The Struggle In Milkman's Song Of Solomon

In the opening chapter of the 1977 novel Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, the author presents a distant relationship between Macon Dead and his estranged sister, Pilate. Macon is shown staring into the window of his sister’s house, watching Pilate, her daughter Reba, and granddaughter Hagar. By simply observing them from the outside of their house, he demonstrates the complex relationship between himself and the family members he is watching. Morrison conveys this conflicted relationship through his use of setting, musical motif, and symbolism behind “Dead”.

Even before his life journey also started Milkman those who were supposed to love him unconditionally tried to end him. Milkman 's father was that person; Macon dead was jealous of both his wife 's father and his unborn son. "I know he never told you that he killed my father and that he tried to kill you." (Morrison 124). Milkman 's mother Ruth told him the truth about his father, the man he was supposed to look up to and cherish. When his mother told him that his father tried to make her abort him, he was told that his aunt Pilate was the reason why he was alive. "Pilate was the one who brought you here in the first place ... Pilate? ... Milkman was coming awake" (Morrison 124). The moment in which he found out that his aunt was the reason for his existence was an end to what he felt against his aunt and a beginning. Milkman was starting to become less narrow-minded, he was beginning to leave his child like ways of thinking and started to noticed things and acted in them. Finding out that his aunt saved him made him realize that Pilate was the catalyst in his life. That his aunt someone who his father despised so very much was someone who helps give Milkman a chance in life. As the door that leads to his existing relationship with his father closed another opened; the one that further enhanced the

At the beginning Milkman is not very pleasant, he was similar to his father, self-centered and mean. Macon

People often admire and yearn for the natural state of bliss a child has due to their ignorance of what 's going on around them. Although it is said that ignorance is bliss, but it is not always a good thing. As an adolescent, that bliss works to your advantage, but as a person gets older it only hinders your growth. Most times one does not know that they have remained stagnant until it has become known. In the novel Song of Solomon, by Tori Morrison, Milkman was unaware of his current state until it was made known to him.As a result, he unconsciously came of age through inner and external revelations.

Materialistic possession plays a pivotal role within Milkman’s family and life offering a means of escape from dispossession, despite its eventual development into greed. Early in the book, when Milkman believes that his father was the absolute power within his household, Macon Dead Sr. is telling his family about buying some vacation homes on the lake and selling them to colored folks during the summer. He questions, “Who’s going to live in them?” This questioning tone reveals his distrust of his father and his agreement of the belief that “There’s no colored people who can afford two houses.” (Morrison 33) Milkman sees his father trying to fill and fix his dispossession but doesn't agree with his methods. Here he must confront his father's

Macon Jr., Milkman’s father, also has abnormalities that affect his traits and attitude about life. He suffers trauma at a young age. The horrific execution of

In the novel Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison race plays a huge part in the book. So much so that three men of the same race can have such different ideals about what race is entirely. The three i'm referring too are Guitar Bains, Milkman’s friend. Macon dead, Milkman’s father and Solomon, Milkman’s great grandfather. All 3 men have had some sort of effect on Milkman, but each have a past that has affected them to make them who we see them as in the book. Guitar grew up without a father due to an accident. He had to sit by as a white sawmill owner came to his house to talk with his mother about what happened. The Owner got candy for guitar and his siblings while his mom got $40. Guitar was horrified by the news of how they were unable to put his father's body back together, so they laid both pieces next to each other in the coffin. This caused the young Guitar to throw away his candy in the outhouse furious. To this day mentioning sweets will make him vomit. Milkmans father Macon Dead jr is a much different story. Macon had a father and grew up with him, learning and living. That is until he signed his farm away to a white man and they were kicked out. From then on he swore to never be taken advantage of and to never lose his property, but to own it. This made him greedy, cold and selfish to the point of cruelty. The last, but not least important, is Solomon himself. He was a slave who had 12 children in america but flew

Toni Morrison’s novel, Song of Solomon, encompasses many themes that were prevalent in the other novels written in the same time period. Morrison produced this novel in 1977 just as racial issues and discrimination were at its peaks. “She [Morrison] was the first African American to receive the Noble Prize in Literature.” (Milliman 5) However, the setting of the story is in the 1930s when World War II was taking place. The novel is based on an African-American family residing in Michigan who are victims of racism and social discrimination. The story focuses on Milkman Dead, the main character, who is naïve and leaves his family and friends behind to become an independent, wealthy upperclassman. “Milkman discovers the intricacies of his

In "Song of Solomon", the setting is used to "Accentuate qualities of a character", or in this case, Milkman. The setting takes place during the 1900's while African Americans were struggling to fight for their rights as citizens. Milkman was a child of Macon Jr. born in a wealthy household in the North. Due to racisim, Macon Jr.'s father was killed by white men, which lead him to a life of Greed and selfishness. The wealthy household that was controled by Macon Jr., in which the house Milkman was rasied in, turned Milkman selfish and ignorant. Later, Milkman journeys to find wealth, thinking that it is the fulfillment of his life. Soon he travels to Shalimar (Located in the South), there he learns his ancestors history and realizes the error

Milkman’s journey for an identity takes him down a road in which he becomes as callous as his father.

   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).

While Song of Solomon is generally seen as a myth of the male maturation, it also contains the subtext of Pilate's rite de passage and the ritual of cultural immersion. In her history is the process by which she acquires the values that will sustain Milkman and by extension, the black community. Pilate's initiation occurs much earlier than Milkman's. Having been raised in relative isolation in the edenic Lincoln's Heaven, Pilate is abruptly and cruelly cast out as an orphan into the greater reality. Her quest for acceptance, however, turns into rejection, her navel-less belly a semé of exclusion.

Milkman has little regard for himself and even less regard for others. He continues to escape as he attempts to integrate himself into Honoré Island where the richer African American community resides. Materialism and indifference are heavy influencers in the early days of Milkman as he attempts to liberate himself from racism and personal battles. Flight appears to do more harm than good through an initial

Milkman’s immediate family is fractured. His mother Ruth never mentions her mother, if she knew her at all, only her father. Macon Dead, Milkman’s father, knew only his father as well. Both Ruth and Macon only act as half parents to Milkman. They are incapable of seeing each other as equals because they have no reference for their relationship. They each see Milkman as their son, but not as the son of the other. They stifle Milkman, giving him only their view of the world. Because they are unable to have friends outside of their home, they enlist him as a confidant, as an ally against the other, and as the bearer of the Dead legacy. Milkman is unable to become a whole person within the family because he is expected only to complete each parent and not himself.

The way the black man deals with his blackness is the scorching core of his life, for he is forced to understand that his race will affect him in every way possible. To either build from it, make it your life’s purpose or, fly away from it are the paths laid out in front of him and will determine his pursuit of happiness. In Song Of Solomon by Toni Morrison we explore this ordeal as we look through the lens of three men as to how they see color in this black and white world. The lives of Macon, Guitar, and Solomon are testimonies to this reality as we see the consequences and conveniences of their paths and how their actions shape the conflicted mind of Milkman who has yet to choose his own.