The End of an Adventure

           I just finished Reading the book Song of Solomon, a truly peculiar and interesting novel that touched various controversial topics and allowed us to see Morrison’s insight on them through the characters in the book. I found it surprising to see that there was really no approach to the ending of the book. What I mean is that most books start leading their story towards an ending in a smooth and progressive manner. Song of Solomon, on the contrary, ends very abruptly with Milkman leaping towards Guitar. This can be observed when the narrator states, “Without wiping away the tears, taking a deep breath, or even bending his knees-he leaped. As fleet and bright as a lodestar he wheeled toward Guitar and it did not matter which one of them would give up his ghost in the killing arms of his brother” (p. 337). It is not very clear which one of them got killed or if both were killed, or even if none were killed. This ambiguity at the end of the novel allows the reader to imagine the rest of the story and ponder about its ending.

            In addition, I found it very interesting to observe the way in which Morrison is able to relate the ending of the book to the beginning. She connects Milkman’s final leap towards Guitar with Mr. Smith’s suicidal attempt in the beginning of the novel. This concludes the whole story by making the reader remember the beginning of the book and how the whole story started. I believe this is very important because it makes the reader reflect upon the whole story, not just the ending. Morrison’s objective in writing this novel is to use Milkman’s life as a symbol for the life of many other African-Americans who have had to struggle and face numerous challenges. Throughout the protagonist’s life, Morrison is able to cover many situations and critic certain aspects of society that she believes have shaped not only culture, but many individuals.

 

Prejudice in Race

 

          One of the most important concepts that has marked the history of race has been the prejudice that people have with people of different races. In the past, African Americans were treated as inferior and were all considered to be the same. Whites did not see any difference between two African American individuals. This is criticized in the video “Race: The Power of an Illusion” when it shows, with evidence, that there is more difference among people of the same race than there is among people of different races. This completely disproves the argument that all African Americans are identical. In addition, it is important to highlight a very influential idea that was pointed out in this video which was that the concept of a Black individual varies depending of the country in which the individual is. The concept of a Black individual has been greatly generalized with the American view; however, this is not necessarily true in all cases, since different cultures view concepts differently.

            In the portion of Song of Solomon that I read, I found it very interesting to observe a situation that related to this topic. This can be seen when it is said, “They stop anybody they want to. They saw you was colored, that’s all. And they’re looking for the Negro that killed that boy” (p. 204). In this case, one can clearly see the stereotype that African Americans have in that community. The police just assumes that the killer is black and therefore starts stopping and searching any African American that he sees. These type of thoughts are guided solely by the external differences among Blacks and Whites, but they are omitting the internal differences, which in many cases are the most important. Finally, it is crucial to point out that Blacks are treated as a whole in the community, disregarding the differences inside their genes and personality and this is exactly what the book and the video are criticizing and trying to make their audiences aware of.

 

     

    

Guitar: Lured by Money

            Throughout most of the last pages of the book, the narrator implies that Guitar undertook the killing job in the organization as a way to have revenge against the White race, which supposedly had as its primary objective to annihilate the African American race. However, I found it very interesting to observe that this is corroborated by Guitar in his conversations with Milkman, since he openly declares his hatred toward whites and states the pleasure he has in killing them. In addition to the theme of racism being presented here, it is crucial to highlight the fact that Guitar is the character with the most radical thoughts in the entire book. This is pointed out when the narrator states, “Guitar had placed himself willingly and eagerly in a life cause that would always provide him with a proximity to knife-cold terror” (p. 177). Guitar had chosen his way of life. He chose to present an active and violent resistance against the oppressions made by whites.

            In addition, I found the content of the last sentence I read surprising. It states, “As he listened to him go over each detail of meals, clothes, tombstones, he wondered if Guitar simply could not resist the lure of something he had never had-money” (p. 181). This represents a completely different theory about the factors that led Guitar to choose the life he chose. According to this, Guitar had been a man with few financial resources, which means that when he saw the opportunity to start gaining some of his own money in a way that made him feel he was doing the right thing, he had no doubt that that was going to be his life. It is important to mention that now we know that Guitar is ambitious and likes to acquire lots of wealth, no matter if that means having to kill others.

  

A Feeling of Vengeance

                Guitar, up to now a discrete and subtle character when discussing racism, experiences a complete change in personality in this section of the book. He becomes part of a very exclusive society of African Americans that are organized to kill whites as a form of vengeance for the killing of blacks. In it very interesting to see the calmness with which Guitar presents his new role and the importance he gives to certain of its characteristics. For example, the fact that the members of this organization do not give importance to who or how the killing was done, just that it happened. Also, it is important to highlight that the resentment does not go only to the whites that have murdered African Americans, but to all the white population in general. This can be seen when Guitar states, “It doesn’t matter who did it. Each and every one of them could do it. So you just get any one of them” (p. 155).

