and how it can easily corrupt a person or town.
Q5. By the end of the novel even Macon regrets his materialistic ways.
A5. Macon regretting materialism is significant because he is the most materialistic of all, trying to find a treasure they may or may not exist.
Examples of Imagery
Q1. “The sight of Mr. Smith and his wide blue wings transfixed themselves for a few seconds, as did the women’s singing and the roses strewn about” (Morrison 6).
A1. The roses that flew about right before Mr. Smith provided a distraction and help ease the tension within the air of the dangerous situation at
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Flight is a major part in the Song of Solomon. Flight throughout the book is something that is victorious for one, but it brings mixed emotions. It takes fathers away from children and leaves devastation within families.
Q3. “‘ You all want a soft- boiled egg?’ she asked. The boys looked at each other. She didn’t change rhythm on them. They didn’t want an egg, but they did want to be with her, to go inside the wine house of this lady who had one earring, no navel and looked like a tall black tree”’ (Morrison 39).
A3. The egg shows up multiple times thought the novel. It shows the different wants people can view the world of humanity. Pilate loves the inside of the egg but Guitar is fascinated but the shell. Everyone sees things differently.
Q4. “But the bird had set them up. Instead if continuing the argument about how they would cop, they began to fantasize about what the cold could buy when it became legal tender” (Morrison 179).
A4. The peacock is a beautiful animal. It represents wealth and how greed can easily take over people. Guitar and Milkman talk about what they’re going to do with the money because they even devise a plan of how to obtain
In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, the character of Milkman gradually learns to respect and to listen to women. This essay will examine Milkman's transformation from boy to man.
Jennifer Price informs the readers about an economy in which a simple bird helped bloom it. For example the inclusion of many hotels and restaurants that utilized the bird as an eye opener. As she said “ a flamingo stands out in a desert even more strikingly than on a lawn.” The bird was used for numerous things including the affluence of a population that had just gotten out of the Great Depression. Jennifer Price also includes the birds magnificent color and how it also helped the economy.
When Milkman goes to Pennsylvania to look for the gold, he was actually in search of his family’s past. One of the themes in the story is how the history of African Americans histories are not clear and unrecorded. The fact that the history of Milkman’s family history is so unclear and unrecorded he goes through a long journey to find it. Along the way he goes through many places and meets many people that help him find his family history.
Macon, perhaps instigated by never having a mother and seeing his own father killed, has always appeared to be a cold and unforgiving parent even to his other children besides Milkman, but since Macon heard that his son¹s nickname was ³Milkman² he has seen him as a symbol of his disgust for his wife and lost a lot of respect for his son and became even colder towards him. The only time Macon did spend time with Milkman, he spent it boasting about his own great upbringing, warning him to stay away from Pilate and telling him about the embarrassing actions of Ruth. This is the manner in which Morrison establishes the relationship between Macon and Milkman in the first part of the book.
Guitar Bains, Milkman's best friend since childhood, serves as Milkman's only outlet to life outside his secluded and reserved family. Guitar introduces Milkman to Pilate, Reba, and Hagar, as well as to normal townspeople such as those that meet in the barber shop, and the weekend party-goers Milkman and Guitar fraternize with regularly. However, despite their close friendship, the opportunity to gain a large amount of gold severs all their friendly ties. Guitar, suspecting Milkman took all the gold for himself, allows his greed and anger to dictate his actions and sets out on a manhunt, ready to take Milkman down wherever and whenever he could in order to retrieve the hoarded riches. Guitar's first few sniper attempts to execute Milkman did fail; however, the ending of the novel leaves the reader with the imminent death of either Milkman or Guitar. Ironic that t...
The tile of the poem “Bird” is simple and leads the reader smoothly into the body of the poem, which is contained in a single stanza of twenty lines. Laux immediately begins to describe a red-breasted bird trying to break into her home. She writes, “She tests a low branch, violet blossoms/swaying beside her” and it is interesting to note that Laux refers to the bird as being female (Laux 212). This is the first clue that the bird is a symbol for someone, or a group of people (women). The use of a bird in poetry often signifies freedom, and Laux’s use of the female bird implies female freedom and independence. She follows with an interesting image of the bird’s “beak and breast/held back, claws raking at the pan” and this conjures a mental picture of a bird who is flying not head first into a window, but almost holding herself back even as she flies forward (Laux 212). This makes the bird seem stubborn, and follows with the theme of the independent female.
