Song of Solomon
The following are my notes on Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison. These notes are subject to change in the future.
General Background Information
Listening to Toni Morrison’s Nobel prize lecture sheds light on her approach to language and stewardship. The following background information is my notes on said lecture.
The power of language is in the speech community that upholds it.
Relevant Background Information
Toni Morrison was skeptical of the idea of muses. She felt it was the artist’s way to obfuscate their process, whether it be because they don’t understand their own art or because they fear others will copy it. I share that skepticism.
She wrote a beautiful description of her late father’s character and belief in her, and said he was her muse. This story came out of her in place of the usual rituals of grief.
Plot Summary
Part 1
Chapter 1
We learn that an insurance agent committed suicide after promising to take a flight South. The note is pleasing and indicates his love for those he leaves behind.
He asks for forgiveness.
This man, Mr. Smith, is an insurance agent in this neighborhood. The street we are on is Not-Doctor street. Previously called Doctor street by its residents because of the only colored doctor available at the time living there. Now called Not-Doctor street because the local government and its politicians insisted so heavily its residents do not call it Doctor street.
He is standing on the cupola of the hospital and is edging towards the jump he has committed himself to. Most people there are simply there by coincidence, his note not really having been read.
Morrison describes blue silken wings billowing in the air. This can be taken literally or taken as an extension of the clothes he wears.
Observing this is a pregnant woman, the first black woman to give birth in No-Mercy hospital, the building he is jumping from. This name came from the fact that they never admitted a colored patient, even long after the doctor’s life. It is coincidence that his daughter is admitted, a direct result of Robert Smith’s suicide.
This pregnant woman’s only son observes this suicide. He feels dissatisfied with the potential of life, just as Robert Smith did, on the realization that he can’t fly. He is described as either peculiar or dull. An inwards boy. He has three sisters, who are casually malicious towards him. His father, Macon Dead, the woman’s husband is a cruel and vicious man.
He stifles the lilt of his girls, and looks to mock his wife at every end. She continues a tradition given to her by her father of decorating the dinner table, salvaging driftwood and arranging it. He takes this opportunity to lambast her for her cooking. She lets the driftwood wilt. And removes the decorative bowl.
Then she notices a watermark in the center of the mahogany table. Her attention nourishes it. It serves as her concrete connection reality.
This mooring only serves to keep one in reality. To get through the day she took respite in breast feeding her only son. He is too old for breastfeeding to be typical, and this process is interrupted by a prying renter looking through the window of the study she did it in.
He confirms to the son that this was irregular, the son already not really enjoying it being the suspicion, and spreads this to everyone in the neighborhood which gives this son the nickname the milkman.
Macon Dead is enraged. He doesn’t know how the name came about but refuses to acknowledge it. No one tells him because he is a cold and aggressive man.
Neither Ruth nor Lena nor Corinthians tell him, but he suspects that she has done something filthy. His hatred for her is strengthened. His regret of not having a son his amplified by the circumstances in which he did have a son.
We get some evidence that Ruth cheated on him. We learn Macon hates his sister more than her.
Macon’s name was given by his father whose father had chosen it as it was scribbled on a piece of paper by a Yankee soldier. The names in his family were all sampled from the Bible. His daughters Magdalene (called Lena), First Corinthians and Macon (now called Milkman) now followed suit. His sister’s name was Pilate. She took the slip of paper this name was copied onto by her illiterate father and put it in a brass earring she wore.
We learn she betrayed Macon in a cave at 16, and then reappeared in his life right before his son was born. She dressed improperly and was a bootlegger. He banished her for this as he felt it would reflect poorly on him with his white business associates.
He is a shrewd businessman. He threatens eviction for a grandmother with three children and no income. The grandmother comments how terrible a thing it is to see black people in business.
Macon’s importance placed on his landedness starts in his approach of Ruth’s father, the doctor. He believes the keys in his pockets to property are what gave him fortune to be allowed to keep Ruth’s company. In reality, the doctor was simply overcome by Ruth’s affection given the absence of his wife.
