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Symbolism In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon

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In Toni Morrison's novel, Song of Solomon, the “Dead” family, including Milkman, Ruth Dead, and Macon Jr. Dead are the protagonists of the novel. Even though each of the main characters of the book expresses dissimilar characteristics and actions toward specific events as Milkman’s name, several of them become alike and similar without noticing. A major factor that evolves throughout the novel is the symbolism of the name “Dead”, and the main character that this symbolism applies to is Macon Dead Jr. Other subjects that correspond to the meaning of “Dead” are the characters’ social classes and their way of living life. Wealth and money are recognized as the two main elements that symbolize the liveliness and happiness of life. However, in this …show more content…

As said before, wealth and money are considered to be the major factors for a person to feel delighted about the life he/she is living. The recognition of these two factors are opposed in Toni Morrison’s novel Song of Solomon. Macon Dead Jr., the wealthiest African American in the novel, is living in a miserable life even though he is wealthy. His obsession for money started to consume him, which eventually made him dependant on it to live his own kind of life. If at this point of the story money had separated him mostly entirely from his family, then what effect is it going to have on him later in the novel? Even his wife Ruth is not living the life that she wants to live in. She is separated from her husband because of a worthless item that hides and covers the beauty of life from him. Rather than living in a fancy house, she’s living in a house that looks like "a prison than palace." Her depression is evolving over time even though she’s also a member of this wealthy family. She tries to prevent this from happening by trying to keep her son close to her all the time as what her father used to do with her, as said, “Her steady beam of love was unsettling, and she had never dropped those expressions of affection that had been so lovable in her childhood.” (Morrison 23). Her only son was named by a janitor

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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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The word dead generally means that a person is no longer living ,but another meaning is that one is deprived of life. The dead family is deprived of life because they are unlucky to experience the joys of happiness. You are truly unhappy if money is the only thing you care for. The names of many characters signify their personality, and many of the various things that they will do.

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Allusion to Pilate in Song of Solomon In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, Milkman, the main character, has an aunt named Pilate Dead. Pilate’s name is a biblical allusion to Pontius Pilate, but it is also a homonym for the word “pilot” (SparkNote Editors). Pilate, like almost all of the characters in the novel are given names directly from the Bible, such as First Corinthians, Reba, Hagar, and Ruth.

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In the novel, Song of Solomon written by Toni Morrison, there is a group called the Seven Days, and they had goals and methods that this group believed in, the narrator had a specific attitude towards the Seven Days. The Seven Days groups an ineffective way to correct the social ills that were happening in the mid-twentieth-century African Americans. This part of the book demonstrates how torn apart our society was back then. Cynthia Davis talked about Toni Morrisons novel attracted a variety of audiences because it brought in “popular and critical attention for their inventive blend of realism and fantasy,” (Davis) but it’s almost realistic to a point that we could compare this to the society in the mid-1990’s.

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In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, both Susan and Milkman strive to escape reality, but do so in fundamentally different ways. Susan, despite her mixed roots and black relatives, harbors visible distaste towards people with black skin, and desperately tries to separate herself from her own blackness. Paradoxically, the more she attempts to dissociate herself from her identity, the more entrenched in her ancestry she becomes. In contrast, Milkman attempts to run away from the false narrative imposed upon him by his father’s occupation and whiteness in his search for a “pot of gold”. While he does not ultimately find the “pot of gold”, he does find himself, literally running toward his heritage and the black town of Shalimar.

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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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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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A lot has happened in Song of Solomon, since the beginning of the book. I remember how when I read chapter one I predicted that as the story continues Milkman was going to grow to be a man unhappy with his life. Now that I have read up to chapter nine, I would have to say I was correct. Specifically in chapter seven, Milkman waits to hear why Macon Jr., his father, is being so weird after learning about Pilate’s green sack hanging from the ceiling.

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At times people set goals they want to achieve. They may never achieve the goal but the values and lessons they learn on the journey are far more valuable. Milkman goes searching for the gold and on the way learns about himself. Milkman believes he wants to get away from his home and go in search for gold in another state. He has eyes set on the money from the gold.

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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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“Speak up more.” “Don’t be bossy.” “Be confident.” “Don’t be arrogant.” Expectations are hard.

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The bildungsroman and long-time classic, The Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, explores multiple literary elements that develop the flight of the novel's main character, Milkman Dead. Magical realism, a phrase used to describe the authenticity of an object considered genuine, is used regularly to bring further meaning to Morrison's 1977 novel. Using this literary component, she brings the term to life in clever references that reflect its mythical existence to represent real life. Named offhandedly by her father, Pilate Dead is the sister of our main character. Alienated from her father and brother, Milkman described his estranged sibling, saying, "For all the years he knew her, her stomach was as smooth and sturdy as her back, at no place

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Society often views love as a beautiful concept, a power that can overcome all other conflicts. However, as romanticized as love is, the expectations of all the benefits one could gain from it are far from the reality. Toni Morrison’s 1977 Song of Solomon discusses the foundations of love through the perspective of the main character, Macon “Milkman” Dead, in such a way that undermines the traditional views readers may have. Morrison’s use of love as a motif throughout her novel reveals her message that love doesn’t always reap outstanding rewards, challenging the societal view that grandeur benefits will always arise from loving.

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The religious allusion in Beloved serves many purposes. Creating a common ground for greater mutual understanding, religious allusion expands the audience and greatly helps to clarify many aspects of Morrison’s writing. Everyone knows the Bible, allowing for more universally reaching storytelling through her characterization, narration, and metaphorical writing. While painting vivid pictures of grandiose feasts, imminent apocalyptic destruction, and heavenly preaching figures, Morrison fashions unique identity and easily-comprehendible scenes. The many biblical allusions in Beloved help to universalize the novel, also serving a purpose of providing solid education in territory previously unknown to many modern readers.

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Human beings have a destiny, and that destiny is to live a life and die. Eventually everyone is going to die at one point in time. Toni Morrison’s Sula exhibits death as a part of life. In this research paper, I am going to focus on the deaths in the novel and try to see how they are all connected, how it affected the town, and why there were so many deaths. I want to find out why Sula was a very involved person when it comes to death.

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