Misogyny In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon

In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, young Macon Dead the 3rd, also known as Milkman, is continuously “flying” away from his problems. With his father, Macon Dead Jr., being a man of money and greed and his mother Ruth Foster Dead being a subdued and quiet woman of a higher class, Milkman has a clear advantage than most people of color. His father and his self never truly felt connected to each other which brought conflict, and it was perceived that he didn’t respect women. At a young age his small actions were early stages of him disrespecting women, especially to his mother and sisters. As the book progresses he finds himself in the flights of people around him, and even his own. The flight would later determine whether he would fly away to

He gets romantically and sexually involved with Hagar but as soon as he’s tired of her and wants to break up he starts to avoid her. He doesn’t realize the damage he caused her and he doesn’t truly care because there is the reoccurring theme of misogyny. He ignored her feelings and although she said she didn’t love him, part of her caved into the affection she had for him and in the end it was the literal death of her. Milkman travels down south to start his legacy and find himself, while in the midst of the south he over hears children singing. They sing about flying and taking off and milkman connects it to his childhood burning in the fire of the light. As it takes flight to the sun he lets go of all the pain from his past and moves on into a new light. Milkman was starting to learn how to soar and not fly away. At the end we have Milkman confronting Guitar. After he shot Pilate, he began to sing to her and then she dies. In rage he calls out to Guitar saying “You want my life?” Milkman begins searching for him at the top of Solomon’s Leap, and when he finally spots Guitar he’s saying “My man, my main man.” in a possessive tone. Milkman doesn’t give up or surrender but he takes a leap of faith off of Solomon’s Leap. “If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.” Milkman for once didn’t run away or fly away; he took action of his situation and created a new legacy. Whether he died or not, Milkman was finally able to soar into the