As Toni Morrison’s novel “Song of Solomon” advances, Morrison frequently includes Milkman’s best friend Guitar into the scenes as an aid to the protagonist. In a myriad of ways, Guitar guides and advises Milkman before and during his journey to discover himself. Acting as a foil to milkman, the juxtaposition of these characters helps Milkman find his way to freedom. Morrison’s use of tones ranging from serious to hostile, and introduction of opposing ideas assist in conveying the thought that the path to spiritual freedom derives from enlightenment. The introduction of a rather serious tone between Milkman and Guitar occurs well into their friendship, and is used to ignite the journey for spiritual freedom. Being adults, they begin to exchange …show more content…
Tones change from serious to virulent, and conversations are replaced with arguments. Nevertheless, Guitar’s rebuttals continue to guide Milkman, and prove to be helpful words that liberate Milkman from his materialistic prison. While Milkman describes himself as, “A man the refuses to live in Montgomery, Alabama,” (187), Guitar educates Milkman by telling him, “No. A man that can’t live there. If things ever got tough, you’d melt. You’re not a serious person Milkman,” (187). Guitar shows that he has had enough of Milkman’s reckless and careless life. Milkman thinks he can just do as he wants and run away from all of his issues by buying his way out of situations. By calling Milkman out on his cowardice actions, Guitar once again teaches Milkman on how to cope with the real world. Exposing Milkman for who he is enlightens the protagonist, further expanding his spiritual freedom. Because Guitar lives like the average lower-class African American, he understands the importance of prioritizing spiritual aspects of life over the materialistic ones. Milkman on the other hand has lived a life of material and has been taught that the only important aspect of life is money and owning things. As a result, Guitar despises the mindset of Milkman, and wants to change it. However, his attitude towards it deteriorates their friendship and impacts their encounters in the …show more content…
Eventually, Guitar goes mad over the gold he thought Milkman had taken for himself, showing a reversal in ideals between the two characters. Milkman ends up being a spiritual man much like Pilate, and Guitar becomes greedy for money and material, much like Macon. As a result, when Guitar attempts to take Milkman’s life and ends up killing Pilate, Milkman faces Guitar like a man and shows no fear when facing death. In addition, Milkman tries to comfort the dying woman by singing, “Sugargirl don’t leave me here/ Cotton balls to choke me/Sugargirl don’t leave me here/ Buckra’s arms to yoke me,” (573). These actions of comforting Pilate and confronting Guitar shows he has become the complete opposite from whom he once was. He transformed from the man who never understood other people and their feelings, to the man who sung to the singing woman in order to relieve her. Then, from the man who ran away from all issues because he wasn’t a serious person, to the man who looked down the barrel of a gun to fight for his and Pilate’s life. This shows how he freed himself, and how Guitar’s subtle advice paid
Guitar Highway Rose Guitar Highway Rose is a story about two teenagers who go on a journey to find their own identity. The book is a fictional piece following Rosie and Asher and their coming of age. Set in contemporary Australia in a small community of Perth, through a first person narrative we discover the thoughts, dreams and losses of a teenage life. 1 – Nose Piercing.
In Song of Solomon, written by Toni Morrison, deep concern for not only the existence and development of the black community is shown, but also for human beings in general. Questions such as “Why and how are individuals isolated from society?” , “What voice is created in isolation?”, and even “How does an individual resolve conflict between personal ethics and social morality?” strictly apply to Song of Solomon. Milkman, the protagonist, embarks on an unwitting search for his roots and ties to the black community, all while feeling isolated from society.
In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, an African American man named Macon Dead III, also known as Milkman, struggles to find the truth behind his name and background. Milkman and his broken family live on the Southside of Michigan. His mother, Ruth Foster, suffers from the lack of intimacy with her husband and uses her son as a coping mechanism. His father, Macon Dead Jr., is a materialistic man who does not want to endure the same fate as his father, Macon Dead Sr.(who had been murdered for his land, Lincoln’s Heaven.) Neither of the parents give his two sisters, Magdalena and First Corinthians, attention, leading them to envy Milkman for being the center of their world.
Cold Open: The year is 1972. It is a balmy night in the bayou. The sounds of the Louisiana wilderness echo through the trees as a shaggy haired man with a guitar on his back treks through the brush toward a small shack located near the edge of a swamp. He walks up to the front door and knocks three times.
As a result Milkman achieve the ability of flight because he was forced to step out of his comfort zone and experience and see the world in a different and an unfamiliar way. The motif of flight representing one's life that is free of burdens, is clearly shown when Milkman and his best friend Guitar is confronted by a white peacock. Milkman ask why the peacock is unable to fly and Guitar says that the peacock has, “too much tail. All that jewelry weighs it down”, (179).