Macon goes to collect rent from a tenant who is crazed and pleading with God. This tenant is behind on rent and threatens to take his life if no one comes to have sex with him.
Macon on his walk home reflects on his emptiness. He walks towards his estranged sister’s house and admires her singing with her child and grandchild. He reflects on his love for her but can not bring himself to speak with them.
Chapter 2
We are introduced to a seen where the Dead children, Lena, First Corinthians and Milkman, are in the car on a weekly ritualized ride. They are going to a lakefront plot because Macon plans on purchasing it and developing into beach houses for colored people. The family thinks this won’t work, as they don’t think people will be able to afford it. Milkman must go to the bathroom, annoying Macon and accidentally micturates on Lena when she startles him.
We then see Milkman and his older friend Guitar go to see Pilate. She is once again described as low class, dirty, but wise and not defeated. She chides Milkman and Guitar for the way they speak, and then invites them into the house.
Milkman and Guitar talk more with Pilate. She talks to them about how her father died and Macon saved their lives by living with her in the forest. She talks about her father being killed on his own farm, some men came and shot him.
Reba and Hagar arrive. Milkman falls in love with Hagar immediately. They bring blackberry bushels to make wine with. They get to know each other and Milkman feels at peace. Reba is extraordinarily lucky, which is why even though bootlegging is no longer enough to make money, they have survived well enough. Reba mentions that she has had hungry days. She doesn’t mean actual hunger.
She likely is referring to the fact she doesn’t have a father. Pilate, Reba and Hagar sing the song we hear at the start of the book when Robert Smith kills himself. It is heavily implied that her hunger is for the presence of her father in her life.
Macon is informed by Freddie (his janitor) that Milkman was over at Pilate’s. He initially angry, but when Milkman asks him if this is how his father treated him he softens and begins to recollect his youth.
Macon by all means seems like a good man in his reflection. It seems the death of his father and the perceived betrayal of Pilate really broke him.
He remembers his father’s life. He and his father worked together from when Macon was young, they tended to a farm and lived off of the land. His father was illiterate, and presumably found his way to his plot of land before her death during childbirth. His name was given to him by some drunk white recording his details incorrectly when filing his freedom papers. He was a freed slave.
Some white men tricked Macon Dead Sr. into signing away his farm. He died holding a shotgun protecting his property.
Macon blames his father’s fate on his inability to write. His view on life seems to be that one can always work one’s way out of bad circumstances. As a result of this he views his father’s death as his fault. His meaning both himself for not teaching him to read, and his father’s for not learning.
Milkman remonstrates with his father. He asks why he turned on Pilates. His father responds that she is a snake. It doesn’t matter what she does or how she appears, it is her nature to be a snake.
Milkman and Morrison find this explanation empty.
Macon tells Milkman all that is of value to learn is to own. And to have that which you own also own. He thusly tells Milkman from now on he will be learning from him and working with him after school.
Chapter 3
After Milkman starts working with his father he no longer has much time to hang out with Guitar. Nonetheless they find time together. One day they visit a pool hall but the owner Feather drives them away because he knows Milkman is Macon’s son. This pool hall is visited by airman of the 332nd fighter group (the Tuskegee airmen). They protest and want to allow Milkman in but Feather is staunch.
Milkman and Guitar then walk down the street near the blood bank. They sit in front of a barbershop where the two owners, Hospital Tommy and Railroad Tommy. Guitar lies about why Feather didn’t let them in and says they left on their own accord because Feather wouldn’t give Guitar a beer.
This triggers a rant from Railroad Tommy about how the niceties of life afforded to wealthy whites would never be something that Guitar could get his hands on. He tempers his expectations for life and tells him to get used to not getting what he wants.
We learn that Guitar’s father died in a sawmill and ever since he hates all that is sweet because it reminds him of the candies him and his siblings were given after his father’s death.
Milkman’s age then progresses quickly. He becomes 22, and from 13 to 22 we know that Macon’s life improves with respect to everything but Ruth. His business is doing better and he has to do less rent collecting because Milkman does it for him. We get confirmation that Ruth cheats on him, and that he never hits Ruth again after Milkman fights him for it.
