Song of Solomon: Final Review

Tony Morrison really likes to open a novel in an oddly way; as in Beloved, so is in Song of Solomon. It is opened with a suicide letter from an insurance agent, who announced that he will fly from the hospital top on certain date and hour. ‘Why?’ I instantly asked myself. And my question remained unanswered through almost the whole story. The insurance agent turns out not to be the main character either. He only serves as a symbol. The center of the story is about Macon ‘Milkman’ Dead and his people.

It was on the day of the insurance agent’s suicide, that Milkman was born. He was born in the richest black family in the town; his father was in property business, while his mother was a daughter of a respectable doctor. While he was growing up, little by little the dark secrets of the family were revealed. The ugly truths disturbed Milkman; he felt that he did not have freedom. His father—who wanted to kill him before he was born—now wanted him to help him in business. His mother has used him as a boy to amuse herself. Hagar wanted to have his life because she could not get his love. Even his name he got from someone else’s faults. He felt that everything is a mess, no one lived normally within his family and his people. He was weary of all that and wanted to leave everything behind but had no power to do that as he did not have money.

While Milkman was searching the value of his life, Guitar—his best friend since childhood—was getting weird. He became too serious and was obsessed with racial issues. Milkman found out later that he has joined a society called Seven Days, whose aim was to kill white people as many as they have killed the blacks. Guitar believed that by holding up the population of the whites, they would have less power to oppress the blacks. So, both Milkman and Guitar were finding their own way to escape the crushed world they were now living.

Since Milkman has been living quite comfortably, he did not get as desperate as Guitar. His father asked him to trace the sack of gold of his, which he suspected has been stolen by his sister Pilate. This mission finally led Milkman not to the gold, but to the true history of his ancestors. From a children’s song he learned the story of Solomon, his great grandfather, a great Negro who was praised by his people because he managed to ‘fly’. And so Milkman was inspired by Solomon; if his great grandfather could ‘fly’, so could he.

It was only when I was in the last chapter, that I realized what Morrison has been fussing about the ‘fly’. First the fly of the insurance agent in the opening, then Solomon’s fly. And people here don’t feel it strange that a human can fly; instead, they praised Solomon for succeeding in flying, although by doing that he ought to leave his wife grieving. Milkman too was overjoyed of his great grandfather’s achievement. And so I began to think that the ‘fly’ here might means the efforts to leave their present depressing situation to a brighter future. Morrison encourages us that to keep hoping and thinking positively, that someday you might see the chance to fly away.

This is my second Toni Morrison, and I still enjoyed it. Unlike Beloved that is quite shocking, Song of Solomon feels like reading an adventure novel. The plot flows nicely, although Morrison keeps starting chapters from the middle of an event, and while we are asking what it is all about, she throws the clues here and there, until at one point the whole event is revealed.

Four stars for Song of Solomon, and I think I might read Morrison other novels in the future.

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*I read Signet edition*

*This book is counted as:*

22^nd book for What's In a Name Reading Challenge 2013

11^th book for Back To The Classics 2013

62^nd book for The Classics Club Project

Song of Solomon: The WEM Inquiries

I opt to work only on the second and third level of inquiries for Song of Solomon; which I wrap up in this one post.

Logic-Stage Inquiry

What does Milkman want? What is standing in his way? And what strategy does he pursue in order to overcome this block?

Milkman wants freedom; freedom to lead his own life, not the life the society forces him to take. Even before he was born, it is as if his fate has been scratched into his book of life. After he’s grown up, everyone seems to want his life, own him, need him, and won’t let him alone (his father, his mother, his girlfriend, even Guitar). To overcome the block, Milkman knows he needs to leave his past, stays away from his families and all their histories. So, when his father asks him to find the gold, he leaves eagerly to the South. It’s not merely about the gold—although he believes it is at first—but more about the freedom, to do something his own way, to decide things by himself, to take control of his life.

