Blog Post #13: Toni Morrison’s, Song of Solomon

In Toni Morrison’s Song Of Solomon, the legacy of racism affects every single character in implicit and explicit ways. The Dead family in particular struggles to deal with the multi-generational trauma that racism has inflicted on the family. Because of this trauma, the family’s past experience with slavery haunts them to a point in which they become enslaved by their desire for wealth by believing that wealth is the only way they can truly be set free.  Throughout the novel, the characters actions reflect the logic of their trauma. Toni Morrison attempts to give the readers a disturbing insight to the realities of the African American experience. In the novel, one of the characters who seem to be the most damaged because of racism is the patriarch of the Dead family, Macon Dead. Macon Dead has internalized the racism he has experienced by distancing himself from the black community. In other words, he is self hating, in his mind he believes he can liberate himself through exploiting the poor black community. His hate for his own people is a reflection of the hate white people have for him. Similar to Morrison’s essay, Playing in the Dark, she discusses the idea how black lives are often represented through the lens of white writers in literature and she flips that in her writing. The fear of liberation of the black man scares white people, the construction of white identity is held up high in literature which is why Macon is written that way. Hagar is another character who faces internalized racism through another form of self hatred. In the novel, Hagar is envious of light skin black woman because she perceives her dark skin as unattractive. She hates her hair, wishing it could be more like white woman hair. Hagar believes Milkman will not love her unless she was more light skin. Like Macon Dead, her experiences with racism have been internalized. By writing characters with this internalized racism, Morrison is able to show a perspective of black people that would not be shown in white literature and to also subliminally convey the message that people of color are still being oppressed, just in different ways. The novel Song of Solomon thoroughly explored the many facets of  multi generational trauma due to racism. It’s interesting to see how the experience of one family’s relationship to racism can affect them in several different ways. Whether it was racism within one selves or racism projected outwards, it was a common theme throughout the novel.

Song of Solomon (novel) - Wikipedia

3 Replies to “Blog Post #13: Toni Morrison’s, Song of Solomon”

  1. Your synopsis and analysis of “Song of Solomon” was terrific! The book is similar to the Morrison book I’m reading. My book also deals with racism, generational trauma and characters who self hate. I liked how you pin pointed each lesson that Morrison was teaching though her work.

  2. This summary of “Song of Solomon” is great and is similar to my book in the way the characters all felt and experienced various forms of racism, abuse, and discrimination. I especially liked how you specify that the African American experience is a unique one.

  3. I enjoyed reading your post about “Song of Solomon”, I particularly liked that you gave a strong analysis with details that happened in the book. I appreciate that you mentioned the specific themes in the book as it related heavily to the book I chose to read about.

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