We learn that Milkman develops into his own man, and that he defines himself in opposition to his father. He still tries to do his job well and doesn’t get into too many fights with Macon.
We learn that from the children’s perspective, Ruth purposefully tries to set off Macon. This inevitably results in him beating her. Seems dubious that she is actually bringing this upon herself, but it’s not indicated that our narrator is unreliable. The beatings are put to an end by Milkman at age 22.
Macon goes to speak to Milkman after Milkman punches him. He explains that Ruth and her father never liked him and constantly belittled everything he did. Ruth’s father insisted on delivering Ruth’s children. He also explains that after Ruth’s father died Ruth had her father’s hands in her mouth. He assumes that this means they had some incestuous relationship. This is his given explanation why Ruth sometimes drives him to violence.
Milkman is forced to think of his parents as people. These thoughts terrify him. He doesn’t know what to make of his father’s story. On one hand he thinks his father is obsessed with money and that this whole thing could be a fabrication to justify his hatred of his mother. On the other hand he recalls the origin of his nickname. Milkman wants to be righteous in his hatred of his father but feels conflicted. He resolves to find Guitar in his confusion.
It is implied that there is truth and falsehood on both sides of his father’s account.
Milkman finds Guitar at the barbershop. Many men are gathered there to talk about the killing of a man named Till.
Guitar gets exasperated with Freddie who claims Till deserved to be stomped out for going to the South and not conforming to the virulent racism that was casually on display there so they leave and get a drink.
When they’re drinking Milkman gets plastered and lets loose. After some interrogation Guitar guesses the gist of what is bothering Milkman but they don’t get into specifics. They commiserate about how difficult life is. Guitar agrees to drop Milkman off at Hagar’s. Milkman curses his paternal grandfather for being hapless, much in the same way Macon would.
Chapter 4
We are put into the brain of Milkman at the age of 31. He is now bored with Hagar. He has very much morphed into Macon. He wants to move on with his life and become someone dignified.
The early days of Milkman and Hagar’s relationship are marked by passion and excitement, as is expected with new and young love. A situation is described where Pilate stabs a man who beats Reba, presumably meant to reinforce our view of Pilate as a serious and wise person.
Milkman, in a typically cold fashion for him, buys Christmas gifts from the drugstore. We learn that as he grew older and more connected to his father’s business Hagar grew jealous and he grew distant. He resolves to break things off with Hagar as he wants to move on with his life.
A very well written passage illustrates his internal lack of awareness and self centered nature, as he passively constructs a message for her to break things off as cleanly as possible while half-heartedly including that it’s what’s best for the both of them and he really is only breaking things off with her because it’s what’s best for her and as he loves her he is considering that first. What’s obvious is that while he does love her he cares far more about the comfort of his life.
He goes to the barbershop and meets guitar. At the barbershop Hospital Tommy and the rest of them discuss the killing of a 15 year old boy. They hypothesize that it’s the work of a white serial killer, specifically because they think these lunatic murders can only be done by another member of the same lunatic race.
Milkman chides Guitar about his lack of consciousness or interests other than going to parties and chasing women. Milkman lashes out but proves Guitar right in that he realizes he doesn’t really have any interests.
Chapter 5
After Milkman’s argument with Guitar their relationship improves as they acknowledge each other’s true appearance. Milkman goes over to visit him.
Guitar ponders whether existence can only be justified by the other. Milkman is largely bored by Guitar’s sociopolitical interests and describes him as obsessed with geography.
Guitar tries to explain to Milkman that he should be scared of Hagar and being blasé staying in their apartment is pointless bravado. Milkman is indifferent.
Milkman thinks about his encounter with his mother where he stalked her and learned her side of Macon’s story. She claims she only sat at her father’s bedside, and that Macon largely twisted the story to serve him as he selfishly wanted her whole attention. She says that she never did anything sideways and only wanted to help him.
We hear more about Hagar’s intentions to kill Milkman. Her love is more “an affliction than affection”. She was driven mad by his disinterest in her and her love for him. She stalks him as she prefers he fear her than feel nothing. Most people don’t care as they understand lost love drives people to insanity, they do feel it serves them both right as they are cousins.