Beginnings and endings

I believe this is one of Toni Morrison’s strengths: how she arranges her writings in a neat and tidy package. The novel begins with a ‘fly’ and ends also with a ‘fly’. The first fly—the insurance agent’s leap from the hospital roof—feels strange, and I didn’t know what it means until I reach the ending. And only when Milkman leaps towards Guitar, did I realize what all the leaps in this novel meant.

Images and metaphors

Being a magical realism, of course there are a lot of metaphors here. I only discuss one of them: the leap or the flying. People in this book do not think it strange for men to fly. So, it must have represented something real. After finishing the book, I think ‘flying’ here means flying from your helpless situation to a new brighter future. Milkman is so happy when he learns that Solomon—his great grandfather—can fly, and he thinks, if his great grandfather can fly, so can he. I think the flying for black people here represents the escaping from the whites’ domination and injustice.

Rhetoric-Stage Inquiry

Do you sympathize with the characters? Which ones, and why?

I thought more about Milkman and Guitar than the other characters in this novel. They both want to fly from their present conditions, although by leading different paths. They both would have led a great future if they were born as white men. Even Milkman, with a comfortable living, still feels oppressed by the racial colonialism; let alone Guitar, who have neither freedom nor money. His choice is wrong—killing innocent people is wrong—but it’s only to highlight how he feels so helpless; that there is no way out other than savage killings. And they—Milkman and Guitar—must go through that just because they are born black.

What does the setting of the book tell you about the way human beings are shaped?

It tells me that colonialism would only bring moral corruption to the oppressed. When you treat others inhumanly, they would grow savage, because men are created to be free. And after some generations, it would shape their whole race or nation’s mental. It is not that certain race is worse than the others; look at Milkman and Guitar; if they were born white, things would have been different. Milkman would not be that indifferent, while Guitar would perhaps not be a savage killer. They do not want to be that way, but they are forced to survive in the crushed world they live in. And all that is because they are black.

What exactly is the writer telling you?

Morrison wants us to witness the ugly truth of whites’ colonization towards the blacks. She wants to show us what really happened inside the society. Most of them were perhaps just living it bitterly, but some of them show us that they too have dignity; dignity to force them to leave their families, or, like Guitar, to be a savage killer. And all these mess were caused by the racial colonization. They do not want to be that way, but they were helpless. She also tells us not to live submissively under the colonialism, she tells us to fly or leap to a brighter future.

In what sense is the book true?

It’s true that men tend to feel superior against others who are different from them, and I believe racial colonialism is still happening even today.

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Song of Solomon – Chapter Summary Part 2

Following Part 1 summary, here are the chapter summary of Song of Solomon Part 2 (the last one).

Chapter 10

Milkman went to the South to get the gold from the cave, but found nothing. He met Circe—the old woman who hid Macon and Pilate after their father’s death—and combining her and Pilate’s stories, he concluded that Pilate must have brought the gold from the cave and hid it somewhere. And now he went on to retrace her tracks.

Chapter 11

He arrived at Shalimar, where his people (the Deads) used to live, while Guitar sent him death-message Seven Days style, though he didn’t believed it at first. He got an unpleasant welcome from the people because he was rich; he survived from a fight with them, and then was invited to join night hunting by other group. During the hunting Guitar has attempted to strangle him but failed; and from the hunting folks he got more information about his grandmother’s family.

Chapter 12

Milkman visited a woman—Susan Byrd—who was the niece of his grandmother, Sing, but here he lost the trace. Guitar met him finally; he wanted to kill him because he thought Milkman secretly shipped the gold to own it himself. From children’s song in a game, Milkman found the missing link about his ancestors’ history.

Chapter 13

Back to Susan Byrd’s, Milkman got the real story about his great grandfather Solomon who ran away with his wife Sing; but he then ‘flew’ away and left his grieved wife lost her mind. Meanwhile Hagar also lost her mind after Milkman left her, and finally died.

Chapter 14

Milkman returned to Susan Byrd’s, and this time had the missing pieces were revealed; how Solomon had twenty one children, and Jake—Milkman’s grandfather—was one of them. A woman named Heddy who had a daughter named Sing took care of Jake after his father left him. Jake then left their hometown in a wagon, after marrying Sing, and directed to the North.