Hagar, Pilate, Macon Jr., and Guitar all vie for Milkman’s commitment pulling in him to achieve their goals for him. To Milkman, his life seems to lack an identity in which to base his life’s direction and purpose, “…trying to make up his mind whether to go forward or to turn back. The decision he made would be extremely important, but the way in which he made the decision would be careless, haphazard, and uninformed.” (Morrison, 69-70). Unwilling to commit himself to any one goal, Milkman rejects these options, choosing instead to continue his aimless drifting, cutting himself off from the people who care for him and the African-American community.
Milkman discovers his family name and history, and while on his journey, Milkman finds happiness, understanding, and a sense of identity. While the actual findings of his family is important, Milkman’s discovery of his own identity through his family’s history is the true take-away from the
When Toni Morrison began her novel, Song of Solomon, she introduces her readers to a world in which Caucasian Americans have full power over their African American neighbors. Detailing the pessimistic treatment of African Americans, readers come to believe in the stereotypical “weak, black man,” of African Americans who allow themselves to be dominated, who see the dangers that are forced upon them and bow down to them, obliging to the torture and prejudice they face every day. This portrait of acceptance is broken, torn into a million pieces when Morrison goes in depth into the secondary character of her novel, Guitar, during the sixth chapter. In the previous 154 pages of Song of Solomon, Guitar is elucidated as simply the best friend of the main character, Milkman, as someone who is only present in the tale to listen to the problems of his friend and give knowledgeable advice. Until chapter 6, Guitar is nothing but a clear definition of “best-friend-forever,” someone who helps the main character but does nothing else, while Milkman is the reverse of him as he gets receives all of the attention of Morrison, detailing his character traits and identity.
Throughout Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Milkman Dead’s name serves as a constant reminder of his unhealthy relationship with his mother, Ruth Dead, which in itself is a reflection of her deep-rooted issues with her own personal life that are out of Milkman’s control. The significance of Milkman’s name has multiple layers to it. For example, it is important to recall that his real name is Macon because he makes a significant effort to distance himself from Macon Jr. and prove himself to be different from him. Ruth’s breastfeeding him well past his infancy results in his being stuck with the nickname “Milkman” before he is even old enough to understand the situation.
The most obvious example of a biblical allusion is present in the title, Song of Solomon. In the bible, Solomon is a wealthy and wise king of Israel, and also the son of David (“Solomon”). The book of Solomon celebrates the sexual and loving nature of a relationship, specifically between King Solomon and his alluring black wife, a Shulamite woman (“Song of Songs”). Morrison’s novel also discusses love and relationships between some characters, such as Milkman and his girlfriend Hagar and his parents, which thus demonstrates how Morrison uses the bible to address common themes of life. Morrison presents biblical allusions through the names of her characters.
In the novel Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, main character Billie Jo faces several challenging obstacles throughout her lifetime. Getting through these obstacles is the only way Billie Jo can learn to forgive her father as well as herself for their mistakes. Once she learns to stop feeling resentful, and let go, Billie Jo will be able to grow up. The first major challenge Billie Jo faces is when a fire breaks out in her home. The fire ignites when Billie Jo’s mother mistakes a pail of kerosene for water, where,“instead of making coffee, Ma [makes] a rope of fire”(87).
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.
His social awakening also inspires a change in attitude towards the treatment of women. Initially, Milkman objectifies Hagar and treats her as an inferior, but when he encounters Sweet, he begins to reciprocate her affections and treat her with respect. Furthermore, Milkman’s change in motivation for his flight south illustrates the development of his maturity through his pursuit of his family’s history, proving that attaining wealth is no longer his sole purpose. During his time south, Milkman was maliciously pursued by Guitar. His attempted murderer of Milkman creates the illusion of a resurrection to which Milkman develops social awareness.
Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon is a novel that is set in the 20th century, Michigan which follows the life of Macon Dead III, who gets the nickname milkman. His sisters are Magdalene, who is called Lena, and First Corinthians. His parents are Ruth and Macon Dead Jr. Unlike most African American families during this time period, the Dead family were financially stable and could afford things that were deemed luxurious. Even though they had money, they still were unhappy with their lives. This shows that you can be living ,but you can also be dead.
Furthermore, Ruth’s endless, captivating love restricts Milkman and thwarts his personality’s development to a mature man. His search for his self cannot be satisfied at home since he has no space to become independent or is regarded as a separate