Hagar can not bring herself to kill Milkman. He viciously derides her. Even Ruth is aware Hagar intends to kill Milkman.
It seems extremely likely that Ruth has done very little wrong and that Macon is a brutal tyrant. We learn he violently abused herp when she was pregnant. It was at this point that she fled to find Pilate. Pilate gave her knowledge of how to appease her pregnancy cravings.
Pilate threatens Macon so Ruth is able to have her child. Ruth contemplates her son as a person and realizes she doesn’t know him very well. She is made deeply sad in knowing that someone wants to kill him. She feels that his death represents the death of her last time making love.
She resolves to go to Pilate’s house to confront death. She proceeds with a calm rage and finds the house empty. Eventually Hagar arrives and she tells Hagar that she will kill her if she harms her son. Hagar exposes herself as nothing more than an impulse and says she will make her best effort not to kill Milkman.
Hagar tells Ruth that Milkman is her home in this world. Ruth responds that she is his.
Pilate calls them both fools for those claims. She calls Ruth in and offers her peaches. She explains Hagar’s mindset as parallel to Ruth’s. She tells Ruth Milkman will live till he wants to die. In fact she says all people do. We learn Pilate communicates with her father posthumously like Ruth. Ruth takes little comfort in this and asks Pilate how she can say this when she saw her own father die. Pilate then speaks about her childhood.
She says her father didn’t die when he was shot, and that she still communicates with him. She started communicating with him after she was left alone when her and Macon parted ways. We learn little about the reason Macon considers her to have betrayed him. She strays to Virginia and is taken in by a priest. She takes to geography but must leave the town as the priest begins to sexually assault her, and the priest’s wife kicks her out.
She then meets a group of ‘pickers’ or migrants farm workers. Her life goes well with them till they learn she is without a navel and kick her out as they believe she is not of god. She gets kicked out of a second group and they take everything valuable from her except for her geography book. She resolves to find her way to Virginia. She works with another group but conceals her navel. Eventually she travels to an island where there exists an exclusive and private group of black farmers. She has a child on this island but does not marry the man who she had a relationship with as she fears he will ostracize her when he learns of her navel. She names her daughter Rebecca from the bible, but uses Reba for short. Her father continues to speak to her and tells her to sing when she feels lonely after her daughter is born. He also tells her to deal with the man her and Macon murdered. She did not strike the man but felt she was part of the act as at that time her and Macon were a unit.
Reba has Hagar and Pilate decides to find Macon. She finds him and he rejects her completely but she stays because she sees Ruth dying of lovelessness. We learn she has drawn this story out to keep Ruth’s mind off of Hagar.
Chapter 6
Milkman and Guitar speak to each other after Hagar’s failed murder attempt. Milkman expresses his annoyance with Guitar’s constant advice giving. He tells Guitar that they are friends but that there is no trust and he feels that they are growing apart. Guitar lets him in on what he has been up to and why Milkman feels he is not being honest with him.
Guitar is a part of a group called the Seven Days, for every hate crime committed against a black person, they commit that same crime against a white person. The stated goal is to have balance on the Earth and secure the black population. Milkman is shocked and incredulous. He argues with Guitar to try to change his mind about his endeavor but they are both steadfast in their positions.
Chapter 7
Milkman talks to Macon about wanting to be free and go his own way. He ends up mentioning the sack that hangs in Pilate’s house and Macon is very interested in it. The sack is likely related to the dead man that they killed.
Macon tells the story of their youth after their father died. They first stayed with Circe the midwife who delivered them. They hated staying with her as they were cooped up so they escaped to the wild. There they saw their father in the wilderness. He beckoned them towards a cave. In that cave there was an old white man who awoke and startled Macon. Macon killed him, it’s not clear if he was truly dangerous. He has lots of gold, Pilate wants to leave it there and Macon doesn’t. They fight and Pilate wins because she grabs his knife. Macon retreats from the cave and watches its entrance.
