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According to the Oxford English Dictionary, freedom is defined as the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants. While having the power to act independently seems easy to obtain at first, in reality the state of freedom is an untenable goal for many. In the novel Song of Solomon, the author, Toni Morrison, describes the journey of a young man finding his freedom. For most of Milkman’s early years he struggles to find meaning in life and become independent. His father, Macon, states that “money is the only real freedom there is” and urges his son to follow his footsteps to accumulate more wealth. Though Macon may feel more secure being financially stable, money is not freedom. Having money may help one become free, but money itself …show more content…
is merely a means to an end. Money is a resource for people to employ.
Since it is a resource and not a state of being, possessing money is not nearly as important as using it. Spending money ineffectively does not help one achieve freedom. People can have large sums of money but using them for the wrong purposes does not help become free. For example, Milkman feels trapped during his time on Not Doctor Street because he spends money on alcohol and other whimsical activities rather than pursuing freedom. Milkman complains that “if he had to spend the rest of his life thinking about real estate and property, he’d lose his mind” (257) since he has no interest in becoming a landlord. Milkman acknowledges that money is not the culprit because “no one had ever denied him any” (107). Though working for Macon brings Milkman tremendous wealth, Milkman still cannot live his own life. Freedom is not about having money but rather the ability to decide for oneself. Therefore, freedom does not always come with money. Unless money is used to further one’s ability to choose for oneself, it does not make an individual more …show more content…
free. On the other hand, when money is spent to open up opportunities, individuals can become more free. When Milkman buys the car during his journey to the east coast, he not only guarantees a more comfortable trip but also gains the ability to go anywhere he wants whenever he wishes. He is able to explore his family history without restraints: “He was his own director–relieving himself when he wanted to, stopping for cold beer when he was thirsty, and even in a seventy-five dollar car the sense of power was strong” (260). Buying the vehicle allows Milkman to travel to more places in less time, thus opening up opportunities. People with less money would need to take buses and would be limited by their routes and hours. As a result, they must fit their trip around the transportation available. With the car, Milkman saunters through the countryside ecstatically. Nevertheless, what frees Milkman are the opportunities that come with the purchase, not the money itself. He feels unrestrained not because he has a car, but because he can go wherever with the car. Back at home Milkman can also drive, but driving that car at home does not give him the power to think or act as he wants. On the east coast, Milkman can drive without orders from his father so he relishes his new sense of power. Milkman achieves freedom by using money purposefully to remove obstacles in his trip. Money, like all resources, has limits.
It is not a means to all ends. In certain situations money is irrelevant to one’s pursuit of freedom. For example, when Milkman is denied entrance to the bar, no amount of money would change that outcome. Money would not give Milkman the freedom to enter the bar. It is simply not the right resource to deploy. Feather associates Milkman with his father and dissipates the unwelcomed guests: “‘He’s Macon Dead’s boy, ain’t he?’ ‘So what?’, ‘So get him outta here’” (57). Since Macon is an imperious landlord, everybody resents him as well as Milkman. Individuals must decide wisely if money is the appropriate resource to deploy. For Milkman only an improved family reputation would earn him the right to the bar. Similarly, in Corinthian’s strife to escape Macon’s control and live her own life, money plays an equally insignificant role. She struggles to find independence in Macon’s household so she wants to find a husband to restart her life. However, none of the suitable men are interested in Corinthians. She lacks the drive to “like the climbing, the acquiring, and the work to maintain status once it was achieved” (188). While she is financially comparable or superior to those young men, her complacency discourages the men from proposing marriage and freeing her from Not Doctor Street. She needs to invest in herself more to have the productive attitude that her bachelor men are looking for. In both of these cases money is not the means to
their freedom, so no matter how much money they have or how they spend their money, they will not fulfill their goal. Freedom cannot be purchased with money. Rather, it is a state of mind that can only be reached by living a fulfilled life. The effectiveness of wealth in one’s pursuit of freedom varies between individuals and circumstances. While for some money is paramount to their freedom, for others money is largely ineffectual. Like all means to ends, money is only effective when employed for the right purposes. Falsely believing that freedom always comes with money like Macon would mislead one to become overly obsessed with money. If people are too concerned with money, they lose the ability to act and think freely. They should use their wealth to improve their lives instead of spending their days expanding their wealth. Afterall, a means without an end is meaningless.
