Names, as well as their origins, are very significant. The names in Song of Solomon, written by Toni Morrison, are no exception. While some characters share a common genesis for their names, others are dubbed due to unique events.
Milkman, originally named Macon Dead the third, is the protagonist of the novel. The basis of his nickname, Milkman, is discovered at the beginning of the book. As a man named Freddie walks by, he sees Macon Dead III’s mother, Ruth breastfeeding him. Freddie decides to go inside and talks about what he saw, “All the time he chattered, he rubbed his chin and looked at the boy. Finally he stopped, and gave a long low chuckle. He’d found the phrase he’d been searching for. ‘A milkman. That’s what you got here, Miss Rufie. A natural milkman if ever I seen one. Look out, womens. Here he come. Huh!’” (Morrison 15). The reason why Freddie is so effusive about Macon breastfeeding is the fact that Macon is four years old at the time, much older than most babies breastfeed. This rechristening is meaningful to the story
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because it is one of the earliest instances of the theme of names. Despite this being the origin for Milkman’s nickname, the history of his real name dates back much further. Macon Dead I is Milkman’s grandfather and the original Macon Dead.
This isn’t his actual name, however. Macon was illiterate, so as he was registering to become free, he had to tell the person working there his information, but couldn’t review it. There were some mixups which occurred because of this, and Macon, originally known as Jake, was given the name Macon Dead, “They all had to register. Free and not free. Free and used-to-be-slaves. Papa was in his teens and went to sign up, but the man behind the desk was drunk. He asked Papa where he was born. Papa said Macon. Then he asked him who owned him. Papa said, ‘I’m free.’ Well, the Yankee wrote it all down, but in the wrong spaces… And in the space for his name the fool wrote, ‘Dead’ comma ‘Macon’” (Morrison 53). Macon decides to keep the name, and thus became the root of the family name, Dead. However, drunk yankees are not entirely responsible for the Dead family’s
names. There are two more major sources of names in the Dead family: the bible, and a song. Names such as Pilate, Reba, Hagar, Magdalene, First Corinthians, and Ruth all come from the bible, and many of the characters share traits with their corresponding bible counterparts. Pilate’s name was derived from Pontius Pilate, the man who crucified Jesus. ‘You can’t name the baby this.’ ‘Say it.’ ‘It’s a man’s name.’ ‘Say it.’ ‘Pilate.’ ‘What?’ ‘Pilate. You wrote down Pilate.’ ‘Like a riverboat pilot?’ ‘No. Not like no riverboat pilot. Like a Christ-killing Pilate. You can’t get much worse than that for a name. And a baby girl at that.’ (Morrison 19) Pilate has many characteristics of a witch, a possible connection to the dark root of her name; however, in many occasions Pilate uses her strange abilities for good. Hagar was the second wife to Abraham, and she was eventually cast out by him. This is very similar to what happens with Milkman and Hagar in Song of Solomon. Milkman and Hagar date for several years, but eventually Milkman harshly dumps her with a letter and some money. While the bible is responsible for many of the recent namings in the Dead family, Milkman’s ancestors are labeled according to a song. As Milkman is on his journey for gold to escape his father, he hears a song which sounds very similar to the one Pilate occasionally sings, O Sugarman don't leave me here Cotton balls to choke me O Sugarman don't leave me here Buckra's arms to yoke me. . . . Sugarman done fly away Sugarman done gone Sugarman cut across the sky Sugarman gone home (Morrison 49). However, this is an adapted version of the song, probably forgotten over the years. There are more lines than this, and they include many names from Milkman’s family tree: Jake, Solomon, Ryna, and Heddy are all names which Milkman recognizes. Solomon and Ryna were his great-grandparents and Heddy is related to his grandmother. This song also tells us the origin for the title of the book, as this song is described as the Song of Solomon. Names and where they come from serve a vastly important role in the meaning of a novel.
ames are one of the first identifiers a person is given, and yet as infants they are given no choice in this identifier that will be with them for the rest of their lives. In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon the use of the biblical names Hagar and Pilate serve as a means to show the importance of defining the path of one’s life for one's self, as supposed to letting one's name define it for them. Through juxtaposition and parallels, Morrison teaches a universal lesson of the importance of self definition.
The book called Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison, deals with many real life issues, most of which are illustrated by the relationships between different family members.
Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon tells the life story of Milkman and his family. The novel is well written and complex, while talking about several complex issues such as race, gender, and class. Although the novel makes reference to the several issues, the novel primarily focuses on what people’s desires are and their identities. Specifically through the difference between Macon Jr. and Pilate, Morrison illustrates that our most authentic desires come not from material items, but from our wish to connect with others.
Toni Morrison, in her novel Song of Solomon, skillfully utilizes symbolism to provide crucial insight into the story and to help add detail and depth to themes and character developments. Fabricating a 1960’s African American society, Morrison employs these symbols to add unspoken insight into the community that one would feel if he or she were actually living there, as well as to help the reader identify and sympathize with the characters and their struggles. By manifesting these abstract concepts into tangible objects such as gold or roses, the author is able to add a certain significance to important ideas that remains and develops further throughout the story, adding meaning to the work as a whole. Pilate’s brass box earring, containing
In fact, community is not only the end of his quest but the means; Milkman makes progress only as he acknowledges community. In the characterization of Milkman's father, Macon, and his father's sister, Pilate, the novel sets up a distinct conflict between individualistic and community values. Her communication with her father's ghost, for example, demonstrates her belief that human relationships have substance; her use of conjure in Milkman's conception has helped carry on the family; and her song, "Sugarman done fly away," becomes the clue to the family's history. Macon, on the other hand, represents the individualism of "progress."
“Can you imagine what a mess a world would be without names? (website)Names are very important to a person and their individuality. Ayn Rand’s novel “Anthem” is a book in which the people written about do not have names. The importance of having your own individual names is huge. A name can have meaning given to it, like how the name Sue means lily. Most parents when giving you your name have a meaning behind it and put much thought into what their future child should be named. Names can give you a part of your identity.
As a result of his spoiled childhood Milkman takes women for granted. He doesn't consider how his actions affect them. This is shown when he realizes he is bored with his cousin Hagar, whom he has been using for his sexual pleasure for years. Instead of buying her a Christmas gift he gives her cash and a thank you note. He thanks her for everything she has done for him and considers the relationship over. Hagar becomes obsessed with killing Milkman. She makes several attempts to take his life but fails because of her love for him. Her last attempt to kill him is when he is hiding from her in his only friend, Guitar?s room. Hagar tries to stab him but after she sees his face she cannot. Milkman tells her to stab herself and says, ?Why don?t you do that? Then all your problems will be over.?[pg 130] This portrays how Milkman is cold hearted towards the opposite sex.
Toni Morrison's novel “Song of Solomon" is an evident example of literary work that utilizes the plight of the African-American community to develop an in-depth and complex storyline and plot. Not only does Toni Morrison use specific historical figures as references for her own characters, she also makes use of biblical figures, and mythological Greek gods and goddesses. When evaluating Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon” you can relate each and every character to a specific historical figure or mythological being in history. But to focus on a specific character you would look towards one of the protagonists. Guitar and Milkman can serve as main individuals that can be symbolic of other political and civil rights activist involved in history.
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.
In the first part of the novel, Milkman is his father's son, a child taught to ignore the wisdom of women. Even when he is 31, he still needs "both his father and his aunt to get him off" the scrapes he gets into. Milkman considers himself Macon, Jr., calling himself by that name, and believing that he cannot act independently (120). The first lesson his father teaches him is that ownership is everything, and that women's knowledge (specifically, Pilate's knowledge) is not useful "in this world" (55). He is blind to the Pilate's wisdom. When Pilate tell Reba's lover that women's love is to be respected, he learns nothing (94).
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.
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
Morrison sets the stage with many explanations for Milkman's unlikable qualities. Milkman's father, Macon Dead Jr., is an aristocratic black businessman. Macon Dead prides himself on his money and his land, believing that it is his wealth that earns him respect and power. Macon Dead is a cold and unfeeling person, having no regard or respect for women or the poor black folk that live in the town that he owns a large part of. Because Macon has no respect for the poor black people of the town he and his family naturally are disconnected from the ongoing racial issues affecting the black society. Where the Dead's live they are more white than they are black.
Milkman is born on the day that Mr. Smith kills himself trying to fly; Milkman as a child wanted to fly until he found out that people could not. When he found, "that only birds and airplanes could fly&emdash;he lost all interest in himself" (9). The novel Song of Solomon is about an African American man nicknamed Milkman. This novel, by Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison was first published in 1977, shows a great deal of the African American culture, and the discrimination within their culture at the time Song of Solomon takes place. In part one, the setting is in a North Carolina town in the 30's and 40's.
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.