The "insults, violence, and oppression" that Guitar and the barbershop men face are significant and integral issues that effect how the men live their lives, which is why they are frequently discussed and talked about. Milkman, however, does not understand the importance of these topics and the effects that they have on Guitar and his friends because he cannot relate his wealthy and affluent upbringings to their lives from the Southside. Milkman is dissociated from these racial problems so he believes them to be boring and trivial, he also lacks the understanding of its impact on Guitar 's and others ' lives, which is why I disagree with Milkman 's
A father can play many roles throughout a child’s life: a caregiver, friend, supporter, coach, protector, provider, companion, and so much more. In many situations, a father takes part in a very active position when it comes to being a positive role model who contributes to the overall well-being of the child. Such is the case for the father in the poem “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden. In this poem, readers are shown the discreet ways in which a father can love his child. On the other hand, there are also many unfortunate situations where the fathers of children are absent, or fail to treat the children with the love and respect that they undoubtedly deserve. In the contrasting poem “Like Riding a Bicycle” by George Bilgere, readers are shown how a son who was mistreated by his drunken father is affected by their past relationship many years later. Although both of these poems have fairly similar themes and literary techniques, they each focus on contradicting situations based on the various roles a father can play in a child’s life.
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...
As Morrison gives an important point on the materialism and classism that Macon grew up adopting mentally to attain freedom which he raised Milkman to believe was to “...Own things. And let the things you own own other things. Then you’ll own yourself and other people too. Starting Monday, I’m going to teach you how” (Morrison 55). This idea of owning things and it leading to owning others and finding freedom through ownership of oneself is an important representation of the classicism through materialism that Morrison gives in the book. This hierarchal state of ownership of objects and people not only dehumanizes a person, but also the individual who strives for ownership as a means of freedom which is seen as Macon believes he has some level of freedom as he is the landlord who owns and has control of the money and land that many African American’s in the town that they are residents of. This discrimination because of material ownership and class difference can lead to racism among those of the same ethnicity and create a further divide and greater inhibition on others state of
Morrison sets the stage with many explanations for Milkman's unlikable qualities. Milkman's father, Macon Dead Jr., is an aristocratic black businessman. Macon Dead prides himself on his money and his land, believing that it is his wealth that earns him respect and power. Macon Dead is a cold and unfeeling person, having no regard or respect for women or the poor black folk that live in the town that he owns a large part of. Because Macon has no respect for the poor black people of the town he and his family naturally are disconnected from the ongoing racial issues affecting the black society. Where the Dead's live they are more white than they are black.
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."
Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon tells the life story of Milkman and his family. The novel is well written and complex, while talking about several complex issues such as race, gender, and class. Although the novel makes reference to the several issues, the novel primarily focuses on what people’s desires are and their identities. Specifically through the difference between Macon Jr. and Pilate, Morrison illustrates that our most authentic desires come not from material items, but from our wish to connect with others.
“It was a large, beautiful room, rich and picturesque in the soft, dim light which the maid had turned low. She went and stood at an open window and looked out upon the deep tangle of the garden below. All the mystery and witchery of the night seemed to have gathered there amid the perfumes and the dusky and tortuous outlines of flowers and foliage. She was seeking herself and finding herself in just such sweet half-darkness which met her moods. But the voices were not soothing that came to her from the darkness and the sky above and the stars. They jeered and sounded mourning notes without promise, devoid even of hope. She turned back into the room and began to walk to and fro, down its whole length, without stopping, without resting. She carried in her hands a thin handkerchief, which she tore into ribbons, rolled into a ball, and flung from her. Once she stopped, and taking off her wedding ring, flung it upon the carpet. When she saw it lying there she stamped her heel upon it, striving to crush it. But her small boot heel did not make an indenture, not a mark upon the glittering circlet.
The novel begins with the account of Robert Smith, an insurance agent who had promised to “take off…and fly away on [his] own wings” (Morrison 3). Standing on the roof of Mercy Hospital wearing “blue silk wings,” Smith proclaims to a growing crowd that he will fly (Morrison 5). Unfortunately, he is ultimately unable to take flight and falls to his death among the crowd. This is the first image of attempted flight in the novel and the first glimpse of flight being viewed as both possible and natural. Those who had gathered to view Smith’s flight did not “cry out to [him]” or attempt to prevent his leap, but instead encouraged him, implying that t...