This is a novel of incredible richness. I am almost afraid to write about it because it deserves a deep, intellectual essay, which I cannot supply. I have no doubt that I didn't understand everything Morrison was saying, but what I did get was moving. "Song of Solomon" is gritty but also poetic; it is a tale of normal life that also has the air of an epic. I'll give it a "+".
"Song of Solomon" is the story of a black family living in Michigan in the post-war years up to the rise of turbulence in the 60's. But such a simple description does little justice to the way the story is told. The tale weaves backward and forward in time so that the details of the present get filled in and enriched as the reader learns more details about the past. Furthermore, although the point of view is largely that of Macon Dead III (yes, there's a story behind that name), the reader gets inside many people's heads at various times in the book. The result is a multifaceted view of these people's experience.
Many themes arose and interacted throughout the book, but two of them stuck out as particularly important to me. First is the concept of identity. Who are you, and how do you know who you are? There is no simple answer, of course. Morrison's characters deal with this issue in various ways. One overriding idea is that to understand who you are, you must know where you came from. Hence, much emphasis is placed on understanding your ancestors and how they ended up bringing you into the world.
Some characters, such as Milkman (Macon Dead III), explore their heritage, drawing strength from knowing about their old relatives in the South. Milkman's best friend, Guitar, takes a different path. He becomes involved in the black politics of the era, and comes to understand his identity partly through the white racism that has shaped his community. Milkman's aunt Pilate (another name with a story) traveled around the country in her youth, developing an identity through interaction, while Milkman's mother Ruth essentially stayed at home her whole life, barely developing an identity at all.
Morrison doesn't offer answers about identity, only contrasting and sometimes conflicting views. A subtheme to the one on identity is the concept of names. There is tension between a person's identity and their name. There is meaning in an object's or place's name. Many of the reminiscences that thread through the book have to do with how a person, place, or thing got its name, and what significance that has for the people who relate to it.
The second major theme opposes the first: it is the idea that the world looks totally different from different viewpoints (and hence a person's identity is fragmented into as many pieces as there are people he or she interacts with). Events in the story are told and retold from different characters' viewpoints. Each time the reader learns a little more about what happened, and a little more about the people who experienced it.
The effect of differing viewpoints builds throughout the book. At first it is simply intriguing to read about the same event from another person's eyes. But by the end of the book, the reader is led to understand that no one ever takes the same experience away from an event as anyone else. Simple conversations are perceived completely differently by each speaker. Simple actions can have completely different interpretations. Is there no possibility of connection?
But there is connection. We all feel it at various times, so it must be real. I think Morrison is saying that we ought to value our moments of human connection-- be it connection to the present or the past-- because it is a rarer gift than we realize. We are all voyaging on rather different paths, but when we are fortunate enough to sync up with other humans for a short while, we should grasp that and draw strength from it. And for the rest of the moments, when we are truly on our own path, we should feel the power of our own identity, which comes from within.
It's no easy balance to strike. And the business of life is to struggle with our identities and our connections. "Song of Solomon" will give you a lot to think about along these lines.
Copyright © Kim Allen 2002