It is now clear Macon thinks the gold is what Pilate keeps in her house. This is almost certainly not what is in the green sack. Macon urged Milkman to take the sack from Pilate if he wants to earn his freedom.
Chapter 8
Milkman immediately proposes the heist to Guitar. Guitar readily accepts, partly motivated by the fact he needed money to continue the Seven Days’ work.
We get a glimpse into what the money means for both of them. At the prospect of the gold they are corrupted. They are both giddy at the thought of robbing and reveal their true desires. Guitar wishes to take care of his family and buy them luxury. Milkman wants luxury but has little imagination. He mostly wants to escape Not Doctor street and not become his parents.
We learn much of the motivation of Milkman’s choices has been to avoid becoming like his parents.
Milkman and Guitar become resolute about the plan and steal the tarpaulin, which is lighter than they expect, at night. Pilate watches and wonders what they wanted it for.
Chapter 9
We learn about Corinthians. She and Lena do not marry as they are expected to and effectively spend their time waiting to an eligible bachelor that will never arrive. Corinthians becomes a maid and has a fling with Porter, the same drunk man who pissed out of his window while threatening the town with a shotgun. She resolves to keep seeing him instead of caring about what her family will think. Mr. Porter’s outburst is explained as a result of his work for the Seven Days, especially considering his calendars on the wall. Robert Smith, the man who killer himself is also a part of the Seven Days.
Corinthians goes to Porter’s house and stays the night with him. This is portrayed as a largely positive experience where she sheds the preconceptions that have constrained her to velvet heart cutting for 40 years.
She heads home in the wee hours of the morning and sneaks past Milkman and Macon. They are discussing how their heist failed. The tarpaulin had bones in it, likely the bones of the white man Macon killed. Milkman and Guitar were picked up by the police and held in the station for 2 hours. Macon got them out but Pilate came and reclaimed the bones after putting on a character for the police officers and claiming the bones were her dead husband’s.
In the drive back from the station only Pilate spoke. She delivers a speech explaining she didn’t care about the gold that Macon is still obsessed with. She also declaims that once you take a life you are still responsible for it. Guitar says nothing, is clearly quite affected by this speech given his work with the Seven Days and gets out of the car.
Milkman is ashamed about the whole ordeal. He is most ashamed about the fact that even though he completely betrayed Pilate and was even willing to knock her down, she forgave him and did her act to the police for the both of them. He recalls the many kindnesses she has shown him.
Guitar’s baleful look towards Pilate at the end of the drive is evidence to Milkman he has always had the capacity to kill. Milkman gets drunk for 3 days following the failed robbery and arrest. On the third day he returns home and Lena scolds him for always doing what he wants and not considering its effects on the family. She relates it to the time he peed on her as a child. According to her he has always been peeing on them.
We learn that he told on Corinthians and that caused their father to take everything from Corinthians. Lena tells Milkman that the reason for her and her sister’s icy glare towards him when he struck Macon was because they knew that Milkman only struck Macon to become the man of the house, not because he really wanted to stand up for them. Milkman completely ignores this and doesn’t reflect on what Lena told him.
Part 2
Chapter 10
We learn that Milkman has embarked on his trip to get the gold and to get money to get away. Guitar is invested because he wants to mass murder with the Seven Days. We learn about Guitar’s ire for Pilate because he believes that only black men have worth. Guitar’s reasoning is revealed to be extremely flimsy.
Milkman is in the town near where Pilate and Macon lived on the farm. He doesn’t appreciate nature at all. When he meets the reverend in the town he learns that Circe’s employers killed his grandfather even though he was deeply respected, and no one did anything about it. This stirs a Guitar-like rage in him but he doesn’t vocalize it. The reverend and the other old men in town let him stay with them until they can drive him to where Circe lived and they extol the virtues of his father and grandfather, who by all means were excellent farmers and exemplars of the American dream. When grandfather died that dream died with him.
Eventually Milkman makes it out to the Butler’s property where Circe stowed Pilate and Macon away.
