Song of Solomon IRA

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, the genre is novel.  This story was published in 1977, but based in the 1950s, because they mention the murder of Emmett Till. This is one of the starts of the Civil Rights movement.  The Protagonist is Macon “Milkman” Dead III, an attractive young man. He is black with very light skin; he is self-centered and has lots of pity parties. He rarely looks further than his own nose; he works for his father Macon Dead II. He is personable but alienates himself from the black community because he has a hard time identify with their squalor.  He has one lover his cousin Hagar, who he loves from the age of 17 to about the age of 22. Then he is tired of his easy love and decides to leave her.

                The antagonists are Macon Dead II, Ruth Dead, and the confinements of the white dominated society.  Macon Dead the II is a greedy man who earns Ruth’s father’s approval by proving he can make money even though his stingy father-in-law would never give him a loan to help him buy land that would have been very profitable.  Ruth Dead is a strange small woman who breast feeds her son till he was too old.  She has very light colored skin while her husband is rather dark, the Doctor, her father is very concerned about the color of her children with open animosity towards people of darker skin. And the turbulent time of the beginning of the Civil Right movement causes Milkman to keep to himself.

This is a story about Milkman growing up and finding himself at this point in the novel page 135, he is still a selfish young man.  We start with the day of his birth with the town eccentric throwing himself off a roof trying to fly in this scene we see many different worlds collide, the respectable Deads and Macon Dead’s sister Pilate who is unconventional.  This is foreshadowing something but I have not come upon it yet. Milkman is given this nickname when Freddie the lackey that works for his father catches Ruth breast-feeding him when he is about seven years old.  As Milkman ages he sometimes wonders why he got this nickname because no one would ever speak of its origins.  He meets Pilate, Macon Dead’s sister who he disowned. Pilate is a free spirit; she doesn’t really have a plan for anything but things just fall into place, she scrapes by with her daughter and granddaughter supporting both in relative comfort.  She is the opposite of Macon Dead in every way, so much that Milkman is surprised to find that they are related.

                A major theme throughout the book is racial inequality, there is a comparison of blacks versus whites. Where down and out blacks are thought to be useless and well-to-do blacks are considered uppity. Though they live in the northern region of the United States the acts of racial hatred in the south have ripple effects into the north. The all feel fear after the death of Emmett Till, the thoughts of actual violence happening where they live terrifies many people. This theme is explored because the author is black and the characters are mostly black even though they have lighter skin tones. They want to be equals but need to embrace their past to achieve their futures.

Some of the major symbols thus far are the cloth rose petals, Milkman’s name, and the Packard. The symbol the cloth rose petal is showing how the beauty in life is fake and shallow. This is an indicator to why the Insurance Agent jumped off the roof.  His life was nothing, had no meaning but to go through the daily chores, like a rose whose only duty and joy in life is blooming. But the fact that the petals are cloth is an example of how life boils down to nothing.  Milkman’s nickname is because of Ruth’s selfish desire but it also has meaning in the way he lives his life. He sucks the life out of everyone, never tries just takes what is given to him. He goes through live in a haze of self-pity and selfishness. He will never realize his full potential until something wakes him up. The Packard, it is Macon Dead’s car and he drives it around every Sunday to flaunt his wealth and prosperity.  But like his life, it is shiny on the outside but full of hurt and confusion on the inside. On the annual Sunday route he goes to some beach property he wants to buy and we see the discord among the family. The sisters are brats and pills to each other and Milkman is a whiny, needy boy.