            In Booker T. Washington’s speech, he declares that African Americans can be very good citizens and quite helpful community members if they were given the opportunity to be so. Washington presents the problem from a positive point of view, stating what benefits could be attained if African Americans were given the same privileges as whites. On the contrary, Guitar presents the issue from a negative point of view, stating the consequences that will occur in whites continue their mistreatment and racism. Both of these individuals have radical opinions on racism, but have very different ways of expressing them. I believe that Washington’s perspective is much more effective since it is encouraging whites to work together in order to build a stronger and healthier community, rather than taking revenge for past actions, which will only increase the tensions between the members of the two races.

    

Racism Begins to Enter the Stage

            Up to this point in the book, Toni Morrison had used the narrator and the characters in order to make discrete insights about her views or racism and segregation. However, in this section of the book, the implications start being much greater and much more explicit. This can be seen when the narrator states, “And forty years ago Fairfield was farm country with a county cemetery too tiny for anybody to care whether its dead were white or black” (p. 123). This shows the importance that race has on how an individual is viewed, either dead or alive. Milkman once again appears practically as the main character of the novel and is the one that has some of the strongest opinions about racism, along with Guitar. Another important point to mention is the fact that Morrison wants to point out that even in the smallest and most remote towns of the country, African-Americans are being segregated from the rest of the community.

            “Why couldn’t anybody in his whole family just be normal?” (p. 123). I found it very interesting to observe the way in which Morrison is able to discuss two very different topics on the same page. In the first paragraphs, she discusses segregation and racism in Fairfield, and in the last few paragraphs she switches to discussing Milkman’s family problems. These sudden transitions are usually very harmful to the flow of the text, since they interrupt the chain of thought that the reader is having and switch to another idea. However, Morrison is able to link the two distinct topics in a very effective way. This allows her to provide some historical and thematic insight on racism without losing the essence of the novel and its plot. Racism begins to enter the novel not as a secondary them, but as one of the main themes.

 

Milkman and Guitar: A Profound Relationship

            In this section of the book, Toni Morrison focuses a great deal on describing the relationship between Milkman and Guitar. I found it interesting to observe how this relationship is much more than one that two casual friends might have. The degree of tension to which these characters arrive in some situations demonstrate that they need one another in order to be able to fully express themselves. It seems that Milkman can only be truly honest with Guitar and Guitar can only be truly honest with Milkman. However, this relationship begins to crumble when each of them finds out that the other has many secrets that he has been hiding for a long time. Nevertheless, they start talking and in the end, they regain the trust they have had in one another all this time. This can be seen when the narrator points out, “They were easy with each other now that they didn’t have to pretend” (p. 114). This is true for almost any relationship; when individuals begin to pretend to be someone they are not, the relationship falls apart.

            In addition, the profound discussions brought about by Milkman and Guitar also contribute to the theme of racism. Since they are having a friendly conversation, the author can throw some of her own opinions about the topic either through the narrator’s interventions or through the characters’ dialogue. Therefore, these discussions not only develop the plot of the story, but have a much more complex meaning. They represent the conversations that most African Americans had at the time about the injustices being done to them and the inability to do something about them. This inability is what frustrates them the most, since you are seeing the injustices being made but you know there is nothing you can do to stop them.

 

An Unjust World

            Toni Morrison continues the novel emphasizing on Guitar’s thoughts and ideas. This character provides, up to this point, the most valuable insights on the topics being examined in the book. In a discussion with several other men, Guitar is offended by the idea that just because some people are white they will not go to jail. This is exposed when he states, “They always say that. He could have had a wad of bubble gum, they’d swear it was a hand grenade” (p. 82). This is a strong critic to the United States judicial system, since it is declaring that this branch of the government is very biased and cannot hold an objective case when dealing with people from different ethnic backgrounds. I believe this is one of the main sources of violence in a country, since if people hold a grudge on the system and feel they are always presented as guilty no matter what, they will purposely disobey the laws established by the government.

                In order for a society to function correctly, the majority of its members have to believe that the government that is leading them is working for their benefit, or at least not against it. African Americans constitute a fairly large portion of the United States population and they definitely did not belief that the government was helping them in any sense. Some got to the point, as Guitar did, of stating that all of what the government called “truth” was as a manipulation of the versions of whites in an attempt to condemn the African Americans. This is pointed out when Guitar states, “You stupid, man. Real stupid. Ain’t no law for no colored man except the one that sends him to the chair” (p. 82). There was no rights for African Americans, but there certainly was laws that sent them to jail and even to the death row.