Song of Solomon: Journey in Search for Self

Song of Solomon, written by Toni Morrison, is a work that illustrates a black community with different character representations, each of whom has their own conflicts and problems. The main character of this novel is Milkman Dead, whose father was a wealthy landowner and whose mother was the daughter of a noble doctor. This novel centers around Milkman Dead's life from his birth and the complications of the story are set up based on Milkman Dead's relationships to other characters of the novel. One of the major themes in this novel is the relationship between wealth and freedom, both of which is desired by Milkman. Milkman's search for wealth eventually becomes his search for self and ironically, he ended up finding freedom without the wealth that he was initially seeking.

For the first thirty years of his life, Milkman lived under his father's shadow and had no purpose or goal in life for himself due to his lack of family history and background. When he was a young man, his father once told him "the one important thing that you'll ever need to know: Own things. And let the things you own own other things too. Then you'll own yourself and other people too" (54). Milkman grew up influenced by his father's belief of being free by owning property. This belief has lead Milkman to become a man who has very little sympathy for other people around him. Ironically, this concept of ownership can be related back to the ownership of slaves prior to the Civil War. This plays in to the novel, which is made up of black characters, as the foundation of the common historical background that connects the characters of the story. Up until this point, Milkman has no real purpose in life to live for; he "stretched his carefree boyhood out for thirty-one years" without maturing or growing up. His mistreatment of Hagar, who was madly in love with him, shows his distaste for commitment and relationships. As if Milkman has begun to realize the meaninglessness of the life he was leading, Milkman began to form a great desire to be freed by being financially independent of his father. Because of this, upon hearing about the story of the old white man and the gold pouch that his father encountered, Milkman set out on a journey in search of that gold, which will enable him to build his own life and future without his father.

The journey back to Pennsylvania, which was initially a search for gold, eventually turned out to be Milkman's life journey of a search for self. Immediately, Milkman began to find comfort in the hometown that his father grew up. While he listen to stories about his grandfather, "Milkman felt a glow listening to a story come from this man that he'd heard many times before, but only half listened to" (231). For some reason, hearing strangers talk about his grandfather has stirred a lively emotion within Milkman, who has lived his entire life in an apathetic style. This is symbolic of Milkman finally becoming spiritually active as a result of learning and understanding his origin and background. When he met Circe, the midwife who has taken care of his father, and see the decaying house that she was living in, Milkman offered to help her find a better place; this is yet another indication that Milkman is slowly beginning to care about others and is becoming less selfish.

As a result of this quest, Milkman became a free man because he has finally rid himself of the vanity that was pulling him down. Guitar's observation that the peacock "Has too much tail. All that jewelry weighs it down. Like vanity. Can't nobody fly with all that shit. Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down." (179) is metaphoric of Milkman's luxurious life. In this journey, Milkman has managed to get rid of all the vanity that he acquired back home. This is evidently supported by the fact that when Milkman returned to the cave in an attempt to find gold, he ruined his name-brand clothes and gold watch. This shedding of materials that represent wealth is, once again, symbolic of Milkman losing and leaving the vanity that has trapped him his whole life. On his way back, Milkman helped a man load up a big crate, which shows his selflessness and concerns for other people. Unlike the Milkman in the first part of the story, the new Milkman that Toni Morrison is introducing to us now is a heroic figure who has finally found his freedom by letting go of possessions that have weighed him down for a long time.

Toni Morrison has skillfully crafted a journey of life complete with meaningful life lessons through Milkman's travel to Pennsylvania. His intended search for gold has turned out to be an accidental search for self, if it is at all accidental. Through this event, the author has revealed her belief in the separation of wealth and freedom: you can be free without being rich. In fact, this belief of hers is so strong that Morrison would also probably agree that you cannot be free if you are being trapped in a luxurious surrounding. This notion of wealth and confinement is yet another life-long question that each person has to embark on their own journey and find their own answer. But whatever the outcome maybe, it is for certain that, freedom and happiness are living emotions that only living beings can bring; therefore all people should appreciate the people around them and care for one another because that is where true happiness comes from.