Song Of Solomon Literary Analysis

Happily Never-Afters
Once upon a time, castles watched the seas and pigs could fly. Often, when we are young fairy tales are read to us to offer happy endings in a world of darkness. They give us one specific ending and put our minds at rest knowing that Belle found her Beast. In Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison, Milkman Dead is not afforded the luxury of his journey having one specific pathway of going through life. Milkman’s story can be seen as a fairy tale with elements of good and bad. His world is trapped in a bubble, and it is not until the fairy tales of other people and books end that he becomes his own fairytale. He finds himself through the twists and turns of his own story. Because of the magical elements within Milkman’s life,

The miller's daughter is literally trapped in a tower room while Ruth is imprisoned in her marriage. The miller's daughter turns to Rumpelstiltskin in an act of desperateness, as he seems to be the only way she can be freed. Similarly, Ruth turns to Milkman to provide her with a source of happiness within her trapped state. Milkman is used as an object rather than a human being within his own life. In a fairytale, the mother figure, whether that be a fairy godmother or a mother are loving and do not use their loved ones as a means to end or to halt their pain. Milkman’s relationship to his mother is not constant, one of many things that makes his fairytale differ from those around him and stories like Rumplestiltskin. In the second part of the novel, the last fairy tale is mentioned signifying Milkman’s start of his own journey. Many are familiar with the tale of Hansel and Gretel. Milkman embarks on his journey to find the gold, and stumbles across Circe who invites him into her house and cares for him. The correlation between these stories is how Morrison shows that the journey Milkman goes on, symbolizes him finding his own fairytale. The interconnectedness of all these fairy tales allows for us as the readers to see how they are representative of a timeline and Milkman’s life. By starting with Rumplestiltskin and revealing the intimate relationship between Milkman and Ruth, and ending with Hansel and Gretel, Milkman’s story ends and his fantasy begins. This is similar to Hansel and Gretel in the sense that both the children leave home and are taken in by an old lady, who is hospitable at first: “‘Come, come,’ she said to Milkman. ‘In here.’ She took his hand in both of hers, and he followed her -- his arm outstretched, his hand in hers -- like a small boy being dragged reluctantly to bed.” (240) Circe welcomes Milkman into her