The Racial Lens In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon

593 Words3 Pages

In the book Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, the book is a very good representation of the racial lens. The racial lens is a lens that has to deal with with racial slurs or sequences the character in the book encounter. Milkman is Guitar's best friend, and due to the fact that Milkman was always wealthy from birth and he lived on the other side of town, Milkman does not understand how someone could be so radicalized as Guitar is. Throughout the book, we can see how Guitar was always passionate about his race since his childhood, and how what white people have done has really affected him life. When Guitar’s father died in a brutal accident at his father’s work place, a white man came to tell him and his family and offered Guitar candy for his father's death. This impacts him for the rest of his …show more content…

Later, when Emmett Till died in the book, Guitar was very passionate on his death and he spoke of the injustice brought upon African Americans. Guitar believes that white people do not care about black lives, and as a result, he decides that he shouldn’t care about white lives.

After finding out that Guitar is part of the “Seven Days”, Milkman asks Guitar “why kill innocent people?” and Guitar replies with “It doesn’t matter who did it. Each and every one of them could do it. So you just any of them. There are no innocent white people, because every one of them is potential nigger-killer, if not an actual one.”Guitar is dehumanizing white people in the same way that he feels like he has been dehumanized as a black man. Gutiar no longer views white people as humans because, he states that every white person could kill black people, no matter, what circumstances. Gutiar is also dehumanizing white people because throughout this section, he is speaking of white people’s death so openly. He also speaks in a way that he does not value, who it is that he kills, as long as it is a white person, then he is making a change in the black