Identity In Song Of Solomon

In Song of Solomon, Morrison illustrates internalized racism through appearance, self-worth and love as important components of self-identity. The book Song of Solomon by Tori Morrison is about African Americans who search for their cultural identity. One of the main characters, Macon “Milkman” Dead is isolated from his family, his community, and his historical and cultural roots. His aunt, Pilate and his best friend, Guitar helps on his physical and spiritual journey to reconnect with his past and realize his self-worth. However, he is not the only character who has a hard time coping with her appearance and identity. Steve Marabli once said, “Love yourself. Forgive yourself. Be true to yourself. How you treat yourself sets the standard for

He expresses he loves “silky hair”, “lemon colored skin”, and “gray-blue eyes” (Morrison 511-572). Hagar says Milkman does not like her because of her hair is not silky, because it is course. Milkman does not like Hagar because her skin is full of vibrant melanin. Hagar does not like Milkman eyes; they are not pastel looking like Caucasian females. Milkman eyes are warm and brown and can tell who she is by looking into her eyes. Reba and Pilate Dead try to comfort Hagar by disagreeing with her thoughts about Milkman’s likes and dislikes because she does not have to compare herself to a Caucasian female. With this in mind, Hagar Dead is not aware of her self-worth because she is too caught up in trying to impress a men that does not want her. Not along she should not trying to impress a man at all. A man

Most women suffer with self-identity because of men. Hagar Dead suffer from self-identity because of Milkman. Since Hagar is an African American she has many self – identity crisis. Self-identity started in the slavery era. An African American–centered, Black feminist perspective clarifies why the African American experience may run counter to the theoretical principles of self-esteem. The principle of reflected judgments assumes that Blacks’ relevant others are Whites. Under this principle, Blacks would not only have to be aware of the negative attitudes that whites have for them, but they would have to accept them, consider them significant, and believe them to be personally relevant. Whites do not contribute significantly to the formation of Black self-esteem. Self-esteem is developed in immediate interpersonal environments. Most Blacks live and socially interact in segregated environments, their important others are usually other Blacks. Even in interracial environments such as schools, that interracial contact with whites did not negatively affect Blacks’ self-esteem. The above findings are especially pertinent to the study of African American women and self-esteem. Black women were once predicted to have low self-esteem because scholars thought they internalized demeaning messages of themselves and measured themselves against a white