According to Selzer, Cooter thinks that Miss Bailey’s inheritance of her master’s wealth has been “misappropriated”, because “she didn’t earn it” (260). This indicates that exploitation is ultimately the reign over minds, in which the victims inherently agree with the capitalism theory so that they experience inequality without awareness. Nevertheless, while echoing Marx’s theory, Berlant concludes that the possession of large wealth creates a dilemma between choosing one’s “habituated life” and the unknown future that is “yet to be invented” (37). The lack of cultural capital minimizes people’s capacity of ownership, thus the possession of wealth alone will not change the state of living for poor people, because it is “too alive”
Toni Morrison juxtaposes Ruth Foster and Pilate Dead, in Song of Solomon, to highlight the separate roles they play in the protagonist Milkman’s journey.
According to Dictionary.com freedom means “the state of being uncontrolled by another, or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint.” Freedom. What does freedom mean to you? Even though freedom means the state of being uncontrolled by another, or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint, I believe that freedom means being able to accomplish what you desire and when you desire it without anyone saying anything, by reason of the comparison and contrast of our society and the society in the book Anthem by Ayn Rand, the negation of the word freedom, and synonyms of the word freedom. I believe that you should accept the consequences of the actions you take when you have your “freedom” as well.
In Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, men discover themselves through flight. While the motif of flight is liberating for men, it has negative consequences for women. Commonly, the women of Song of Solomon are abandoned by men, both physically and emotionally. Many times they suffer as a result as an abandonment, but there are exceptions in which women can pick themselves up or are undisturbed. Morrison explores in Song of Solomon the abandonment of women by men.
When an emotion is believed to embody all that brings bliss, serenity, effervescence, and even benevolence, although one may believe its encompassing nature to allow for generalizations and existence virtually everywhere, surprisingly, directly outside the area love covers lies the very antithesis of love: hate, which in all its forms, has the potential to bring pain and destruction. Is it not for this very reason, this confusion, that suicide bombings and other acts of violence and devastation are committed in the name of love? In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, the reader experiences this tenuity that is the line separating love and hate in many different forms and on many different levelsto the extent that the line between the two begins to blur and become indistinguishable. Seen through Ruth's incestuous love, Milkman and Hagar's relationship, and Guitar's love for African-Americans, if love causes destruction, that emotion is not true love; in essence, such destructive qualities of "love" only transpire when the illusion of love is discovered and reality characterizes the emotion to be a parasite of love, such as obsession or infatuation, something that resembles love but merely inflicts pain on the lover.
In Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, the relationships between whites and blacks are a main theme. Throughout the whole novel Morrison adds her own opinions toward the race problems that the characters of Not Doctor Street experience. Poverty is another big issue in the novel and many of the main characters struggle financially. Money becomes a means of escape for many of the characters, especially Milkman and Guitar. For both men their quests for gold leaves them empty handed, but their personalities changed. Milkman’s quest was to be independent, especially since he was still living with his parents. Milkman however, was not poor. His family was considered one of the most financially comfortable black families in town. He was the spoiled son and it was galling but easy to work for his father, easy to be waited on hand and foot by his mother and sisters, far easier than striking out on his own. So his idea of freedom was not really one of working to support himself, but simply having easy money given to him, and not having to give anything to anyone in return. It was his father Macon Jr. who informed Milkman of the possibility of Pilate having millions of dollars in gold wrapped in a green tarp that was suspended from her ceiling. The hidden gold was in Milkman’s opinion his only ticket out of Not Doctor Street, his way of having his own possessions, being free from his parents lending hand. For Guitar it was a way to escape and fund his Seven Days mission.
