Essay on Flight in Song of Solomon

Morrison unfolds the story in a fragmented and elusive way because it serves a purpose: to allow us time to make our own

Waxon Wings, written by Ha Songnan, is a saddening story of a women named Birdie. It covers the life of Birdie from when she was 10 years old to the time she is 27. Birdie never seemed to fit in with the others kids, and she loved the sensation of being in the air. She felt like she was flying, and that was exhilarating for her all throughout her life, no matter how dangerous it may have been. The story ultimately turns out to be very sad, as Songnan is known for in her writing. The story of Waxen Wings seems to be very similar to a tragedy, and it also captivates its readers in a different way due to the second person narrative. Also, it has some very intriguing literary devices.

The book opens with Robert Smith, a Mutual Life insurance agent as he plans to jump from Mercy Hospital in Michigan and take flight. The note he tacks around town reads “At 3.00pm on Wednesday the 18th of February, 1931, I will take off from Mercy and fly away on my own wings. Please forgive me. I loved you all. (signed) Robert Smith, Ins. Agent”. As Robert Smith prepares to take flight, perched atop Mercy Hospital in anticipation with his blue silk wings flapping about his chest, a woman begins to sing “O Sugarman done fly away, Sugarman done gone, Sugarman cut across the sky, Sugarman gone home… (Morrison, Song of Solomon)”. Immediately, the theme of flight, and the importance of song are established in Song of Solomon. As crowds gather to watch the flight of Robert Smith, among the throng is a woman named Ruth Dead, standing with her two daughters and pregnant with her third child, a son. Then two things happen, Robert Smith leaps from the rooftop to his death, and Ruth Dead goes into labour and becomes the first Black patient to be admitted to Mercy Hospital. This is significant because the son she gives birth to is obsessed with flight, and when at age four the boy Macon Dead III (known in the story as Milkman) discovers that only planes and birds are able to fly, he loses interest in himself and becomes a peculiar and withdrawn boy, on page 11 Morrison writes “Mr Smith’s blue silk wings must have left their mark, because when the little boy discovered, at four, what Mr

People often admire and yearn for the natural state of bliss a child has due to their ignorance of what 's going on around them. Although it is said that ignorance is bliss, but it is not always a good thing. As an adolescent, that bliss works to your advantage, but as a person gets older it only hinders your growth. Most times one does not know that they have remained stagnant until it has become known. In the novel Song of Solomon, by Tori Morrison, Milkman was unaware of his current state until it was made known to him.As a result, he unconsciously came of age through inner and external revelations.

In the novel Song of Solomon, a central motif of flight was dominant throughout the entire book. Song of Solomon starts off the first scene of the book with a man surrounded by an audience who are watching him decide whether or not he is going to jump off the roof of a building. The man that was on top of the building was Robert Smith. It is never said in the book, but it can be assumed that Robert Smith was one of the Seven Days men. The Seven Days is a group of black men who respond to a person of color getting killed by a white person by taking seven days to kill one white person for every person of color that is killed. Smith’s attempt to jump off of the building seemed like he actually believed that he could physically fly, even though he ended up just falling to his death. The theme of flight was mentioned countless times throughout the rest of the novel, and even in the last scene of the novel, when Milkman “takes flight” for the first and last time, multiple physical references to flight are mentioned. The central idea of flight is what the book centers around and flight helps create a journey that is full of personal growth and reflection for the main character Milkman. The countless references about flight, and a link between self acceptance and naming in the book create the build up that leads to Milkman’s “flight” at the end of the book.

As people grow up, they shape their opinion of themselves as well as their opinion of others around them. These opinions morph over time into self-worth and value. In Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon,” her characters all carry great amounts of influence on one another. Ruth Dead, mother of the protagonist Milkman Dead, lives her life passively and often finds herself at her father’s grave pondering about life. When Milkman approaches her one day about her habits, she responds with a story about his upbringing and her own. Throughout this conversation (p.p.g 124-126) Morrison defines character as being composed of the type of influence one has on others around them. This is explored through Ruth’s changing perspective on her own character as well as the qualities of Pilate and

As Morrison progressed as a writer one can definitively view her evolution not only as a writer but as a thinker. In Sula, the reader can view an author who is quintessentially confused by the system of segregation. Specifically, one could contrive that Sula is Morrison’s attempt to examine the aspects in which segregation helped cement African-American culture, but once America was desegregated the same communities that were empowered by oppression were decimated by the white communities’ extraction of African-American culture. Whereas within Love, one can view a Morrison not content with African-American proliferation under the banner of segregation, but hatred for the powerful individuals of the community that reinforced the system of segregation and oppressed their own community in the effort to gain not only money, but power. As one thinks about the multi-faceted layers of segregation within Toni Morrison’s writings, one can view a political activist who felt content in her youth, rationalizing the evils of this world, yet in the present an enraged woman content with not only the removal of white prosperity within segregation, but African-American elite prosperity upon the literal blood of African-American

