"If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it." That's how Song of Solomon concludes. One of the most liberating thoughts I've read in a while. The book starts off with Macon Dead's birth and how throughout his life he tries to fly, literally! It outlines his life and how he thinks he is always the butt of people trying to kill him, how people want his life and how he wants his family and his friend (Guitar) to share their happiness with him but he doesn't want to partake in their sorrow.
Throughout his life he wants to be a grown-up but does not want any of the responsibility that comes along with it. He protects his mother from his father's anger but does not want to know what propelled his father towards such hatred for his mother. Macon listens to his mother rant about what his father did to her, how he left her untouched after his sisters were born, how she was craving for the touch of a man and how she had to "trick" him to conceive Macon. But he doesn't understand it. Through most of the book, the reader feels sorry for him almost to slap him and say, "dude, what don't you get? how are you so oblivious to everything around you?"
Then the book takes a turn around and off he goes in search of gold. Here, Morrison does a brilliant job of using a corollary -- he searches for gold but until the time he sits down in the jungle and Guitar tries to kill him it doesn't dawn on him that the gold he is looking for is internal and not a precious metal. His search ends when he finds himself. He realizes the value of his mother and her suffering, his father and why he clung on to his past, his sisters and their consternation for him, Hagar's dedication to him, Pilate's love for him and his folly in not valuing it.
He understands in order to live happily, to enjoy your life you have to cherish the people that come along in it. Macon Dead travels far away to come home in style and finally becomes the man he only thought he was.
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4 Response to Journey to find yourself
it may seem obvious by reading almost any book, but i definitely remember and appreciated that toni morrison really pulls the reader into the empathy boat so that you can live the life of someone else you might otherwise never know how to relate to experience-wise in life, but all by a knit together set of words that amount to a novel. like i said, i hope to someday read all of her novels.
i wrote a story about "the bluest eye" for my african-american novel class in college, and the all too mockingly named pecola breedlove struggles so hard for a good life against the deteriorated, self-destructive women (and men) around her who keep her from that reasonable goal.
What really pulled me about this book is how he set off to become rich (money-wise) and he became rich (character-wise). It was a journey he had to undertake to see his real self. In the process of discovering his family and their past, he discovered himself. But the way she writes it is simply brilliant! Yes, she pulls you in and you feel the character's emotions as your own. I remember when his sister lashed out on him, I went yes! He totally deserved it. She was so passionate you could totally related to it. Very awesome!
i just noticed a copy of "beloved" on my bookshelf yesterday, something i forgot i must have bought last year at a used bookstore. i remember trying to read some other book by her, maybe "paradise," but i never really got into it. i need to try again sometime.
i do vaguely remember the sister yelling and him deserving all such shouted words.
it's almost refreshing that his goal of becoming rich with money transformed into a wealth of character instead. but it makes good sense that he'd end up discovering himself through learning about his family. morrison has such an amazing mind we are so lucky to have on this earth !
Indeed a very interesting book !!!
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