Song Of Solomon Research Paper

Riccardo Manoly

March 1, 2024 English III- Block 3.

Song of Solomon Essay

The Importance of Personal History in the Pursuit of Purpose

In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, the value of history in the quest for purpose is made clear. The book follows the life of a young African American man born into a problematic middle-class household. The protagonist learns of lost gold and sets out to find it. Along the way, he is taught his family history, which gives him a new sense of purpose and perspective on the world around him. The insights Morrison provides about the relationship between history, identity, and self-actualization are that by understanding one’s personal history, we can discover our life’s purpose. This is conveyed in Milkman’s …show more content…
The peacock is a motif Morrison uses to symbolize wealth, and in the story, Milkman and Guitar are chasing it. It was Guitar’s idea to chase it, and Milkman responded with confusion about what they would do after catching it. Milkman’s purpose is not to pursue wealth, but he does it anyway because he knows it is what his father would do. Later, after learning his family history, Milkman watches as the peacock flies away without all that jewelry weighing it down, as Guitar described it, symbolizing Milkman finding his own identity. The loss of Macon II’s personal history causes him to base his identity on owning property. Macon II does not share his personal history, but in the same conversation between Milkman and Reverend Cooper, we learn why he was so fixated on owning property. “A farm that colored their lives like a paintbrush and spoke to them like a sermon... But they shot the top of his head off and ate his fine Georgia peaches. And even as boys these men began to die and were dying still” (Morrison 235). Macon II spent his childhood on a farm called Lincoln’s Heaven. Jake, his father, died protecting this farm and Macon’s childhood. However, Lincoln’s Heaven was ripped away from these two, leaving Macon II and his sister, Pilate, to fend …show more content…
Because he is so focused on acquiring wealth and status, Macon II cannot build deep relationships with his family. The only thing he cared about was owning as much property as possible. Because the more he owns, the less likely it will be taken. Guitar gains a purpose by using his personal history as a motive to fight for racial justice. In a conversation with Milkman, Guitar brings up his father’s death for the second time, going more in-depth. “It was the fact that instead of life insurance, the sawmill owner gave his mother forty dollars ‘to tide you and her kids over’” (Morrison 224-225). When Guitar’s father died in a sawmill accident, the sawmill owner, a white man, gave him some candy and his mom some money for their trouble, as if that were the price of his father’s life. Guitar does not like sweets because they remind him of his personal history and the value the sawmill owner gave his father. From then on, Guitar carried this with him for the rest of his life. Just as his father’s life was taken away, Guitar sets out to take the lives of white people, becoming his identity. Instead of using his past to progress toward self-actualization, he employs it to create a fictitious objective of

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