Milkman was born to fly. Perhaps not! Maybe, he was just doomed to a life of flight. Toni Morrison seemingly presents her readers a choice. Milkman is born under a paradoxical cloud. His life seems to be destined for controversy. Toni Morrison eventually leaves the reader with a "choose your own ending" configuration. As in Beloved, Morrison's unique style of ending a novel with no finalization, only enhances the content and tickles the imagination. Evidence of the influence of Zora Neale Hurston is sprinkled liberally throughout the story. In addition to folklore and mythology, Song of Solomon is also rife with the cold, hard facts of reality. Did Milkman actually become airborne or was he merely a man, consistently trying to escape reality?

Toni Morrison's, Song of Solomon, was inspired in part, by All God's Chillun Had Wings (Andrews et al 103). According to this folk tale, at one time all Africans could fly. Through transgressions, they lost the ability of flight. On occasion, someone would shake off the weight of their burdens and be able to fly. Only a select few hel

but not dirty...she was anything but pretty,...tall...

Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. New York: Penguin Books, 1977.

Pilate is born from a dead woman and has no navel. This appears to be symbolic of her lack of anything to tie her to worldly values or false idols. She is the "voice of reason" and an unlikely source of wisdom. Her mere appearance contradicts this conclusion as Milkman's first meeting with Pilate illustrates:

Baby Macon is brought home to Not Doctor Street, which is really Mains Ave. He begins his life in the house of Dead. For all intents and purposes, this dysfunctional family may as well be dead, for none of them have a life. A total lack of communication has effectively closed all the doors in the home, as each member seems to live within their own, small room. The real world is securely locked outside. No future, no past. To communicate would be to acknowledge the present. To acknowledge the present would mean accepting the past. Their names mirror their pathetic lives, even as they tell the story.

Guitar resents that Pilate has connected him with a past he despises, as she tries to get them out of jail and with that one look, "the jeweled hatred in his eyes," (210) has exposed his inner self. Milkman, witnessing this, assigns a new and terrible identity to Guitar, as he realized that "Guitar could kill, would kill, and probably had killed." (210). Guitar Baines [bane] is the destructive force and will have to be dealt with sooner or later. Guitar is so filled with greed, hate and death, he can not see the truth. When forced to confront his identity, he goes mad. His mind has become so twisted , he does not even realize he has crossed the line to insanity.

"And while she looked as poor as everyone said she

Ruth is, in all respects a widow. Her husband will not touch her, holds her only in contempt, and rarely acknowledges she exists. Magdalene called Lena has her own demons and makes flowers to keep the demons quiet. First Corinthians receives letters that offer her an existence of her own. Milkman receives his nickname because he was suckled long after an appropriate age and subsequently, never seems to grow up and flies from responsibility. Macon Dead may as well be holding a sickle in his hand, as he has cut off the life of everyone under his roof. The keys, of which he is so proud, and his greed, have very efficiently locked the doors on his own life.

Hagar feels she has no identity without Milkman. When Milkman casts her aside, she makes a desperate attempt to create an identity to induce him to love her again. Hagar tries to sculpt, what she feels, will be the perfect woman. She comes to the harsh realization that the image she sees in the mirror and the image reflected in Pilate's and Reba's eyes, is vastly different. Hagar suddenly realizes, "What if there is no me like my statue?" (Hurston 581). Hagar's link with the past is her "graveyard love." This automatically condemns her.

The circumstances encompassing Milkman's birth gave every evidence of the inner turmoil that was to follow him throughout his life and seems to cast a foreboding cloud on his future. Macon Dead III seems doomed as he is born into a family as scattered and artificial as the very rose petals his mother dropped with her first labor pain. As the velvet petals float to the ground, the in

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Approximate Word count = 2268
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)