Circe is still there although she is potentially a ghost. She’s described as mostly wrinkles, and she guards the property with the dogs. She scolds Milkman for thinking she loves the Butlers who killed Macon Dead, and says the reason she stayed was to ensure everything the Butlers loved would rot. She hasn’t cleaned a single speck of dust since their death.
Milkman leaves in search of the cave. Once he finds it he gets roughed up by nature and finds no gold. He makes his way back o Danville, ragged by nature and realizes the reason he wants the gold is only his personal freedom. Circe tells him that his grandfathers corpse was put in the cave as well, so he theorizes that Pilate visited the cave twice, and that she did take the gold and bring it to Virginia.
Chapter 11
Milkman goes to Shalimar, Virginia where he believes Pilate went. There his car breaks down and he is told by Mr. Solomon he is in Shalimar and a man was looking for him and said his day had arrived. This tells Milkman Guitar is looking for him and is going to kill him in accordance with the Seven Days’ ideology.
Milkman absentmindedly flaunts his wealth in Solomon’s store by saying he wants the men inside to fix his car and if they can’t he’ll buy another. They attack him for this and he defends himself with his glass bottle.
The old men of Shalimar invite him out on a hunt. He can’t keep up, stops to rest, realizes these men’s connection to nature and his own emptiness. Guitar tries to strangle him to death but using the shotgun he escapes. The old men tease him as he lies and says he fired off because he was scared. They kill a bobcat and Milkman feels more connected to nature.
The old men feed him, and then he is housed by a woman named Sweet. He learns his grandmother is a Native American woman and that her family still lives near the town. The old men in the town are WWII veterans.
Chapter 12
He visits Susan but while her friend Grace is very welcoming she is quite stand offish. He learns that Sing, his grandmother was likely a cousin of hers and a daughter of Heddy.
After he leaves he encounters Guitar who confirms that he intends to kill Milkman because Milkman stole the gold. Milkman fails to reason with him.
Milkman grows a consciousness and soul and begins to regret the way he lived. He listens to the children’s song, and realizes it is the same one Pilate sings. It is about Solomon and specifies Jake as one of his sons. It also talks about Heddy and Ryna. Milkman intends to visit Susan to ask more.
Chapter 13
Hagar is driven mad by her feeling of being unloved. She sees herself in a mirror and determines the reason Milkman doesn’t love her is because of how she looks. They pawn Reba’s diamond ring and she shops till the end of the day.
She walks home, gets soaked and spoils everything she bought. In a hurry, she puts all the items on. Realizing she looks bad she laments to Pilate about her hair, claiming it’s the reason Milkman doesn’t love her.
Her funeral comes next. Macon begrudgingly pays for it. Pilate sings for Mercy, and ends the ceremony declaring that she was loved.
Chapter 14
He sees Susan again and she is unsparing in detail now that Grace is gone. She clarifies Sing left with Jake, and that Jake was a son of Solomon. Solomon was a flying African with 21 children, and he flew away and abandoned all his kids and his wife Ryna, but tried to take Jake with him. Jake fell out of his hands and Heddy found Jake, so she raised him.
With this information Milkman is satisfied and he decides to leave without following up with Grace about his watch.
Chapter 15
Guitar heads home after seeing Sweet. He sees Pilate first who knocks him out. He tells Pilate about all he knows and she realizes she has been carrying her father’s bones. They return to Shalimar and bury her father.
After they bury him Guitar shoots Pilate, presumably because he thinks they have brought the gold. Milkman can now hear the land, and as a result of this he learns to fly. He mourns Pilate for being the only woman he knew who could fly.
Final Thoughts
A great importance is placed on the value of names, true and false. Milkman’s father obsessed over posessing land and possessing that which possessed as a love letter to his dead father. Pilate carried the bones of her past with her according to her interpretation of his word. Nothing is monumentally changed by Milkman’s turn in character, but he learns the secret of flight by allowing the world in.
Reoccuring Themes
- Major
- The power of names
- Pilate carrying her name in her earring
- Macon spiting his father for his flippant selection of his family name
- Milkman’s name holding his mother’s shame
- Flight
- As a measure of unity and harmony with nature
- The power of names
- Minor
- Permanence of life