This thesis deals with flying without ever leaving the ground in Song of Solomon. Macon Dead who seeks white middle-class values based on the industrial North is a contrast to Pilate who represents the communal love of Southern agrarian roots. It is s...
This thesis deals with flying without ever leaving the ground in Song of Solomon. Macon Dead who seeks white middle-class values based on the industrial North is a contrast to Pilate who represents the communal love of Southern agrarian roots. It is significant that Pilate, not his father, is Milkman's primary guide. Milkman, still under the influence of his father's idea, leaves for the South to look for gold. As a result of the trip, he is connected to the past of his ancestors. Through the hunt in the woods, the rite of initiation, he comes to accept communal life and realize the importance of human relations. Attaining rebirth into a new life, Milkman listens carefully to the children's entire song; he finally pieces together the story of his own past and discovers that he had and ancestor who could fly. Milkman puts his aunt's altruistic love into action. Achieving a final expansion of consciousness, he is changed into a dimension of liberation and transcendence, that is flight. Death dose not matter. It is Milkman who follows Pilate's altruistic love in that he embraces Guitar's violence by flying into Guitar's arms. This suggests the course black community should take. Finally, a consciousness of community is practiced in Song of Solomon.