Destructive Love in Toni Morrisons Song of Solomon Essays

Destructive Love in Toni Morrisons Song of Solomon When an emotion is believed to embody all that brings bliss, serenity, effervescence, and even benevolence, although one may believe its encompassing nature to allow for generalizations and existence virtually everywhere, surprisingly, directly outside the area love covers lies the very antithesis of love: hate, which in all its forms, has the potential to bring pain and destruction. Is it not for this very reason, this confusion, that suicide bombings and other acts of violence and devastation are committedÂ…in the name of love? In Toni Morrisons Song of Solomon, the reader experiences this tenuity that is the line separating love and hate in many different forms and on many†¦show more content†¦Morrison includes much intimation to prove that Ruth lacks true love: she is unable to perform basic domestic tasks such as cooking, suggesting that she cannot adequately provide for her family at even the most quintessential level of what woman during that time were expected to provide. When Macon found Ruth with [Dr. Fosters] fingers in her mouth, the love that Ruth had for Dr. Foster has evidently become destructive as it not only estranges her from Macon and the rest of the family, but also forces her to live an impersonal, emotionless life (73). Although at the onset of the novel, she attempts to rekindle these emotions not through Macon who utterly refuses to please her, but through her own son Milkman, a gross exploitation of filial love: His mother had been portrayed not as a mother who simply adored her only son, but as an obscene child playing dirty games with whatever male was nearÂâ€"be it her father or her son (79). It seems, however, that her willingness to emotionally satisfy herself finally comes to an end when Freddie blatantly points out her misjudgment of breastfeeding Milkman who is twelve years old at the time. Thus, instead of looking for emotion, she learns to take comfort in the emotionless, the inanimate such as the goldfish, rhod odendron, and other flowers she constantly surrounds herself with. And to simply remind herself that she exists as an animate beingShow MoreRelated Essay on Identity in Song of Solomon2147 Words   |  9 PagesSearching for Identity in Song of Solomon      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Abstract: Whether Africans really fly or just escape a monumental burden, perhaps only through death, is a decision Toni Morrison has apparently left to her readers. Never the less, no matter what you believe, within Song of Solomon, the suggestion is, that in order to fly you must go back to the beginning, back to your roots. You must learn the art from the old messages.    O Sugarman done fly away Sugarman done gone SugarmanRead More Definitions of Self in Community in Morrisons Sula and Song of Solomon6961 Words   |  28 PagesDefinitions of Self In Community in Sula and Song of Solomon        Ã‚  Ã‚   In that place, where they tore the nightshade and blackberry patches from their roots to make room for the Medallion City Golf Course, there once was a neighborhood (Sula 1). Toni Morrison begins the novel Sula with these powerful words, describing more than a physical place, but a spiritual place where a community once stood. She begins with the destruction of the community, ultimately beginning at the end because her novelRead MoreAnalysis Of Milkman In Toni Morrisons Song Of Solomon1606 Words   |  7 Pages In Chapter 12 of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Milkman makes an offhand comment on the children playing the game depicting his family’s history, reporting: â€Å"The boy in the middle†¦ (it seemed always to be a boy) spun around with his eyes closed†¦ pointing† (Morrison 299). Like the boy at the center of the circle, Milkman blindly points his attention and â€Å"hog’s gut† in the direction of the women around him, causing them nothing but pain (216). His behavior is symptomatic of the possessive masculinityRead MoreToni Morrison and Historical Memory5014 Words   |  21 PagesNational amnesia of minority history cannot be tolerated. Toni Morrison is a minority writer has risen to the challenge of preventing national amnesia through educating African-Americans by remembering their past and rewriting their history. In her trilogy, Beloved, Jazz and Paradise, and in her other works, Morrison has succeeded in creating literature for African-Americans that enables them to remember their history from slavery to the present. Toni Morrison has been called Americas national authorRead MoreEssay on The Song of Solomon2983 Words   |  12 PagesBook Title Song of Solomon Author Toni Morrison Summary The first black boy ever born in Mercy Hospital in a town in Michigan comes into the world the day after an insurance agent named Robert Smith kills himself by trying to â€Å"fly† from the roof of the hospital across Lake Superior. The boys mother, Ruth, nurses him until he is eight or nine years old, thus earning him the ridiculous nickname Milkman. Milkman befriends an older boy named Guitar, visits his Aunt Pilate, and falls in love with Pilate’s