Symbolism In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon

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

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