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A review by thaurisil
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
4.0
The book starts off elusively. An insurance salesman jumping from a building believing he can fly. Below, a pregnant lady, Ruth Dead, daughter of the first black doctor in the area, who is standing with her daughters Magdalene and First Corinthians Dead, goes into labour, and becomes the first black woman accepted into Mercy Hospital (nicknamed No Mercy Hospital). A white nurse orders a six-year-old boy, Guitar, to get a security guard, and he corrects a mistake in her spelling. Ruth's sister-in-law, Pilate, sings, "O Sugarman done fly away". Over the year, Ruth indulges in breastfeeding her son, Macon Dead III, long past his infancy, to escape the boredom of her marriage, and when discovered by the janitor Freddie, the boy is nicknamed Milkman. Milkman's father, Macon Dead II, is a greedy and dictatorial father and landlord, and bans Milkman from contact with Pilate. One day, Macon walks past Pilate's house, and hides in the shadows listening to her singing with her daughter Reba and granddaughter Hagar.
This mysterious start is more important than it appears, and introduces the key elements of the book. These are the themes of race, gender and class, the motifs of flight and singing, and the importance of names.
In the first half of the book, Milkman is selfish, living in the luxury granted by his father's wealth, uncaring towards his parents, sisters and the other characters. His only friend is Guitar. Guitar turns into a black fundamentalist, angry about the injustice done towards the blacks and joining a secret gang known as the Seven Days that kills a white person for every black person murdered, regardless of who the killer is. On the other hand, Milkman, living in his comfort, separates himself from others of his race, refusing to care about the sufferings of the blacks. As Guitar turns increasingly extremist, the two friends split apart, and ironically it is at this time that Milkman, in his search for freedom, travels to his father's hometown and starts to take an interest in his ancestors. Milkman's heritage is not easy to discover, because the historical illiteracy of the blacks has resulted in stories being passed down in oral tradition, with names contorted and legends taking on the aspect of truth. Discovering his historical heritage requires Milkman to interact and form friendships. As he discovers his ancestors, he finds his own identity, and assimilates into African American culture.
The legends of African American culture are magnified by the use of magical realism. Pilate, the only purely good character in the book, is guided by her father, whom she saw shot off a fence as a child while he tried to protect his land, and appears as a ghost guiding her through life. At the same time, the motifs of flight and song augment the magical feeling. Several characters dream of flying. Their flight or attempted flight is a symbol of their hope and the soaring of their ambitions, and when Milkman, at a young age, discovers he cannot fly, he becomes spiritually dead. His spiritual rebirth is marked by a renewed interest in flight. Singing, particularly by Pilate, is a hope that glows in moments of darkness, and the lyrics of a song that a group of children sing are a key tool through which Milkman discovers the story of his ancestors. All this culminates in an ending where the motifs of flight and song grow, passages become increasingly lyrical, and at the end, Milkman flies, resembling the insurance salesman at the start of the book.
The unusual names of the characters are symbolic. The first Macon Dead, Milkman's grandfather, derived his name through a clerk's mistakes that the illiterate Macon Dead did not notice. Pilate is named by Macon randomly pointing at a word in the bible. Many other names are slave names or nicknames that are at times derogatory. Yet the names, strange and unusual as they are, highlight the person's original and history. As Milkman embraces his own name and the history of black names, he embraces a key part of African American culture.
Morrison's writing is rhythmical and, at appropriate times, musical. Her words are carefully chosen. The themes and motifs repeat themselves at surprising moments, building a cohesive whole. It is a book of faith, culture, love and beauty.
This mysterious start is more important than it appears, and introduces the key elements of the book. These are the themes of race, gender and class, the motifs of flight and singing, and the importance of names.
In the first half of the book, Milkman is selfish, living in the luxury granted by his father's wealth, uncaring towards his parents, sisters and the other characters. His only friend is Guitar. Guitar turns into a black fundamentalist, angry about the injustice done towards the blacks and joining a secret gang known as the Seven Days that kills a white person for every black person murdered, regardless of who the killer is. On the other hand, Milkman, living in his comfort, separates himself from others of his race, refusing to care about the sufferings of the blacks. As Guitar turns increasingly extremist, the two friends split apart, and ironically it is at this time that Milkman, in his search for freedom, travels to his father's hometown and starts to take an interest in his ancestors. Milkman's heritage is not easy to discover, because the historical illiteracy of the blacks has resulted in stories being passed down in oral tradition, with names contorted and legends taking on the aspect of truth. Discovering his historical heritage requires Milkman to interact and form friendships. As he discovers his ancestors, he finds his own identity, and assimilates into African American culture.
The legends of African American culture are magnified by the use of magical realism. Pilate, the only purely good character in the book, is guided by her father, whom she saw shot off a fence as a child while he tried to protect his land, and appears as a ghost guiding her through life. At the same time, the motifs of flight and song augment the magical feeling. Several characters dream of flying. Their flight or attempted flight is a symbol of their hope and the soaring of their ambitions, and when Milkman, at a young age, discovers he cannot fly, he becomes spiritually dead. His spiritual rebirth is marked by a renewed interest in flight. Singing, particularly by Pilate, is a hope that glows in moments of darkness, and the lyrics of a song that a group of children sing are a key tool through which Milkman discovers the story of his ancestors. All this culminates in an ending where the motifs of flight and song grow, passages become increasingly lyrical, and at the end, Milkman flies, resembling the insurance salesman at the start of the book.
The unusual names of the characters are symbolic. The first Macon Dead, Milkman's grandfather, derived his name through a clerk's mistakes that the illiterate Macon Dead did not notice. Pilate is named by Macon randomly pointing at a word in the bible. Many other names are slave names or nicknames that are at times derogatory. Yet the names, strange and unusual as they are, highlight the person's original and history. As Milkman embraces his own name and the history of black names, he embraces a key part of African American culture.
Morrison's writing is rhythmical and, at appropriate times, musical. Her words are carefully chosen. The themes and motifs repeat themselves at surprising moments, building a cohesive whole. It is a book of faith, culture, love and beauty.