Themes in Song Of Solomon

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Toni Morrison is one of the most talented and successful African-American authors of our time. Famous for works such as The Bluest Eye, Sula, and Beloved, Morrison has cultivated large audiences of all ethnicities and social classes with her creative style of writing. It is not Morrison’s talent of creating new stories that attracts her fans. In contrast, it is her talent of revising and modernizing traditional Biblical and mythological stories that have been present in literature for centuries. Morrison replaces the characters in these myths, whom would have been white, middle-class males, with characters who depict the cultural practices in black communities. The protagonists in Morrison’s works are primarily African-American women overcoming a struggle, however in Song of Solomon, Morrison takes a new turn into casting a male as the protagonist, depicting the struggles the average African-American man would face in a time of extreme racism and poverty in out country.

Song of Solomon begins in the 1930s in Michigan, when your protagonist, Milkman, is born. At this time in American history, racism was on a decline in northern states and as turbulent as ever in southern states. Many African-Americans felt they could obtain more freedom and better employment opportunities. This was the Great Migration, which resulted in the abundance of African-Americans in northern cities, like Boston, Chicago, and Detroit. Milkman’s family took part in this migration, moving from Virginia, as well as his best friend, Guitar, who moved to Michigan from the South after his father’s death for a better life. This migration also resulted in high racial tension in the north as well as the south in the 1930s. Ironically, Macon Dead II or Milkman, be...

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...efore Milkman knew who his family was, he did not know who he wanted to be. In conclusion, Toni Morrison does a marvelous job with depicting the themes of Marxism, feminism, and flight.

Works Cited

Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. New York: Knopf, 1977. Print.

Samuels, Wilfred D., and Clenora Hudson- Weems. Toni Morrison. New York, NY: Twayne Publishers, 1990. 53-78. Print.

Demetrakopoulos, Stephanie A. Modern Critical Interpretations: Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House Publishers, 1999. 41-56. Print.

Hernandez, Krystle. "The Motif of Flight in Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison." n. pag. Web. 9 May 2010. .

Garnick, Vivian. "Into the Dark Heart of Childhood." Village Voice 29 August, 1977: p. 41. Print.

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