Song of Solomon

1
Song of Solomon

• Chapters 1-5

2
Flight

• Pilate sings the titular song at Mr. Smiths
  flight, just before Milkmans birth
• O cleave the air fly away home/My gran, he, flew
  back to Africa
• Pilates father tells her You just cant fly off
  and leave a body (147).

(Hayden)
3
Flight

• Canonical Afro-American folklore legend of the
  Flying African
• Loss and disappearing
• Transformation and revolution
• Nostalgia and return

(Hayden)
4
Flight

• Mythological basis in Icarus and Daedalus, father
  and son
• O Daedalus, Fly Away Home Drifting night in the
  Georgia pines. . .
• Icarian heights overreach
• Daedalus is successful

(Hayden)
5
Flight

• Milkman is born the day after Mr. Smiths flight
• O Sugarman done fly away/. . . Sugarman cut
  across the sky/ Sugarman gone home (6).
• Milkman loses interest in himself when he learns
  he cannot fly (9)
• If Mercy were Montgomery, hed buy a plane ticket

6
Identity

• Naming has the power to form identity
• Who has the power to give names?
• Niggers get their names. . . the best way they
  can (88).

7
Identity

• Macon Dead drunk Yankees mistake
• Milkman unnaturally prolonged childhood
• Guitar passion
• Bible names Providence (Pilate, Ruth, First
  Corinthians, Magdalena, Rebecca Reba, Hagar)

8
Identity

• The white world gauges worth by money and
  possessions
• A nigger in business is a terrible thing to see
  (22).
• Own things. And let the things you own own
  other things (55).
• Milkman leaves Hagar a note and money

9
Coming of Age

• Milkman is the victim of a prolonged childhood
• Nursed by his mother for tool long
• Kept out of WWII by his fathers influence
• Held back by father for 31 years

10
Coming of Age

• Milkman senses the restlessness of change
• Concentrates on things behind him, almost as
  though there were no future (35).
• Walking in a different direction than everyone
  else

11
Fathers and Sons

• Macon Dead is orphaned at a young age
• Father had been a slave
• Father had established Lincolns Heaven
• Tricked by the white mans greed

12
Fathers and Sons

• Milkman is born into purposeless privilege
• Father attempts to abort him
• Milkman follows his fathers business
• Milkman strikes out against his father

13
Fathers and Sons

• Guitar is fatherless, raised by a grandmother
• Father is killed in a grisly sawmill accident
• The white man gives him candy as recompense
• Finds identity and purpose among the Seven Days
  in the barber shop

14
Singing and Songs

• The flying African folklore is preserved in
  song
• Macon is drawn to Pilates siren song
• The ghost of Pilates father tells her to Sing.
  Sing (147).

15
Female Roles

• Wife and mother life giver and sustainer
• Ruth nurses Milkman for too long, yet she cannot
  cook
• Pilate gives birth to herself and is marked as
  preternaturally different
• Hagar sees Milkman as my home in this world
  (137), yet she tries to kill him

16
Female Roles

• Sorceress and healer power over creation
• Pilate gives Ruth an elixir to seduce Macon and
  create life
• Pilate protects Milkman with voodoo sorcery
• Both Ruth and Pilate derive meaning from the
  (D)ead

17
Female Roles

• Queen or courtesan powerful empress of mens
  fates
• Macon jealously kills Dr. Foster to possess Ruth
• Pilate nearly kills Rebas lover
• Hagar is paralyzed and unable to kill the
  resigned Milkman (D)ead

18
Works Cited

• Hayden, Robert. Collected Poems. Ed. Frederick
  Glaysher. Noew York Liveright, 1985.