A Sugarman's Identity In Song Of Solomon

Etched with a mark we never chose and engraved in the timeline of a life we fell headfirst into, our names, hold the key to our identity. The restrictions of a name are only paralleled by the freedom that is sought in spite of it. We concede to things that are beyond our control but strive to transcend its constraints. As one matures, they begin to forge their own path and become pathfinders in their own identity. Conversely, one’s history has a bearing on their future and it is always beneficial to be aware of the past, as it can be a pathogen in finding one’s self. These concepts of life’s past and future ties contribute and fortify self-development. Our names speaks to a future manifestation that supports self-contentment; this is unraveled …show more content…
Solomon meaning man that is alone, hints the construction of the novel’s ancestral ties.“O Sugarman done fly away. Sugarman done gone. Sugarman cut across the sky. Sugarman gone home…”(6) Solomon is Sugarman but instead of a pleasant delight accompanied by that of sugar he leaves in his wake the bitter after-taste of table salt. Solomon leaving his family because of his inability to withstand racial oppression is to some cowardly and to others symbolic. Solomon’s choice to go home wasn't an inherit decision passed down through generations of african americans and it was even less of a choice of his own to disown his legacy. But it was rather because he was too worn to allow himself to be in an environment that would strangle the life out of him or at least what was left. He even tried to take a piece of his legacy, but, because he was meant to be alone , he couldn’t hold the weight that was the burden of his family.” The peacock..the male is the only one got that tail full of jewelry...How come it can’t fly no better than a chicken?...All that jewelry weighs it down.”(178-179) Solomon too had to drop his jewels to fly. The jewel solomon dropped was jake. Solomon attempted to shield jake,as the youngest of his children, from the terrible reality he faced. He was unsuccessful; in such and in doing so or the lack thereof he left behind a piece of his identity. …show more content…
His hatred for his wife glittered and sparkled in every word he spoke to her. The disappointment he felt in his daughter's sifted down on them like ash.”(30) But his actions as a black man in the upper socioeconomic stratum of the world was not unlike that of a white man. This makes you wonder after his tireless struggle why he would chose to be like the very same people who served as his impediment to others. With a condescending tone of mockery and nostalgia an old friend says “That’s Macon Dead! He gonna buy the Erie Lackawanna’ If he want it, he’ll get it! ˗ Bet he worry them white folks to death. Can’t nobody keep him down! Not no Macon Dead! Not in this world! And not in the next!”(236) But is Macon a little more complex than just a greedy self-centered prick? Is he more than just another black who was disregarded by white society and now plays a role in its disregarding? I believe Macon not to have any animosity toward his people as a race but a neglect to them as an anchor on his life. Did he turn away from his race because of the negative stigma that came with it? Did he allow money to take over his mind and blind him to his race or did he use money as a blinder to the oppression and injustice? Did he become cold

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