Song of Solomon Experts

In The Quest For and Discovery of Identity in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon by Valerie Smith, she speaks of Milkman’s journey through the novel. It starts with him searching for money and in the end, he has a new sense of identity that opens his eyes to his true self. However, how he came to finally discover his true self is not clear, and she makes several different arguments for it.

While Smith talks about all the different things Milkman did to come to his true identity, she still claims, “Milkman’s discovery of his identity lies not so much in his connection with the earth or in his ability to understand his own past; these accomplishments only attend his greater achievement - learning to complete, to understand, and to sing his family song. Milkman comes to know fully who he is when he can supply the lyrics to the song Pilate has only partially known,” (Smith 40). In the both the beginning and the end of the novel, a song is sung. In the first instance, Pilate is singing it right before Milkman is born. In the second, Milkman returns the favor as Pilate loses a fatal amount of blood, right before dying. Though Milkman has heard Pilate sing the song many times over his lifetime, the fact that “he [could] supply the lyrics to the song Pilate has only partially known,” can guide the belief that Milkman had a truer understanding of his past than his aunt, and thus, will have a stronger sense of self and identity.

Smith explains the significance of the song with ease, but just a paragraph later claims that “Milkman acquires a sense of identity when he immerses himself in his extended past,” (Smith 40), which almost comes off as a counterclaim to what she had just said. However, it is not. The main difference is him “understanding his own past” versus “[immersing] himself in his extended past.” Really though, he in a way always has been immersed in the past and had connections with it, as explained by “throughout his life, Milkman has had an inexplicit fascination with flight.” She reminds readers how Milkman often thought about flight, whether it was from “riding backwards makes him uncomfortable because it reminds him of ‘flying blind’”(Morrison 30), or “his recurring childhood fantasy of being able to take flight.” All of these things connect to his great-grandfather’s flight. That “fascination with flight” was his past trying to break through and become apart of him. It wasn’t until he learned to understand and identify with his past, could he symbolically take flight and be the person he was meant to be, and not what his environment has forced onto him.