Song of SolomonChapters 11-15

Flight Milkman’s flight away from

Michigan brings him to his ancestral home

With Sweet Milkman dreams of flying over a dark sea

Flight Solomon was a “Flying African,”

but his flight abandoned his child Jake

Milkman is reunited with his tribe but flies into an ambiguous endabandon (adj.)- enthusiasm, exuberanceabandon (v.)- desert, forsake

Identity As a northern black Milkman is out

of place in ShalimarCommanding demeanorWell-heeled appearanceBlatant wealth

Shalimar is source of his identity

Identity In Shalimar Milkman “hadn’t

bothered to say his name” (266). At the Byrd house Milkman

introduces himself as “Macon” (287)

Milkman learns “[w]hen you know your name, you should hang onto it” (329).

Identity Milkman is soon dressed in WWII

fatigues, divested of all that held him back: “not his money, his car, his father’s reputation, his suit, or his shoes” (277).

Milkman feels deeply connected to Shalimar

Identity The brotherhood connection

between Milkman and Guitar intensifies as Guitar “shadows” him

Identity In the mirror Hagar sees only the

identity which she believes Milkman wants

Her grotesque transformation is an exercise in the bathos

Identity The Byrd family now tries to “pass”

as white Byrds always stress that they

“were never slaves” (324). Native Americans and African

Americans experienced similar treatment at the hands of whites

Identity Milkman, Macon, and Pilate belong

to the “tribe” of Flying Africans A tribe denotes a bloodline and an

identity Pilate buries her name with her

father’s bones

Identity -- Family

Heddy Byrd Solomon

Crowell Byrd

Susan Bird

Jake (Macon Dead)

Pilate Dead

Hagar

Reba

Macon Dead , Jr.

Corinthians

Ryna

Sing Byrd

Ruth Foster

MilkmanLena

Coming of Age Milkman’s courage is tested by the

belligerent young men in the knife fight

His skill is tested by the patient men during the coon hunt

Coming of Age Milkman becomes aware of the

wrong he has done Ruth, Pilate, and Hagar

Milkman first seeks out Pilate to share his discoveries

Fathers and Sons In his privilege Macon never owned

a car that broke down The broken fan belt lands Milkman

in Shalimar, VA

Fathers and Sons Abandoned by Solomon, Jake

expresses his sorrow when he says, “You just can’t fly on off and leave a body” (147).

Singing and Songs Milkman learns his family story in

the children’s song Milkman learns to tell his own story

as he shouts the song to the dying Pilate

Singing and Songs “Jake the only son of Solomon” Jake (Macon Dead) was the only

son Solomon tried to take with him “Left that baby in a white man’s

house” Dropped Jake on the steps of the

plantation house

Singing and Songs “Heddy took him to a red man’s

house” Heddy was Native American “Black Lady fell down on the

ground/Threw her body all around” Ryna was inconsolable

Singing and Songs “Solomon done fly, Solomon done

gone/Solomon cut across the sky, Solomon gone home”

Solomon transcended his situation and flew back to Africa

Female Roles Just as Guitar kills for love of the

black race, Hagar tried to kill Milkman for love

Guitar defends the weak, small women: Hagar and Ruth

Female Roles Pilate and Reba become weak and

lose their magic under the spell of Hagar’s obsession

Ruth and Hagar share a sisterhood in their weakness

Pilate commands “Mercy” from the strong as well as the weak