This piece of literary criticism also serves as political criticism; Rolland Murray puts forth the idea that in Toni Morrison’s
Song of Solomon, the image of flight serves as a metaphor for political and economic freedom. Unfortunately, the posturing of Black men hinders that flight to freedom.
Ever since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the Black Power Movement of the 1970s, it has been believed that the key to African American equality rests in the hands of Black men regaining their manhood. Unfortunately, the idea of a strong Black patriarchy has done little for women or poor African Americans. If nothing else, the aspiration to greater manhood has kept Black people in the U.S. economically and politically marginalized.
Song of Solomon portrays a group of African Americans living in an all-Black town. The male population puts on quite a show of domination, but the few petty bourgeoisies have become successful by relying on segregation to generate business. Instead of changing the detrimental conditions they and their neighbors are forced to live within, the Black businessmen in the town thrive on the misfortunes of others. Furthermore, investment capital comes only from White banks, furthering the cycle of dependence and second-class status.
The masses in Song of Solomon live vicariously through the achievements of a handful of men. This is shown by renaming a street after the only Black doctor the town has known, although the doctor was none too sympathetic to wife, daughter, or patients. Furthermore, symbols of success bring neither liberation nor actual financial gain, but rather just another way to keep up appearances.
The myth of male rugged individualism rears its ugly head in Macon Dead, who wants nothing more than to acquire land for his farm. With every man standing only for himself in this show of masculinity, few succeed, and none are free from the tyranny of the successful.
The Seven Days secret society that kills a White man in retaliation for every Black man brutally murdered looks like a political rebellion on the surface. Murray argues that in the same way Black businessmen in this town rely on segregation and oppression for success, so too does this group. The Seven Days do nothing to actively change race brutality; rather, they just react in an overtly masculine way to the existing situation. Their limited power directly derives from their marginalization.
Although this essay provides an interesting rereading of a familiar text, Murray doesn’t offer any sort of solution to the problem Morrison presents. Rather, he just goes about explaining how the problem emerges throughout the novel.
This essay was originally published in Callaloo 22.1 (1999).