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Theme Of Flight In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon

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While going through life one might find it difficult and see that they do not know where they are going. But yet Mark Twain once stated "The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why . The book Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison shows readers many life struggles through the eyes of the characters and how they improved later. Song of Solomon is about a man named Macon Dead the third, nicknamed Milkman, finding out about himself and his family throughout the story. Milkman does this by going on a journey into his family's past to backtrack to his grandfather, Macon Dead the first, to find out his family’s past. He does this with the help of many people along the way including his best friend Guitar, his father, Macon Dead the second, and his aunt, Pilate Dead. Throughout the novel, readers will see many references to flight. Flight is a crucial part to both developing of the story and developing of the theme. Throughout Song of Solomon, Morrison develops the theme that no matter how long it takes, the flight of the soul will lead to a better life. …show more content…

Morrison first shows readers Robert Smith’s life. Morrison does this when she writes, “They kidded him, abused him, told their children to tell him they were out or sick or gone to Pittsburgh.” (Morrison, 14). From this sentence readers can already develop a sense of what life was like for Smith. Horrible, shameful, and grueling. Because of this, Smith looks to take his soul on a flight to have a less grueling, shameful, and horrible life. Next, Morrison describes the length of time between when Smith decides to fly and when he actually does. Morrison does this through imagery when she writes, “They stood this way for some time, none of them crying out to Mr. Smith, all of them preoccupied with one or the other of the minor events about them, until the hospital people came.” (12) Morrison gives readers a time scale of how long Smith has been trying to fly by using the image of a crowd gathering in the place of where Smith is trying to fly and how long it they have been standing there. This further helps readers further develop theme of no matter how long it takes, the flight of the soul will always lead to a better life by portraying how long it can take a soul to fly. Lastly, Morrison makes the soul fly to a better life. “Downtown the firemen pulled on their greatcoats, but when they arrived at Mercy, Mr. Smith

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Throughout Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Milkman Dead’s name serves as a constant reminder of his unhealthy relationship with his mother, Ruth Dead, which in itself is a reflection of her deep-rooted issues with her own personal life that are out of Milkman’s control. The significance of Milkman’s name has multiple layers to it. For example, it is important to recall that his real name is Macon because he makes a significant effort to distance himself from Macon Jr. and prove himself to be different from him. Ruth’s breastfeeding him well past his infancy results in his being stuck with the nickname “Milkman” before he is even old enough to understand the situation.

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Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon is a novel that is set in the 20th century, Michigan which follows the life of Macon Dead III, who gets the nickname milkman. His sisters are Magdalene, who is called Lena, and First Corinthians. His parents are Ruth and Macon Dead Jr. Unlike most African American families during this time period, the Dead family were financially stable and could afford things that were deemed luxurious. Even though they had money, they still were unhappy with their lives. This shows that you can be living ,but you can also be dead.

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Within society, materialism is often associated with success and prosperity. In the novel Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, there was a pattern of how even though the most successful characters were also the most materialistic, they were not always the happiest. Two characters that were at either end of the scale of materialism were Macon and Pilate. These very different lifestyles that Macon and Pilate lived, Macon being heavily materialistic and Pilate not at all, caused them to develop different attitudes that were influenced heavily by materialism. Through the analysis of the mystery of Pilate’s and Macon’s lifestyles, Morrison illustrates that materialism destroys people and prevents them from achieving freedom.

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Certain aspects of life can be explained in full through a single phrase. A proverb. In this case: “like father, like son.” In the novel Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison, Macon Dead III, informally known as Milkman, develops relationships with many other character in his town in Michigan. The most important of which is his relationship with Hagar, who loves Milkman.

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Toni Morrison’s novel Song of Solomon is an examination on the importance of self-identity in African-American society and the effects of a name. Names and labels are used to describe and symbolize people, places, and things, serving as a brief definition of the subject. Toni Morrison uses this definition in order to analyze the effects redefining or naming had on African Americans heritage and culture after their emancipation. Throughout the story, the central protagonist Macon Dead III or Milkman, searches his family’s history to reclaim his past and recreate himself. America’s history of slavery and it’s lasting effects have allowed African-American society and cultural identity to be dictated by the white majority.

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In Song Of Solomon by Toni Morrison, the setting takes place near Lake Superior in Detroit, Michigan around the black community. The story revolves around the character Milkman who is born in a wealthy colored family. The motif of flight plays a significant role in Milkman’s action in his journey. The motif flight represents escape from one's life burdens, freedom and life. Throughout Milkman’s journey to become more independent, and learn his family history.

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Economic privileges generally blind people to the unfavorable social conditions of their community, as wealth is commonly used as a method of physical escape. As a result, many of those belonging to this socio economic strata continue to live under the illusions of an idealistic identity, as they fear to uncover a past that may disrupt their supposed utopian lifestyle. The rare amount of people who defy and challenge the blindness evoked by economic privileges are usually awarded with a mental awakening in which they will uncover a social purpose beyond the pursuit of materialistic wealth. In the Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison explores the social transition of Milkman, a privileged individual, through the use of a spiritual awakening. Due to

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She was the sign of misfortune in the entire novel: deprived of sexual interaction with her husband for twenty years, delivering Milkman as a consequence of a shock from a frightening accident, and withstanding the physical violence of her husband even in front of their children. She was never respected or seriously loved by any male characters in the novel—Milkman was ashamed and careless of her, Macon her Husband hated her, and even her father was somewhat embarrassed by their intimacy which Ruth intended. Ironically, she was the daughter of the great Doctor who has a street named after him and the wife of Macon Dead, who is the richest person in town. This contrast emphasizes the tragedy of the character that despite her superior or seemingly advantageous status quo, she still led a miserable life. Morrison quoted that she started the book as an attempt to shatter some of the common stereotypes the 1960s has brought to African American community, which, as she reckons, has left out an enormous portion of the racial character for over-emphasizing the beauty and strength and thereby

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In the Book, “Song of Solomon” By Toni Morrison, the power of flight is explored as a way to break away from the restrictions set on oneself. For Instance, Solomon’s “flight” is when he escapes the chains of slavery and makes his own life for himself. While Solomon was able to escape the Virginia cotton fields, he left behind his wife and child. This shows that with this sight of freedom, you have to leave things behind and therefore make you suffer.

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The idea of "Flight" unfolds Solomon intentions to seek for freedom. Solomon ideology to escape slavery was to "fly" away from it. In pg 6 "O Sugarman done fly away" illustrates the idea of Solomon rejecting slavery when he flew back to Africa . Solomon perspective towards racism is different from Macon and Guitar, While Macon seems to hate his race and wanting to be a dictator for his community and Guitar seeking revenge for black people, Solomon isolates himself from racial problems while leaving his family behind. Solomon's flight tends to demonstrate Solomon rejecting the injustice of American Society, and also how his flight had a positive and negative consequence.

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