Chapter 15

Excited with his investigation result, Milkman went home, only to learn that Hagar was dead. He told Pilate that the bones in her sack actually belonged to her own father. He then took Pilate to Shalimar, but Guitar followed them and shot Pilate to death. Milkman knew that he’d kill him next, but before that—imitating his grandfather—he leapt towards Guitar.

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Song of Solomon – Chapter Summary Part 1

This is the chapter summary of first of two parts of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. I’m doing the WEM project assignments for this book.

Chapter 1

Not long after Mr. Smith, an insurance agent, flew from hospital roof, Ruth Foster gave birth to her baby boy. Years after that, Macon Dead, her husband, hated her and was always hard to his family; while Ruth took pleasure from breastfeeding her (now) teenage boy, that the boy got ‘Milkman’ as his nickname. Macon rented houses to poor colored families, and he was heartless in dealing with them.

Chapter 2

Macon had an eccentric sister, Pilate, whom he loved but was ashamed of her undignified qualities and of her being a wine maker. He warned his son not to visit Pilate—whom he called ‘snake’—but Milkman was fascinated by his aunt and his female cousins when he—despite of his father’s ban—visited them. In a father-son much more tender dialog, Macon told his history; how his illiterate father has struggled and even died to keep the land he owned.

Chapter 3

Now Milkman apprenticed in his father’s business; one night he defended his mother who was beaten by Macon, by punching him back. Later that night Macon told him how he suspected Ruth for having incest with her father. Reflecting this new story, Milkman recollected how Ruth had breastfed him when he was no longer a baby, and this troubled him very much and thought his father ought not to tell him a truth that he could do nothing of now. Meanwhile, there was a murder in town, and a possibility that the police might blame a Negro.

Chapter 4

Milkman wanted to dump his girlfriend Hagar, Pilate’s daughter, out of bore. He was now in the search of life meaning, and lately his friend Guitar seemed more thoughtful and more serious. One day Freddie the janitor told him that something strange had been boiling on below the surface, that something might happen, and that Guitar might hide a Negro friend who had possibly committed the murder in town.

Chapter 5

Ruth told Milkman that his father has actually killed her father the Doctor; and almost killed him (Milkman) out of jealousy of having her for his own, if Pilate did not interfere. For months after his break-up letter to Hagar, the girl stalked and attempted to kill him, but just couldn’t. Pilate told her history, how after her dad been killed, she and Macon wandered around before they separated, how she’d been ‘cut-off’ from everyone just because she was different, that now she lived by herself but attentive to others who need help.

Chapter 6

Guitar finally told Milkman his secret. He’s been joining a society called ‘Seven Days’, whose mission is to kill a random white, everytime a Negro has been killed by whites authority. Their aim is to get even with white people, so that they won’t be diminished like the Indians. Milkman was shocked and opposed it, but to no avail.

Chapter 7

Macon told Milkman how he and Pilate, after their dad died, stayed in a cave inside a wood. A white man scared him, so Macon stabbed him dead, and found gold nuggets in a green tarpaulin bag. Pilate opposed his plan to steal the gold; but Macon did not find Pilate and the gold when he came back to the cave the next day. Now he was assure that the green bag hanging in Pilate’s house was the gold; and asked Milkman to steal it.

Chapter 8

Milkman cooperated with Guitar to steal the sack of gold from Pilate’s house. When planning it, they saw a white peacock was opening its tail wide upon the used cars place’s rooftop. They sneaked into Pilate’s house on the scheduled night and succeeded in bringing the sack out, without realizing that Pilate was actually seeing them silently.

Chapter 9

Corinthians, the elder sister of Milkman, had a love relationship with a man named Henry Porter; later on Milkman recognized him as one of the Seven Days member; and because of that she must break it. Meanwhile, the sack’s content, which they thought was gold, turned out to be a white man’s skeletons, the man whom Macon killed. Pilate helped releasing Milkman and Guitar from jail; but Macon believed the gold was still in the cave, and told Milkman to get it.

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