Freedom is heavily sought after and symbolized by flight with prominent themes of materialism, classism, and racism throughout Toni Morrison’s novel Song of Solomon. The characters Milkman and Macon Dead represent these themes as Macon raises Milkman based on his own belief that ownership of people and wealth will give an individual freedom. Milkman grows up taking this idea as a way to personally obtain freedom while also coming to difficult terms with the racism and privilege that comes with these ideas and how they affect family and African Americans, and a way to use it as a search for an individual 's true self. Through the novel, Morrison shows that both set themselves in a state of mental imprisonment to these materials
According to the Collins Dictionary, “freedom” is defined as “the state of being allowed to do what you want to do”(“freedom”). The definition of freedom is simple, but make yourself free is not easy. Concerning about some common cases which will take away your freedom, such as a time-cost high education attainment. In this essay, I shall persuade that everyone should try his or her best to insist on pursuing freedom. For the individual, it appears that only if you have your personal freedom, can you have a dream; for a country, it seems that only if the country is free, can the country develop; for mankind, it looks like that only if people has their own pursuit of freedom, can their thoughts evolve.
Rebollo Page 1 When one is confronted with a problem, we find a solution easily, but when a society is confronted with a problem, the solution tends to prolong itself. One major issue that is often discussed in today’s society that has been here for as long as we’ve known it, is racism. Racism is also a very repetitive theme in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Almost every character has experienced racism, whether it be towards them or they are the ones giving the racism in this novel. Racism is a very controversial topic as many have different perspectives on it.
The society that Paul lives among spreads the idea that materialism and greed are the keys to lasting success in life. Paul grows up in a house that is constantly whispering ‘there must be more money,’ which symbolizes the families desire and greed for money. Paul is told that the reason why his parents are desperate for more money is because they are not lucky, but the reader learns that the parents are greedy. This is shown when it is explained that both of Paul’s parents had a reasonable income, but still not enough for the social position which they lived in. Paul’s parents were both materialistic, as they followed society’s influence and dedicated there life to gaining mone...
“Song of Solomon”, an African-American literature excerpt written by Toni Morrison in 1977. The story is told in a third person point of view in which the narrator provides a detailed description of the effect on Macon the melody that was being conducted by his sister Pilate. He was attracted to the “powerful” melody and therefore decided to listen and watch them without them knowing of his presence. He did not wish to have a conversation or to have anyone accompany him. He observed from a relatively close distance as if having a boundary between his sister and himself. The symbolism in Macon’s name, his reluctance to enter the house, and the connection to the music all play important roles in the passage.
The use of symbolism as a literary device can be a great component of a novel , and add a magical feeling to any work. In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon; that is exactly what it did. The novel has many characters; however, only a few will be relevant in this paper. These characters are Milkman, Ruth Dead, First Corinthians, Magdalene(Lena), Macon Dead Jr, Pilate Dead, Freddie, and Guitar Bains. Milkman, or Macon III, is the main character and protagonist in the story.
From dreams deferred to identity affirmed Lorraine Hansberry’s, “A Raisin in the Sun,” presents readers with many differing themes. The most prevalent and reoccurring theme is the effect money plays on society’s views of manhood and happiness. Readers are shown multiple characters with a diverse view on manhood. From Walter Lee with his matching societal views that a man should be able to provide whatever his family needs or wants to Lena whose views are a biased compilation of her late husband’s behavior and her own ideals, that a man should maintain his honor and protect his children’s dreams.
Across most of time and human history, families and lineage have been around keeping dynasties intact and human civilization running. In Toni Morrison’s literary mythology in the novel Song of Solomon, she explores family history to create a more realistic modern myth. In doing so, Morrison introduces parenting and family values into her novel, to connect her characters past with the present. In addition, parenting plays a large role in each characters development and growth. Throughout the story, Hagar, Milkman and Guitar have each received different parents, with each having a different impact to their character. Within these three different parenting styles, only Guitar’s upbringing has fulfilled his parents’ life goals that were taught
..., a person who earns $25,000 is happier than a person who makes $125,000 and an employee who makes $500,000 is only slightly happier than someone who makes $55,000. Lastly, there are more important things in life that and make you happy, for example, friends. They don’t come with a price tag, and if they do, you definitely need new friends. Money won’t make you happy since good times can’t be bought. You don’t need a fancy vacation to have a good time; it’s just a matter of who you spend it with. Over the years, humans have blown the value of money way out of proportion. People make it seem like if you’re not filthy rich, then you won’t live a good life but it’s not true. You can lack money and yet still live a perfect, happy life.