Song of Solomon

Filled with imagery and symbolism from the Bible, this magisterial novel also draws on the epic tradition, tracing the roots of four generations of an African-American family as they fight a series of battles--against the legacy of slavery and racism, the loss of cultural values and roots, the trauma of injustice, and the self-centeredness resulting from economic success. For all its elegance of development and seriousness of purpose, however, this 1977 novel by Toni Morrison is decidedly earthy, filled with unusual characters and exciting, often sensuous, stories about a family descended from Solomon, a freed slave who, according to legend, flew on his own wings back to Africa, leaving his wife and twenty-one children behind.

The male protagonist, Milkman Dead, is the arrogant son of a wealthy slumlord. His aunt Pilate, a poor woman whose life is filled with love, is so vibrant a contrast and so dominating a force in the family, however, that she becomes the fulcrum upon which the action turns. Milkman's selfishness vs. Pilate's compassion, his desire to escape from the family vs. her need to remember its stories and its past, his love-'em-and-leave-'em attitude toward women vs. her generosity of spirit ("If I'd-a knowed more people, I'd-a loved more," she says)--parallel the tensions which seize every generation of this family.

The novel develops impressionistically, not chronologically, as stories about characters from four generations unfold, seemingly at random. The relationships of all these characters, along with the time line in which they live, evolve only gradually. When Milkman's father, Macon Dead, Jr., tells him the story about how he, accompanied by his sister Pilate, killed a man in a cave and then discovered many bags of the man's gold, Milkman begins the journey which will lead to his discovery of who he is and what gives real meaning to life. In an effort to find the missing gold, he travels to the farm where earlier generations of the family lived, discovering, in the process, the missing links in the family's chain of memories.

Racism is a pervading theme, from the flight of Solomon to the execution of Macon Dead on his own land, and, in the 1960s, the formation of The Seven Days, a vigilante group that kills whites in direct proportion to the number of blacks killed and left unavenged. The novel is primarily about an arrogant young man's self-discovery, however, and the importance of being connected. Lyrical, richly descriptive, powerfully dramatic, and filled with symbols and motifs that connect Milkman in universal ways to the Bible and to the earliest epics, this is Toni Morrison at her best. Mary Whipple

I thought this book was amazing. The author gives you a lot of random information during the beginning half of the novel, but once
you have reached towards the end of the book all of this information falls into place. I loved the ending. It was terrific. The last sentence of the novel even somes up the whole book, and really connects to the very beginning of the novel. I loved this book so much that if I was introduced to it out of my english class
I would still have read it.

Song of Solomon is a great tale about a young man who struggles through life until he finally is able to find his roots. I would call it an initiation story-Milkman, the hero, is the son of a wealthy and prominent black man. He has it relatively easy-he works alongside his father and never wants for anything-and gets into trouble frequently in "Southside," the poor side of town. He struggles with his familial problems-his father tried to have him aborted before birth, his mother has issues both with him and with her own deceased father, his sisters never talk to him-and is able to find refuge only in the house of his aunt, Pilate, who his father forbids him to see.

Milkman (whose real name is Macon Dead) ultimately gets caught up in a scheme to find hidden gold, and leaves his home in search of it. The trail of the gold leads him to his family's roots, and in learning of his heritage he is transformed from a man of the world into a man who has great pride in his origins. The climax of the story finds him reconciling his family's past to the present.

The characterization in this novel is great, and the narrative riveting. There are racial issues here, of course, but the moral of the story seems to be in discovering (and staying true) to one's heritage, which is exactly what Milkman eventually does. This novel is both entertaining and thought provoking, certainly worthwhile.

"Song of Solomon" is considered one of Toni Morrison's best book. It is not easy to select a single novel from the whole oeuvre of a writer so important and magnificent as this one. Recently, her novel "Beloved" was picked as the best book published in the past 25 years in the United States. And it is not a fluke. She certainly is one of the best and most important female writers alive and working. With books like these two and all she wrote, Morrison could place her name side by side with male (most of them white) writers when dealing with serious racial issues - just like William Faulkner, Mark Twain and Ralph Ellison.

The fact that she is an African-descendent places her in a singular position. She is just one of those few who can write about the racial question with an insider output. So much so that that in her "Song of Solomon" Morrison uses some of her family legends in the narrative. As it usually happens in her books, plot is not the main concern here. The main point here is the main character's quest for his identity. Dealing with one man's identity, Morrison is dealing with the roots of all African-descendents.

Her prose is poetic and her characters are unforgettable. She is able to create a very believable world populated with strange people, but who never seem to be freaks. The narrative is compound of many plots that crosses one another sometimes, creating a web of relationships.

"Song of Solomon" is a universal music that is able to communicate with the whole world. A book that has become an important classic and will certainly be read for many years to come.

..This is a wonderful and complex book about self-discovery by travelling back home to one's roots. The journey made by the main story's protagonist, Milkman Dead, is both wonderful and complex, but Morrison through her main character and this book demonstrates the importance of families and the dangers of not passing down our heritage and not embracing it, for if we do not we will end up like Macon Dead, and Milkman Dead. Whereas Macon Dead, the father purposefully erased his past (what little he maintained), Milkman seeks out his heritage and as a result finally finds out who he is and is free. This book has everything, symbolism, metaphors, character development, emotion, and mythology and witchcraft. It contain sexism, elitism, and racism. It is an awesome read for the mature reader and this ranks along with Sula.