Throughout the novel, Morrison uses a peacock to symbolize the inability to fly or the burden of being weighed down by materialistic desires. Morrison gives many examples of literal flight, such as Mr. Smith's jump off the roof in the begging of the novel and Milkman's flight at the end of the novel. Morrison specifically mentions the myth of the flying Africans when Susan Byrd tells Milkman of Solomon, his great-grandfather, who is “the Flying African”. Byrd calls Solomon a flying African and explains why to Milkman, "Oh, that’s just some old folks’ lie they tell around here. Some of those Africans they brought over here as slaves could fly. A lot of them flew back to Africa. The one around here who did was this same Solomon, or Shalimar—I never knew which was right. He had a slew of children, all over the place" (Morrison 322). Morrison uses both the literal meaning of flight with Solomon's travel to Africa, and also the symbolism with his escape from slavery and its

From the division of humans to the species that captivate our souls and further categorized into regions, religion, sex, but most evidently, race. As it appears through different mediums and encountered by millions; race inequality has devoured our society structurally and has distilled humans, leaving some without a purpose, others lost in pressure opposed by society and others that have managed to live in such conformities as their opposers. Consequently, it has partially casted races into never-ending shadows . In the book Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, various male characters have distinguishable attitudes toward race.

In the book Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison, there is a big conversation about flying. Now flying in this book doesn’t actually mean that someone is or was flying. In this book flying meant that someone was trying to escape their identity or flying away to find themselves, in the midst of all the problems that they were facing. In the book Song of Solomon, we see an African American man who struggles with himself and society, better known as man v. man and man v. society. The young man named Milkman, he is the one male that wanted to run away from his problems, but along the way he wants to know more and he stops running. Milkmans journey was not that one an easy one, there were times when he almost lost his life. The other reason it as hard was because he had different people telling him things that made him lose track most of the time. The book starts off by Mr. Robert Smith “flying” off of a building at the same time that Milkman was being born. Robert Smith was someone who commit suicide, as if when one life dies another is born. This is the story of an African American male named Milkman.

Toni Morrison’s novel, Song of Solomon, encompasses many themes that were prevalent in the other novels written in the same time period. Morrison produced this novel in 1977 just as racial issues and discrimination were at its peaks. “She [Morrison] was the first African American to receive the Noble Prize in Literature.” (Milliman 5) However, the setting of the story is in the 1930s when World War II was taking place. The novel is based on an African-American family residing in Michigan who are victims of racism and social discrimination. The story focuses on Milkman Dead, the main character, who is naïve and leaves his family and friends behind to become an independent, wealthy upperclassman. “Milkman discovers the intricacies of his

The idea of flight and soring when placed in the larger context of humans more often than not resonates the idea of death sometimes freedom but more often than not death. Think of doves, ravens, john crows, when they are accessed it is often paralleled with death. Think about funeral programs, songs sung at funerals, “on the wings of a pure white dove”. In Morrison’s novel the motif of flight is one that prevails from its start to end. In the beginning readers discover in the epilogue “the fathers may soar. And the children may

Humanities greatest unsolvable conflict, where man is subjected to the blindfold of ignorance. Where a black man isn’t perceived, but only an object is seen. Racism is the pinnacle of self hatred. Having to put down another man due to his own skin color because you are afraid. Afraid that you are not above someone else, afraid of revolution, afraid of having a black man standing beside you. Man goes through life having to constantly resist temptation for revenge based on hatred and running from the pain that is presented to them since the day of their birth. However this is only heightened in the lives of black men in the book “Song of Solomon” by Toni

Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon set in the mid-20th century provides an in-depth look at racism through the use of plot and character development throughout the novel. The author presents the friendship of two very different young men that depict the way one's upbringing can affect the outcome of their life. While Milkman and Guitar share an unbreakable bond as children, the older they get, the harder it becomes for them to remain being friends. In this novel, Morrison makes several statements regarding being a young African American in the second half of the 20th century through the portrayal of Guitar and Milkman’s response to racism, while Milkman represents those who remain isolated from issues in society and do nothing to better their situation in life, Guitar represents those who take action against injustices not only for their community but also to obtain some control over their own lives.

Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, “Flight Behavior,” strays from the customary novel average readers are used to. Kingsolver’s education in biology is exposed throughout her novel causing the readers to experience a more scientific perspective on the story. The story takes place inside Dellarobia Turnbow’s mind; a restless farmers wife who got pregnant at seventeen and, as a result, had a shotgun marriage. Her life since then has been a wreck. Her marriage is deteriorating, her farm is failing and she finds no more joy in her life. She attempts to rendezvous with a man to temporarily help fill the emptiness in her life. However, on her way to the tryst she sees a remarkable sight which she believes to be a treacherous forest fire.